How to Use ChatGPT in Fundraising

Fundraising is an absolutely vital element of any nonprofit, whether that is soliciting individual donations, organizing revenue-generating events, or applying for grants. AI tools like ChatGPT can be used to save you time and generate ideas in the fundraising process, from donor segmentation and scheduling to drafting grant proposals.

drawing of a hand dropping a coin into a jar., in the background a computer with graphs on the screen and lines connected to blocks of text

Read on for a few helpful ways that nonprofits can use ChatGPT to improve their fundraising strategies.

As you come to grips with AI tools, it is essential to recognize their limitations. ChatGPT may fail to fully understand the context of a query, and all output requires human review and interpretation. We encourage you to thoroughly research any AI technologies you adopt and ensure that you are aware of the risks and concerns involved.

Idea Generation

It can feel like every fundraising tactic has been done before, making it hard to get creative with your next campaign, event, or post. If this sounds familiar or you just need some extra creativity, you can use ChatGPT to gather new ideas for your campaigns. Try providing the model with some background information on your organization and goals, followed by "give me 10 ideas for our next fundraising event." You should also specify the type of event, whether it is online or in person, and any other details that could deliver more tailored results. This gives you a great starting point to brainstorm, using ChatGPT's output as a springboard.

Schedules and Planning

Once you've found the perfect concept for your next event or outreach campaign, deciding where to start and how to execute it is the next challenge. ChatGPT can help with this, too, by providing draft schedules and outreach plans. Just give the model as much detail as possible in your prompt, including the timeline and goals for your project. You can also ask it to present the response in a table if that makes it easier for you to put the plan into action. One great way to save time is to ask ChatGPT to provide a schedule of five emails to be sent out as part of your fundraising campaign, including a summary of the content in each email.

Depending on your mission area and campaign, you may also want to ask ChatGPT to segment your audience. For example, your emails to individual donors are likely to be different from those sent to business donors. You might ask the model to suggest segments of your audience that require different messaging and to provide an adjusted version of the content you'll send each one.

Here's how that might play out in a prompt: provide all of the information you feel is relevant, followed by "create a schedule of five fundraising emails, with a summary of the content in each one. Present the summary in a table, with different columns for the following donor segments: individual donors and business donors."

Funding Applications

As most nonprofit staff members know, funding applications can be monotonous and frustrating, with each one still requiring close attention to ensure that it checks the boxes for that specific grantmaker. ChatGPT can help you by putting the information you give it in the correct format for each application. Simply provide it with the guidance given by the funder and the relevant details about your organization and ask it to structure the application as directed. As with any AI-generated copy, you'll need to carefully review the output and use a plagiarism checker to ensure that it is correct and does not inadvertently plagiarize anyone else's work.

Get More from ChatGPT

Nonprofits can use ChatGPT to save time and generate ideas in many aspects of their daily operations. Use these tips to improve and streamline your fundraising and get creative with other ways of using the tool.

If you're interested in diving deeper into this topic and all things emerging tech, we are sharing more detailed how-to guides and articles on Quad. Quad is our peer-to-peer community where nonprofits can connect with one another, share ideas, and access exclusive, in-depth content to help them use technology to its full potential.