Using AI for Development Work
A previous version of this blog appeared as a guest column in the Quad Cities Business Journal, March 7, 2024
It seems like every where you turn, you hear news stories about how artificial intelligence technology can do one more thing, with sirens about how it will replace today’s workers. We heard the same things when computers became more commonplace; which word processing program you used mattered less than that you used a word processor instead of a typewriter. AI works the same way and will likely continue to work the same way.
That said, the use of AI in the workplace remains in its infancy. ChatGPT, for example, launched less than 18 months ago, putting it squarely into toddlerhood and quickly approaching its “terrible twos.”
This does not mean that you can or should ignore the many ways in which AI can help streamline your work, so you and your staff work smarter not harder. 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; likely many more exist that will become more evident as the technology and our knowledge evolve.
Analyzing donor response data to identify potential major donors in your database and to 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. That is, I doubt that ChatGPT can do this for you and suspect that more donor databases will integrate this functionality.
Generate text for an appeal letter, grant, thank you, donor stewardship piece, email, or anything else you need to write. ChatGPT and other generative AI tools do a good job helping you overcome writers block or find a different way to say your message.
Edit your text. Whether you want to assure that you have written everything grammatically correct, change the tone, or make it fit character limits, AI can help you edit.
Evaluate your text. Want to know if your letter will appeal to suburban housewives or an audience of young parents? Ask AI! This serves as an especially appealing option for development professionals who work in isolation and without colleagues to consult – which means most. AI can become your colleague for brainstorming and problem solving.
Pull data for your grant or other appeal. For this, I do not recommend ChatGPT, because it creates fake data; you need to verify any data that it generates. 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 all the clutter and give you step-by-step instructions.
We may have overestimated the abilities of this technology, meaning that some of these things may not work as well as we hoped, or we may need to wait another generation or two before it can do what we think it will today. Think of the difference between a Wang word processor and today’s Microsoft Word! In other instances, it may do much more than we think. We continue to play with it to learn its capabilities too.
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), I recommend that you pay attention as new tools get introduced and play with them to see how they can improve your efficiencies – or not – and invest in the ones that make the biggest difference on your workload and outcomes.
Machines will never replace the relationships on which fund development work depends for success. However, they can eliminate or streamline the many administrative functions that keep the fund development professional from spending the time to develop these relationships. If you do not integrate AI into your work, you will likely find your skills outdated, much like the typist who never learned word processing.
