Okay fundraisers, the data-driven fundraising revolution and massive artificial adoption wave are officially in full swing. This is no longer something that just a few of our colleagues are talking about. It’s even gone past that thing your boss is bothering you about in meetings. We all know we have to use predictive analytics and AI as fundraisers.
And we need to do it soon.
But what does this technology actually do for the donor experience, and for fundraisers? That’s the important question, because following “the next big fundraising thing” without understanding its practical use has always been a really bad idea. I get asked almost every day: I know I need to implement some of this, but how will it actually work for my team?
I’ve talked before about the three P’s on the donor side that are changing our fundraising landscape: Pipeline, Purpose, and Partnership. Now, let’s take it a step further and talk about three practical things that also start with “P,” that can be transformed by predictive analytics and artificial intelligence:
AI boosted, data-driven donor engagement can amplify results and create a better donor experience
New fundraising technology gets us three P’s that are crucial to any campaign, and to fundraising success:
Prospects, individuals who are engaged and have donative capacity…and more of them. There are people in your database right now who are ready to make major gifts. Many of them are likely not in your major gift outreach portfolios. Predictive analytics can identify these people, often 60% or more donors who can impact your mission that are not assigned to a gift officer. You’d never be able to go one by one in your data and find these people. Predictive analytics and a robot army of AI prospectors sure can.
Prioritization is critical for gift officers and engagement outreach. It’s not about just finding individuals with capacity. Reviewing who is truly engaged, passionate about your mission, and ready to support you right now is crucial. We all know gift officers who seem magical in their ability to focus on the right donors. Well, with new technology, which looks at behaviors, psychographics, and other giving, we can all have that magic. We can all be that rock star gift officer, at scale, through data science.
Personalization of the donor experience. This is where it gets truly interesting, in my opinion. Now that you know who and when to engage, it’s time to talk about how to engage. You do this using demographics and psychometrics to create powerful donor personas. The background, personality, motivations, and desires of donors can create focused micro-segments that inform our message. The game today is about hitting the bullseye of meaning and purpose with donors. This breaks through the noise, increasing response, and amplifies the joy of giving for donors.
Stop shooting fundraising arrows out into the wilderness and hit the bullseye of meaning and purpose for your donors.
A few years ago, only the biggest organizations could afford to look at these solutions. They’re better now and have never been more cost effective. And now, it’s for social good.
The nonprofits that lag on adopting this transformative technology run the risk of being behind in the coming years. This type of personalization is what we’ve all come to expect, and your donors will be wondering why you’re not using it. Artificial intelligence won’t replace fundraisers, and predictive analytics won’t replace prospect researchers. But it will make all of our jobs easier and help us really focus on the best possible outreach to engaged donors.
If you want to hear more and get real about how this tech can actually help your fundraising, please reach out to me. I’m excited about how this technology can help us engage a more inclusive, engaged, and purposeful donor base. Let’s get to work.
