The Rise of AI for Good

How AI Adoption Can Help Nonprofits Predict Donor Behavior and Optimize Their Fundraising

Have you heard of the 3rd sector? Well, it employs a “mere” 12 million workers in the United States alone. The people who have dedicated their lives to solving the world's most pressing problems. So, you’d think they’d be getting the latest and greatest of technological resources the world has to offer. Think again.

For decades, the nonprofit sector has faced significant challenges in keeping up with a rapidly evolving tech space.

Despite comprising 1.6 million organizations and raising $500 billion annually in the United States, nonprofits are struggling to leverage recent advancements to further their missions.

But this is starting to change.

According to a Google survey featured on philanthropy.com, more than half of nonprofits are already turning to generative AI, like Open AI’s ChatGPT, to streamline content creation and grant writing. While this is a positive step forward, a study conducted by Stanford University highlights that nearly 80% of nonprofits still lack an organization-wide policy for AI usage.

With potential solutions literally at their fingertips, most nonprofits still have a limited understanding of AI―over a third rating their understanding as low. Additionally, only a quarter have concrete ideas for how generative AI could benefit their organizations.

This puts nonprofits at risk of being left behind by another tech wave. Again.

Despite the collective scale of the industry, individual organizations are often financially constrained, requiring them to stretch every dollar of funding. This makes AI absolutely mission-critical, so they can do more with less.

Here, a few new platforms on the rise, like Donorsearch AI, Dataro, and the newly launched Hatch AI, can do their best work.

Unlike generative AI tools already in play, Hatch blends AI and 3rd party data enrichment to provide nonprofits with a comprehensive understanding of their donors. By analyzing over 80 data points collected from various public sources, Hatch enables organizations to create personalized engagement strategies tailored to the preferences and interests of their supporters.

With access to this new information, nonprofits can now identify major donors, predict donor behavior, and tailor their outreach efforts with unprecedented precision. To date, the company has already partnered with over 150 nonprofits across North America to optimize their fundraising operations. Notable clients include Volunteers of America and Texas A&M University-Commerce. And the momentum is building.

With recent funding of $3 million, totaling $5 million in investment, Hatch’s vision of “AI for Good” is gaining traction.

Another indicator that AI tools are on the rise within the nonprofit sector is the heightened interest from high-caliber, AI-focused VC funds. Hatch’s recent round was led by Differential Ventures, with participation from Character, venture capitalist Howard Morgan, and a group of prominent angel investors. Previous investors included David Magerman, Tiferes Ventures, and Adam Miller, founder of Cornerstone OnDemand.

At this moment, nonprofits are poised at a unique crossroads. Here, at the intersection of AI and social good, these organizations have the chance to lead this tech movement for good.

And the world is counting on them to do it. If they don’t, we all suffer the consequences of “what could have been.”

However, to achieve these goals, nonprofits must prioritize training, establish clear policies and strategies for AI, and leverage platforms like Hatch to fully understand and build their community.