AI for Nonprofit Teams: Roles, Responsibilities & Practical Use Cases
Development / Fundraising
Collaborate with executive leadership & board
Work closely with the Executive Director, CFO, and Board Fundraising Committee to set goals, report progress, and engage them in fundraising. Strong collaboration ensures fundraising is integrated into organizational strategy, that leadership understands fundraising realities, and that board members are effectively engaged in fundraising activities. You'll provide regular updates, seek input on strategic decisions, and ensure fundraising goals align with organizational priorities.
Detailed Breakdown
1
Set Fundraising Goals with Executive Leadership and Board
The Director of Development works with executive leadership and the board to establish realistic, achievable fundraising goals that align with organizational priorities and capacity. This involves presenting data, facilitating goal-setting discussions, and ensuring goals are informed by fundraising realities and organizational needs.
- •Present fundraising data and analysis to inform goal-setting discussions.
- •Facilitate goal-setting conversations with executive leadership and board.
- •Ensure fundraising goals align with organizational priorities and strategic plans.
- •Balance ambitious goals with realistic assessments of capacity and market conditions.
- •Establish clear, measurable goals that leadership and board can track and support.
- •Document goal-setting decisions and rationale for future reference.
How AI Can Help
Goal-Setting Data & Analysis
What AI can realistically do
- •Generate comprehensive fundraising data and analysis to inform goal-setting discussions.
- •Present historical performance data, trends, and benchmarks for goal-setting context.
- •Model different goal scenarios based on capacity, market conditions, and historical performance.
- •Suggest realistic goal ranges that balance ambition with achievability.
- •Compare proposed goals to industry benchmarks and organizational capacity.
- •Document goal-setting decisions and rationale for future reference.
Value for staff
- •Ensures goal-setting is informed by data rather than assumptions.
- •Facilitates productive goal-setting discussions with leadership and board.
Goal Alignment & Documentation
What AI can realistically do
- •Analyze fundraising goals for alignment with organizational priorities and strategic plans.
- •Generate goal documentation that is clear, measurable, and trackable.
- •Create goal-setting frameworks that ensure goals are specific and actionable.
- •Track goal-setting decisions and rationale for organizational memory.
- •Suggest goal adjustments when organizational priorities or capacity changes.
- •Generate goal alignment reports for leadership and board review.
Value for staff
- •Ensures goals are well-documented and aligned with organizational priorities.
- •Creates clear accountability and tracking mechanisms for goals.
2
Provide Regular Progress Reports and Updates
Regular communication about fundraising progress keeps leadership and board informed and engaged. The director provides timely, accurate updates on fundraising performance, progress toward goals, key activities, and challenges. This transparency builds trust and enables leadership to support fundraising efforts effectively.
- •Create regular progress reports for executive leadership and board.
- •Present fundraising performance data in formats that are accessible and actionable.
- •Highlight key achievements, challenges, and opportunities in progress updates.
- •Provide context and explanations for performance trends and variances.
- •Update leadership and board on significant fundraising activities and initiatives.
- •Ensure reports are timely, accurate, and support decision-making.
How AI Can Help
Automated Report Generation
What AI can realistically do
- •Generate regular progress reports for executive leadership and board automatically.
- •Create executive summaries that highlight key achievements, challenges, and opportunities.
- •Format fundraising performance data in accessible, actionable formats for different audiences.
- •Schedule automated report generation and distribution to leadership and board.
- •Customize reports for different stakeholders with relevant metrics and insights.
- •Generate visualizations that make progress data easy to understand.
Value for staff
- •Saves time on report creation while ensuring consistent, timely communication.
- •Provides leadership and board with the information they need to support fundraising.
Context & Analysis
What AI can realistically do
- •Provide context and explanations for performance trends and variances automatically.
- •Analyze performance data to identify key insights for leadership and board.
- •Compare current performance to goals, historical benchmarks, and industry standards.
- •Generate talking points and explanations for progress updates.
- •Flag significant changes or trends that require leadership attention.
- •Suggest actions based on performance data and progress analysis.
Value for staff
- •Ensures progress updates include meaningful context and analysis.
- •Helps leadership understand fundraising performance and support decision-making.
3
Engage Board Members in Fundraising Activities
Board members can be powerful fundraising assets when effectively engaged. The director identifies opportunities for board involvement, provides support and resources for board fundraising activities, and ensures board members are equipped and motivated to contribute to fundraising success.
- •Identify specific fundraising activities where board members can contribute effectively.
- •Provide board members with tools, resources, and support for fundraising activities.
- •Coordinate board involvement in donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship.
- •Train and prepare board members for fundraising roles and responsibilities.
- •Recognize and appreciate board members' fundraising contributions.
- •Ensure board fundraising activities align with overall fundraising strategy.
How AI Can Help
Board Engagement Planning
What AI can realistically do
- •Identify specific fundraising activities where board members can contribute effectively based on their networks and expertise.
- •Generate board engagement plans that outline opportunities for involvement.
- •Suggest board fundraising activities that align with overall fundraising strategy.
- •Create board fundraising toolkits with talking points, resources, and support materials.
- •Track board member involvement and contributions to fundraising activities.
- •Recommend board engagement opportunities based on fundraising needs and board capacity.
Value for staff
- •Maximizes board members' fundraising contributions through strategic engagement.
- •Ensures board fundraising activities are coordinated and effective.
Board Support & Training
What AI can realistically do
- •Generate training materials and resources for board members' fundraising roles.
- •Create talking points and scripts for board members' donor interactions.
- •Develop board fundraising guides that explain roles, responsibilities, and best practices.
- •Generate recognition materials for board members' fundraising contributions.
- •Suggest board fundraising activities based on individual board members' strengths and networks.
- •Track and report on board fundraising contributions and engagement.
Value for staff
- •Equips board members with the tools and confidence to contribute to fundraising.
- •Ensures board fundraising activities are well-supported and coordinated.
4
Seek Input on Strategic Fundraising Decisions
Strategic fundraising decisions benefit from leadership and board input. The director seeks guidance on major strategic decisions, presents options and recommendations, and incorporates leadership perspectives into fundraising strategy and planning.
- •Present strategic fundraising decisions to executive leadership and board for input.
- •Seek guidance on major fundraising initiatives, campaigns, and strategic directions.
- •Incorporate leadership perspectives and priorities into fundraising strategy.
- •Facilitate discussions about strategic fundraising choices and trade-offs.
- •Ensure strategic fundraising decisions align with organizational priorities and values.
- •Document strategic decisions and the input that informed them.
How AI Can Help
Strategic Decision Presentation
What AI can realistically do
- •Generate presentation materials for strategic fundraising decisions with options and recommendations.
- •Create decision frameworks that facilitate discussions about strategic choices and trade-offs.
- •Summarize strategic fundraising options with pros, cons, and implications.
- •Generate talking points and discussion guides for strategic decision meetings.
- •Document strategic decisions and the input that informed them.
- •Create follow-up materials that communicate strategic decisions to stakeholders.
Value for staff
- •Ensures strategic decisions are well-presented and informed by leadership input.
- •Facilitates productive strategic decision-making discussions.
Strategy Alignment & Integration
What AI can realistically do
- •Analyze strategic fundraising decisions for alignment with organizational priorities and values.
- •Incorporate leadership perspectives and priorities into fundraising strategy recommendations.
- •Suggest strategic fundraising approaches that align with organizational goals.
- •Generate alignment reports showing how strategic decisions support organizational priorities.
- •Track strategic decisions and their outcomes to inform future decision-making.
- •Recommend strategic adjustments when organizational priorities or circumstances change.
Value for staff
- •Ensures strategic fundraising decisions align with organizational priorities.
- •Integrates leadership perspectives into fundraising strategy effectively.
5
Ensure Fundraising Goals Align with Organizational Priorities
Fundraising goals must support organizational priorities rather than operating in isolation. The director ensures that fundraising goals, strategies, and activities align with organizational strategic plans, program priorities, and mission objectives, facilitating coordination between fundraising and organizational leadership.
- •Coordinate fundraising goals with organizational strategic plans and priorities.
- •Ensure fundraising strategies support program goals and organizational objectives.
- •Facilitate alignment between fundraising activities and organizational priorities.
- •Adjust fundraising goals when organizational priorities shift.
- •Communicate how fundraising goals support organizational priorities to leadership and board.
- •Balance fundraising goals with organizational capacity and readiness.
How AI Can Help
Priority Alignment Analysis
What AI can realistically do
- •Analyze fundraising goals for alignment with organizational strategic plans and priorities.
- •Compare fundraising strategies to program goals and organizational objectives.
- •Identify alignment gaps between fundraising activities and organizational priorities.
- •Suggest adjustments to fundraising goals when organizational priorities shift.
- •Generate alignment reports showing how fundraising goals support organizational priorities.
- •Track alignment over time to ensure fundraising remains connected to organizational priorities.
Value for staff
- •Ensures fundraising goals consistently support organizational priorities.
- •Provides visibility into how fundraising advances organizational goals.
Communication & Coordination
What AI can realistically do
- •Generate communication materials explaining how fundraising goals support organizational priorities.
- •Create alignment summaries for leadership and board that show fundraising's contribution to organizational goals.
- •Facilitate coordination between fundraising and organizational priorities through shared documentation.
- •Suggest fundraising approaches that better align with organizational priorities.
- •Track how fundraising activities contribute to organizational objectives.
- •Generate recommendations for improving alignment between fundraising and organizational priorities.
Value for staff
- •Ensures leadership and board understand how fundraising supports organizational priorities.
- •Facilitates coordination between fundraising and organizational goals.
6
Facilitate Cross-Departmental Coordination
Effective fundraising requires coordination with other organizational departments. The director works with executive leadership to facilitate coordination between fundraising and program, finance, communications, and other departments, ensuring fundraising activities are integrated into organizational operations.
- •Coordinate with program staff to understand needs and priorities that inform fundraising.
- •Work with finance to ensure fundraising goals align with budget and financial planning.
- •Coordinate with communications to ensure consistent messaging and brand alignment.
- •Facilitate information sharing between fundraising and other departments.
- •Resolve conflicts or misalignments between fundraising and other organizational priorities.
- •Ensure fundraising activities are integrated into overall organizational operations.
How AI Can Help
Cross-Departmental Communication
What AI can realistically do
- •Generate summaries of program needs and priorities from program staff communications.
- •Create coordination templates and frameworks for cross-departmental collaboration.
- •Facilitate information sharing between fundraising and other departments through shared documentation.
- •Generate coordination reports that show how fundraising integrates with other departments.
- •Suggest coordination approaches that improve cross-departmental collaboration.
- •Track coordination activities and outcomes across departments.
Value for staff
- •Facilitates effective coordination between fundraising and other departments.
- •Ensures fundraising activities are integrated into organizational operations.
Conflict Resolution & Alignment
What AI can realistically do
- •Identify conflicts or misalignments between fundraising and other organizational priorities.
- •Suggest resolution strategies for cross-departmental conflicts.
- •Analyze alignment between fundraising activities and other departmental priorities.
- •Generate recommendations for improving cross-departmental coordination.
- •Track how fundraising activities integrate with program, finance, and communications priorities.
- •Suggest approaches that better align fundraising with other departmental needs.
Value for staff
- •Helps resolve conflicts and improve alignment across departments.
- •Ensures fundraising activities support rather than conflict with other organizational priorities.