When you think of nonprofits, you don’t always associate them with “high-tech.” But that might be changing soon. With artificial intelligence becoming a major part of private businesses, nonprofits have also started using AI for automating the procedures and tasks. This has helped to save employee’s time and the valuable investment of the organization.
AI, which uses machine learning techniques for streamlining the operations and enhancing programs at the nonprofits, has acted as a catalyst in transforming many organizations.
Here are some ways AI is being used to transform nonprofits:
Automating customer service
Nonprofits across the country are using AI-based chatbots to automate customer service. These chatbots can answer common queries such as different procedures for contributing money or learning about upcoming programs. Chatbots are also available 24/7, making help accessible whenever customers need it. AI makes the process seamless and easier for both contributors and the organization.
Resolving food and water crises
An example of innovative AI is The Yeshi chatbot, created by Charity, which educates people about clean water. It leads to a smart conversation by answering the questions with maps, images, videos, and text. Yeshi provides emotional and visual ways of telling the nonprofit’s story and helping people understand the major challenges.
Another example of a chatbot being used for good is in the WFP (World Food Program), which uses the chatbot in Haiti and Nigeria to ask people about the food security and prices in their communities. It operates in many languages via access through the low-band internet.
Raising funds for orphanages
The Children’s Society in the UK launched an AI-powered chatbot, which supports the underserved children in the Wales and England region. It executed a chatbot trail which offered fundraising information to potential donors. This made chatbots a great resource for social activists to engage with communities and raise funds for underprivileged children.
Personalizing and creating actionable insights
Cognitive insights have a huge role in the performance of company engagement. Artificial intelligence can calculate and understand complex datasets through predictive analytics. Nonprofits can use this to make future recommendations and generate actionable advice to consumers.
Streamlining the donor communications
With online platforms becoming more sophisticated, AI will make it easier to automate authentic and personalized donor communication. It can also cultivate a long-term relationship with the donor if there is constant, attentive communication between your nonprofit and your donors.
Sustainability
We’re in an era where extreme weather patterns are becoming more common due to changes in the climate. In such a scenario, AI can help communities in different parts of the world to cope with the drastic ecological and climatic changes. The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit organization, has helped the Red Cross to create a dashboard and mobile app that can broadcast information like earthquake magnitude and flood locations through social media.
University and hospital fundraising
One of the best applications of AI can be seen in hospital and university fundraising. As both these institutions carry out good work for their communities, they depend heavily on their supporters to keep their operations running. Hospitals and universities rely on research to narrow down donor prospects as well as finding new potential donors. AI helps to streamline this process and connect organizations with donors quickly.
Looking forward
While this transformation with AI is exciting, it’s important to keep in mind the responsibility that comes with it. Keeping AI ethical in the organization is going to be the issue on many organizations’ minds within the next decade.
You can start to implement this responsibility by cultivating an ethical mindset among your employees, building a diverse team, understanding your core values, being transparent, protecting your data, giving users the right to control their data and taking the feedback about your practices. As automation gets integrated at a rapid pace, AI will provide nonprofits with actionable insights and improve their decision-making process.
