“I’m Sorry, Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That”: How AI is Revolutionizing Fundraising, Like It or Not
Cody Culp, Salesforce Technical Director, Zuri Group
There’s a paradigm shift underway in fundraising within higher education and the nonprofit sector. Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) are becoming powerful allies in helping organizations boost efficiency and engagement across industries in both the public and private sector. For advancement shops and their fundraisers, the promise is one of doing more with less. With rapidly changing donor priorities, shifting demographics, and institutional budget reductions on the rise, the crunch on fundraising organizations to craft tailored experiences at scale without exhaustive human capital commitments is rapidly approaching terminal velocity.
Nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions alike face growing pressure to diversify funding streams, deepen donor engagement, and prove the impact of every dollar raised. For organizations that already rely on Salesforce and similar platforms to manage their donor relationships, the integration of generative AI and LLMs represents an exciting leap forward. To be clear, these tools are not about replacing that personal touch – rather, they’re a means to enhance and extend it by providing development teams with insights, efficiency, and tools that make their work more impactful.
For many, however, the use case is muddy, and the execution can feel impossible. In fact, only 11% of university technology officers said their institution leverages AI for fundraising, according to Inside Higher Ed’s 2024 survey of campus chief technology officers. So, if the enthusiasm is there, what’s the business case? What can we do with AI today in fundraising, without turning our donors over to the whims of our newly minted robot overlords?
Enhanced Donor Personalization
McKinsey and other firms consulting to the private sector have popularized the term “Personalization at Scale,” and while it finds its roots in consumer behavior and customer marketing, the human component driving it is no different. Donors value communications that value them. Stories are what resonate, and a donor’s giving tells a narrative of their philanthropic passion. Context-driven generative AI allows organizations and their fundraisers to deliver personalized communications at scale by analyzing donor communication histories, past contributions, and contact preferences stored in your CRM to draft tailored messages that speak directly to a donor’s unique motivations. For a fundraiser, this offers a powerful tool to help keep a pulse on an entire stewardship portfolio while balancing gift agreement language revisions of a new donor, cultivation of prospects, and on-campus academic obligations.
To that end, AI must serve the mission, not overshadow it: Human oversight will always be key in use of AI in donor personalization at scale, and responsible use is essential to building trust with donors and internal teams alike.
Data-Driven Insights
LLMs grounded within a CRM can mine vast datasets within your environment, identifying trends and opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. An Educause case study from the University of Michigan demonstrates how leveraging AI within a tailored, secure infrastructure can uncover donor potential and foster engagement. This could be something as simple as pinpointing lapsed donors or uncovering major giving potential and affinity through modeled in-house scoring. Either way, AI can do the heavy lifting of data, and your fundraisers can focus on what matters most: building relationships with donors.
The Zuri Difference
At Zuri Group, we believe that technology is most impactful when guided by human expertise, and while Gen AI and LLMs have immense potential to enhance fundraising outcomes, their effectiveness depends on thoughtful implementation and deep domain knowledge.
With dual expertise in fundraising systems and fundraising itself, Zuri Group is uniquely positioned to support and guide organizations looking to navigate this technology shift. We’re proud to have partnered with hundreds of institutions and organizations at the forefront of philanthropy, empowering them to responsibly adopt cutting-edge tools while staying grounded in their mission.
Whether you’re considering your first steps with generative AI or looking to take your systems to the next level, our team is here to lead you through it – reach out to us at innovations@zurigroup.com to get the conversation started.