Fundraising Update

Welcome to Fundraising Update. This week, we look at how some nonprofits are using AI to boost fundraising and streamline processes. Plus, tips to improve your chances of winning unrestricted grants

I’m Rasheeda Childress, senior editor for fundraising at the Chronicle of Philanthropy. If you have ideas, comments, or questions about this newsletter, please write me.

Beth Zimmerman doesn’t have a lot of free time. She is one of three people on the staff of the small nonprofit she founded, Pets for Patriots. So, as executive director, she is also responsible for the group’s fundraising. In the past, Zimmerman would spend multiple days working on each grant the group applied for.

“Grant writing is an extremely tedious, very time-consuming, very gut-wrenching activity,” Zimmerman told me. Once, she spent nine hours over two days working on one grant. “I don’t have nine hours in a day to devote to just one thing. Frankly, I think I’d rather have a root canal most days than write a grant.”

Ikon Images via AP

So she turned to Grant Assistant, an AI tool for grant writing, and estimates it has cut the amount of time she spends on grant applications by 80 to 90 percent.

Zimmerman isn’t alone. Many nonprofit staff are turning to AI tools as their organizations have to do even more with less funding because of federal budget cuts and increased competition for grants. Grant writing isn’t the only thing nonprofits are using AI for. Many are using it for other fundraising activities, like prospect research, analyzing donor data, and identifying foundations that might be a good fit. Others use AI to write blog posts, newsletters, and other content as well as to streamline some of the administrative and program work their nonprofit does.

“AI could be useful for every department at an organization,” says CJ Orr, CEO of the fundraising consultancy the Orr Group. “It’s for fundraising, it’s for HR, it’s for operations, it’s for programs.”

ChatGPT took the world by storm at the end of 2022, and most fundraisers are well aware that AI functionality is being embedded in some of the professional tools they use. But it’s still hit or miss how much nonprofits are adopting AI, Orr says.

“A lot of them are still in the basic phase, one of understanding what AI is, how they use it responsibly, what their policies are,” he says.

Nonprofit professionals who are looking for ways to make their work more efficient or save time are discovering that AI is a good tool to add to their arsenal. “It’s not going to replace your entire budget, ” Orr says, “but it can help deliver services for less costs.”

For more examples of how nonprofits are using AI, read my entire story.

78%
— Share of general operating grants the Surdna Foundation gives from its $47 million grant-making budget

With the Trump administration’s freezing of billions of dollars in federal funding to nonprofits and economic uncertainty increasing, at no time since the pandemic have more charities urgently needed the type of security that unrestricted grants provide.

Finding these opportunities requires a longer-term strategy than targeting project grants because you need to develop trust with your funder, reports my colleague M.J. Prest. Once you’ve earned that faith, an unrestricted grant is both a safety net and a vote of confidence in your work — and during turbulent times, both are sorely needed.

General operating support gives nonprofit leaders “the flexibility to keep their lights on and keep their programs running, and they get to decide what that looks like,” says Sophy Yem, senior program officer for philanthropy at the Surdna Foundation.

The Chronicle spoke with Yem and two other experts to learn how grant seekers can meet program officers and best position themselves to secure flexible funding. Here are their top tips.

At the Surdna Foundation, general operating grants made up 78 percent of its $47 million in grant making over the last fiscal year, says Yem. However, like many grant makers, Surdna doesn’t accept unsolicited proposals. When that’s the case with a potential funder, you’ll have to work at boosting your group’s profile in your mission area if you want to be invited to apply, she says.

Funder briefings and convenings of grantees are typically private, but if one of your grant makers is hosting or attending a conference, find out what other foundations will be there, Yem advises. Then ask the program officer how you can apply to be a speaker during a panel or session there: “It’s how you get visibility with other funders.”

For more on winning general operating support grants, read the rest of M.J.’s article.

• Nonprofits Need Courage. Last week I was at the Classy Collaborative, a conference for nonprofit leaders that discussed online fundraising initiatives.

  I posted a little about the event on LinkedIn: Stand Up to Cancer is livestreaming to raise money, the Food Bank for New York City is getting creative and making up new giving holidays to inspire donors, and some nonprofits are adding text messaging to their fundraising strategy.

  The event’s closing session focused on the importance of courage at this moment in history. Luvvie Ajayi Jones, author of the New York Times bestseller Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual reminded people that “courage is action.”

  Jones said that some people may have difficulty exercising courage now because in the past they chose to be silent, not using their voices to speak up. It’s important to practice courage in the small moments, she said, so you are ready to stand strong in the tough, big moments.

  That said, courage can be strengthened in numbers. Jones encouraged leaders to look for “allies in your space,” and say, “I need you to join me in this; I need your voice.”

  Courage was also the topic of discussion by philanthropist Abigail Disney, who urged foundations and philanthropists to be more courageous. “Courage is working through fear, in spite of fear,” Disney said. “The trick is to hold on to your values through fear.”

The billionaire financier Kenneth Griffin gave $15 million through his Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund to the National Constitution Center.

The gift will establish two new galleries: one to highlight America’s founding principles and another focused on the separation of powers and federalism. The galleries are scheduled to open in 2026 as part of the center’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States.

In addition to his cash gift, he is loaning the center his copy of the U.S. Constitution, one of 14 known original, official prints from which all subsequent printings of the final text of the Constitution originate, for public display through 2026. Griffin founded Citadel Investment Group, a Miami hedge fund.

For other notable gifts this week, read my colleague Maria Di Mento’s Gifts Roundup column. To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly and has data going back to 2000.

7 Tips to Kickstart Monthly Giving and Boost Your Nonprofit’s Financial Health. Expert advice to help you build a monthly giving program that delivers, from setting up the systems and tools you’ll need to finding potential donors and ensuring they stick around.

Is Bill Gates’s Long Goodbye a Win for Trust-Based Philanthropy? (Opinion) The foundation’s planned closure marks the end of the once-celebrated era of expert-driven giving.

Donors Stepping Up. It’s a difficult time for nonprofits: Economic uncertainty is increasing, federal grants are being cut, and demand for services is on the rise. Amid the tumult, some donors are stepping up when they learn their favorite nonprofits are in need.

After learning the Berkeley Repertory Theatre was going to be short $40,000 due to the National Endowment for the Arts rescinding a grant, a Tony-award winning playwright jumped in to help, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. John Logan is donating $40,000 to the theater.

“Without the support of regional theatres like Berkeley Rep I wouldn’t be a writer today,” Logan said in a statement. “Young writers, singers, actors, poets, musicians, filmmakers, composers, and painters all across America benefit from not-for-profit arts institutions.”

Further south in the state, the local legal community is gathering to raise money for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, reports the Daily Journal. Lawyers have raised the goal on their annual ‘Food from the Bar’ fundraising drive to $100,000 to meet the increased need the food bank is seeing.

“With the high costs of living, thousands of individuals, especially seniors, students, and families with young children, struggle to access or afford healthy food,” said Melissa Gorin, director of marketing for Judicate West, one of the legal organizations participating this year. (San Francisco Chronicle and Daily Journal)