Technology and AI: Reshaping Nonprofit Processes to Allow for a More Mission-Driven Focus
Nonprofits often have limited resources, including lean teams frequently burdened by a significant volume of manual, routine and repetitive tasks. They also face high community expectations and growing operational demands. When a significant amount of time is spent performing repetitive processes manually, it detracts from the time that could be spent furthering the organization’s mission.
Based on our recent interactions with nonprofit organizations, we have observed a shift in how small teams utilize technology to overcome resource limitations. Below is a summary of how AI and modern tools can be utilized to increase efficiency and program impact:
Enhancing Fundraising and Donor Engagement
Fundraising is vital to the success of any nonprofit organization, however, managing donor relationships can be time‑consuming for a small development team. Intelligent customer relationship management (CRM) systems that incorporate the use of AI can:
- Analyze donor behavior and identify historical donation patterns
- Generate personalized recommendations for outreach to those donors
- Understand which supporters are most likely to donate or attend events
- Scan through grant opportunities for grants that closely align with the organization’s mission
- Generate grant proposals
Instead of manually reviewing thousands of grant proposals, these platforms utilize AI to evaluate potential grants based on a funder’s prior giving history rather than only their provided guidelines. For a small nonprofit development team, this shifts their focus to a targeted, proactive search, identifying the likelihood of matches for their operations or program needs. This tailored approach ensures that staff invest their time only in proposals that are eligible or strategically aligned with the organization’s mission.
Streamlining these processes also allows teams to better prepare for fundraising campaigns and tailor messages to donors more effectively. These tools can’t replace the human connection aspect of fundraising, but they strengthen that connection and increase the probability of success by equipping staff with better information.
Improving Program Impact Through Data
Nonprofits are increasingly utilizing data to understand the needs of their community, measure the results of their programs and communicate the impact the organization has made. AI can help improve data analysis by:
- Turning complex or high-volume datasets into clear, concise, more useful information
- Identifying trends, highlighting gaps in services and programs, and guiding resource allocation by using dashboards and predictive models
- Assembling impact reports for use in grant proposals or for board review
- Monitoring participants’ progress metrics and evaluating successful trends
- Analyzing program and fundraising efficiency metrics
By moving from manual data gathering, staff can focus on interpreting insights and directing resources where they will have the greatest impact on the Organization. With better data analysis, nonprofits can better showcase the organization’s results to donors, grantors, the board and the communities they serve.
Automation Categories for Nonprofits
Organizations are also maximizing impact by moving toward an integrated tech stack that balances automated financial and grant reporting and administrative support needs. Examples of these uses include:
- Drafting tailored grant proposals
- Creating social media content and developing impactful storytelling posts
- Analyzing past fundraising data to demonstrate the direct impact of donor contributions
- Providing suggested responses to emails and answers to routine questions
- Budgeting and identifying spending patterns or anomalies
- Identifying prospective donors and grantors
- Analyzing existing data to identify areas of focus going forward
In addition, integrating automated tools directly into your financial reporting and donor database systems will maximize efficiency by minimizing manual reconciliations and improving your audit readiness.
By embracing these innovations, nonprofits of all sizes can operate more efficiently, make data‑driven decisions and focus more effectively on what inspires them – their mission. Please contact us if you have any questions about utilizing technology and AI within your organization.
About the Author
Emilie Thell
Emilie Thell, CPA, is an Assurance Manager who began her career in public accounting in 2013. She has extensive experience working with audit and review…
