Last week we provided you with an overview of artificial intelligence in the nonprofit sector. As we mentioned, the Brookings Institute stated there’s growing interest in the power and use of artificial intelligence technology for nonprofits.
More than likely, this not only stems from the fact that everyone sees that AI is infusing itself into all aspects of our lives. But, it’s also because many nonprofits are small with limited resources. Therefore, this type of technology could help enormously. Further, as it becomes more readily available, it doesn’t have to cost significant amounts of money. Yet, it could accomplish things that will only grow and improve the work of organizations. And this is especially true for groups with finite resources but big ideas.
For example, imagine a tool that helped a nonprofit in New York City review 65 million texts and data. In short, AI helped determine which words got most associated with a life-threatening situation. Or, consider a nonprofit that increased their fundraising revenue by 49 percent. That’s almost $2 million more in revenue. And it happened with the use of artificial technology as we wrote about in our earlier article. Today, we explore some of the AI ideas and ways available to nonprofits to assist them from the administrative lens.
AI Chatbots
One of the simplest and least expensive ways nonprofits use AI is with the use of chatbots. In short, chatbots answer questions for people when they contact an organization through text or telephone. Thus, it frees up teams to stay focused on more critical or specialized work. Moreover, with the ubiquitous use of chatbots, chances are you’ve already experienced them when reaching out to a group for answers.
Chatbots produce intelligent automated responses to questions and have conversations with humans. For example, one way that nonprofits use chatbots is with Facebook Messenger. As you know, Facebook’s the largest social networking platform. And many charities depend on it to communicate with their audience and help promote campaigns. So, chatbots uses technology to deal with more routine tasks. And that allows nonprofits to dedicate human resources to other jobs.
Reminders
Everyone needs reminders to keep on task. Well, artificial intelligence for nonprofits helps there too! AI increases the productivity of teams by allowing people not to miss important meetings or milestones. As an example, our shoe drive fundraising social enterprise uses Slack for its internal team communications. It handles discussions, and reminders. Moreover, we found using Slack reminders, helped our team members not miss crucial milestones.
Programs
We mentioned earlier how AI worked with New York City-based nonprofit, Crisis Text Line in analyzing 65 million texts for words that would alert their team members and triage people in crisis to a higher level if there was a life-threatening situation. However, nonprofit programs and operations, also get helped by artificial intelligence in other ways.
As we know, human trafficking is a significant problem. So, nonprofits partnered with the private sector and governments to help put an end to this scourge in society. For instance, artificial intelligence now analyzes vast amounts of data seeking to find anomalies in financial transactions. In turn, this alert banks and regulators about suspicious activity that tied to human traffickers.
In the animal welfare sector, PAWS also uses artificial intelligence and machine learning. They tech is based on game theory and computer science. For instance, it informs rangers in parks with critical information needed to prevent poachers from killing animals, especially endangered species.
Other Uses of Artificial Intelligence
The uses of artificial intelligence for nonprofits is profound and enormous. One of the most critical functions of nonprofit operations groups is helping fundraisers. In other words, AI tools help organizations raise essential fundraising dollars. We’ll explore this in the coming weeks as we examine technology, such as Gravyty. Just know, these tools can have a significant impact. For instance, they interpret the data gathered by nonprofits. Further they provide deep analysis that might otherwise be difficult or even impossible for organizations to obtain.
AI also provides support for nonprofits with tools minimizing human error in data entry and database use. For example, meetings could get scheduled with the press of a button or two. And that’s what you’ll read next week when we share a human resources and recruiting tool that we use within our social enterprise. We found this platform has saved us time and money.
On a final note, we know that nonprofit leaders love to have meetings. Meaning, there’s always something to discuss. Well, did you know that artificial intelligence tools will take the tedious and sometimes difficult task of note-taking away? Yes, there’s no need for a designated not-taker. As a result, this technology allows everyone to pay attention and actively participate in meetings. For example, a few note-taking tools to support your nonprofit, include Voicea and Aloe, with the use of AI.
Stay tuned for next week when we discuss nonprofits and the tools that are being used for recruiting and human resources.
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