Low-Hanging Fruit for Development Teams

Read time: 3 min

👋🏾 Hey! I’m Sid and this is The Philanthropy Futurist, a weekly advice column preparing you for the future of the nonprofit sector. Each Friday, I tackle reader questions about measuring impact, driving growth, and managing your nonprofit.

This Week’s Newsletter at a glance:

• Low-Hanging Fruit for Development Teams

• Philanthropy News From This Week

• Sid’s Book Recommendation

Low-Hanging Fruit for Development Teams

Development work is part art and part science…

Whether you’re managing major gifts, monthly giving programs, or planning for your next fundraising event… the demands on Development Teams keep growing.

Resources are often limited and that’s where AI can step in— not to replace human connection, but to strengthen it by freeing up your time for deeper and more meaningful engagement.

Here are [some] AI use-cases for Development Teams:

• Donor Segmentation: Use AI to quickly group donors by their giving history, geography, engagement level, or even sentiment analysis pulled from email interactions. This can help enable more precise targeting, and save you hours of filtering in spreadsheets

• Campaign Messaging: You can write the first draft in your own words, then use AI to help with grammar correction. You can even create different versions by tone, donor type, or platform— saving you hours of writing while giving you more time to test

• Grant Prospecting: AI can help source/summarize Foundation profiles and past giving patterns so you’re not starting from scratch every time

• Gift Acknowledgment: You can automate first drafts of thank-you letters with personalized details like… (gift amount, giving history, campaign name, etc) and edit from there. Your note can still be written from the heart— it’ll just be done a lot faster

• Internal Collaboration: You can summarize meetings, assign follow-ups, and generate quick recaps for your teams— all while using AI tools that integrate with Gmail, Google Meet, Zoom, Salesforce, Slack, etc

In a sector where we are often expected to do more with less… now you actually can! With AI, you and your teams can save time on recurring tasks and focus more on what truly moves you closer to your mission.

You do not need to overhaul your development strategy to start using AI. Just identify 1 recurring task that eats up valuable time, and test 1-2 AI tools that could help supercharge your workflow. The keyword here is test. Once you see results, identify another repetitive task and another.

The true value of AI isn’t automation… it’s amplification! If you haven’t started testing yet, don’t wait too long.

Used wisely, AI will only make you that much more productive in your daily work.

So, start small… learn fast… and build momentum.

As mentioned before, I’ll be curating a public directory of AI tools. The goal of the directory is to help you and your teams navigate this fast-moving AI environment. If you're tackling a repetitive task and need help finding the right AI tool… submit a question (or use-case) using this form and I'll add my recommendations to the directory list.

Enjoy your weekend, and see y’all next week! ✌🏾

Have questions you want answered? Submit questions using this form and I’ll work hard to get you the answers by way of this newsletter.

Philanthropy News From This Week

• Nonprofits Are Turning to AI to Save Time and Money

• 7 Ways to Earn Foundations’ Trust and Win General Operating Support

• DAF Research Collaborative releases best practices fundraising report

• Podcast: Smart Solutions to Hire and Retain Top Talent

Sid’s Book Recommendation

Each week, I recommend a book or film that has impacted my life in a positive way. My recommendation this week is:

Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman

This book reveals over 100 psychological advertising secrets for effectively marketing anything to anyone. It's a classic among sales and marketing professionals. As you read, you’ll find nothing but timeless insights into the psychology of persuasion and copywriting. Learn more.

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