The use of AI in the workplace remains in its infancy. Hard to believe, but ChatGPT launched less than 18 months ago. While machines will never replace the relationships on which fund development work depends for success, they can eliminate or streamline the many administrative functions that keep fund development professionals from investing time to develop and nurture these relationships.
At Wastyn & Associates, my staff and I have begun to explore the many ways that AI can help nonprofits with their fund development work, an area in which most organizations have too few staff or volunteers to meet their burgeoning needs. Our initial assessment and review came up with six possibilities:
- Generate text. ChatGPT and other generative AI tools do a good job helping you overcome writer’s block or find a different way to say your message.
- Evaluate your text. Want to know if your letter will appeal to suburban housewives or an audience of young parents? Ask AI!
- Edit your text to assure that you have used correct grammar or to change the tone to appeal to young parents or make it fit character or page limits.
- Analyze donor response data to identify potential major donors in your database and target donor messages where they will likely have the most impact. This requires a predictive AI tool — and likely a specialized program designed for fund development work.
- Pull data for your grant or other appeal. For this, I do not recommend ChatGPT, because it creates fake data. We have begun to experiment with Perplexity and Google Gemini that purport to pull more accurate data.
- Professional development. Have a quick question or need to know the steps to set up your online giving platform? AI can sort through the clutter and give you step-by-step instructions.
Lots of tools exist, with more launched every day including some designed specifically for fund development and grant work. To stay at the forefront of the profession (or any profession), pay attention as new tools emerge, play with them, and invest in the ones that make the biggest difference on your workload and outcomes. If you do not, you will likely find your skills outdated.
Linda Wastyn, Ph.D., CFRE, GPC, is president of Wastyn & Associates, Inc., Davenport. She can be reached at Linda@WastynAssoc.com or (563) 424-1395.
