Three ways charities can use AI in fundraising

The world has been in an AI boom for a while now and it feels like everyone in the charity sector is talking about it. AI is a process where huge amounts of data is fed through a machine learning algorithm to produce a result.

 

Recently, this process has been made more accessible and ‘no code’ with the use of chatbots, like ChatGPT. These bots allow you to prompt and interact with AI in a conversational way.

 

In March 2023, OpenAI released API access to a cheaper and faster version of ChatGPT for developers to build other tools with. This has generated a boom in new AI tools, including some specifically designed for the charity sector.

 

Charities and organisations serving the third sector are already experimenting with AI. It’s being used as part of the process for funding applications, developing fundraising appeals and donor communication.

 

 

Funding applications

 

The administration of fundraising applications has been cited as one of the sector’s biggest headaches. Diane Hall at Evolve3 supports small charities to make funding bids more manageable by using AI.

 

Hall’s process using ChatGPT and some copy-checking tools to fast-track the grant application process. The steps are:

• Gather the relevant project charity information
• Prompt ChatGPT to rewrite the information in the format required by the funder
• Use a tool like QueText to check for plagiarism
• Run the result through an AI-checking tool like CopyLeaks
• Edit the copy for tone, accuracy, and to reduce the plagiarism and AI scores to acceptable levels

Part five needs to be completed by a human – AI isn’t sophisticated enough to do everything itself. It’s best used as a first draft or re-draft tool.

 

Hall says, “In my mind ChatGPT is a game changer for [small charities]…It helps them to be a bit more strategic, a bit more productive and streamline what they’re doing, so they can compete better for the money that’s out there.”

 

Ian McLintock at The Charity Excellence Framework has taken this process a step further by integrating his ‘TechBunnies’ (the site’s chatbots) with an AI machine learning model called Tengin and Chat GPT.

 

If you type ‘fundraising application’ into the Tech Bunnies chat bot, they will ask you a series of questions to get the info they need for a funding application. Then they’ll take the info to ChatGPT and get it to write a first draft for you to check and send.

 

The site also uses AI for an ‘Ask me anything’ and there are even more plans afoot with the launch of McLintock’s AI strategy. He sees AI as a way of, “leveling the playing field between large and small charities”.

 

 

Fundraising appeals

 

At Crohns and Colitis UK, the Public Fundraising Team has been testing the use of AI tools at various stages of their appeal writing process.

 

They find that copywriting takes up a huge amount of time and resource. While AI can’t do it all for you, Tim Todhunter, Head of Public Fundraising, has found that AI, “takes away quite a lot of the admin and drudgery of copywriting”.

 

The main tool that Todhunter’s team has been using is ‘the new Bing,’ an integration between Microsoft’s Bing search engine and ChatGPT. The team has used it at various stages of the appeal writing process including research, drafting appeal copy, editing appeal copy, writing appeal-related content like blogs and writing thank you letters.

 

Like Hall, Todhunter doesn’t think AI is anywhere near capable of managing the whole appeals process, but he does think, “it can make everyone’s job nicer and easier. It takes away quite a lot of the admin and drudgery of copywriting.”

 

There are new appeal and copywriting tools emerging all the time for fundraising teams to test, including some specifically designed for the charity sector like FundraisingCopy and Non-profit Operating System.

 

 

Donor communication

 

Kurstin Finch Gnehm describes Dog’s Trust, where she is Head of High Value Fundraising Operations, as, “early on the AI journey.”

 

Gnehm is personally using AI tools in two main ways – to brainstorm ideas and write first draft copy in different formats. Her favorite tools for these tasks include copywriting chat bot ChatGPT and AI image generator, DallE-2 – both by Open AI.

 

Gnehm says, “As an example, our call center at Dogs Trust is set to reach three million calls in August 2023. It’s a huge milestone, something we want to tell our closest donors about, but I was away at a conference with no time to draft an email for fundraisers to send.

 

“Instead, I wrote a prompt for ChatGPT to draft the email, did some quick revision, and sent it to fundraisers to personalise, top and tail and whizz over to donors as appropriate. And I look like a hero!”