3 Steps Toward Becoming Tomorrow’s Nonprofit Titan

The nonprofit sector is again at an inflection point. Not one for survival like many organizations faced in the throes of the pandemic but one of sustainability and opportunity. And the ones that are the sculptures molding clay right now will become tomorrow’s super-sized household name organizations.

The two biggest concerns on top of most nonprofit leader’s watchlist lists for 2024 are: 

1. Seeking a solution to fundraising shortfalls. 
2. Grappling with staff burnout. 

Not since the financial crisis in 2007 have we seen so many job vacancies for fundraising professionals. Many of us continue to feel stretched beyond capacity but are still coming up short of our goals. The issues have contributed greatly in recent cuts to program capacity and operational inefficiencies. 

Those among us who successfully navigate the fundraising and staffing challenges right now will not just be trendsetters but will rewrite the playbook. Here’s how they’ll do it.

Improve Efficiencies 

How many times have we seen a staffer create something like a fact sheet from scratch when it’s been done before? Have you guessed how your organization should do something when there aren't established procedures? 

In 2003, I helped organize a massive prostate cancer testing campaign across New York City and told an executive editor of a major newspaper I would email him. 

“Don’t,” he said. “I don’t have an email. It’s a fad.” 

The internet has changed from a sort of librarian to an advisory role. Generative AI is not a fad. It makes innovation available to everyone. There is great potential for personal and tech ingenuity to mesh together to solve staff burnout. 

Making room in strategic plans for tech and AI and encouraging our staff to use it in their everyday workflows will save countless hours through improved efficiencies. From using AI to write first-drafts of almost anything, like a fact sheet or a fundraising appeal, to systemizing operational processes, taking meeting notes, editing videos and another 100 functions expands staff bandwidth to do the things that inspire them. This also reduces burnout and allows them time to do things that only humans can do, like build relationships. 

Most nonprofits — if they are using AI — are only using it like a search engine. Apple coined the term, “Is there an app for that? Yes!” We’re fully in the era of “Is there an AI for that?”

Hyper-personalization 

“Hello. It’s your DJ X. I’m starting off with the songs that have been your vibe on Tuesdays.” 

Apologies to those who don’t have an audio streaming account but that’s how Spotify’s DJ talks to us and it’s a prime example of hyper-personalization. 

Amidst this post-pandemic technology boom, we’re feeling more disconnected from one another and looking for meaningful relationships. Nonprofits that find ways to make their donors and constituents feel heard and seen with every single interaction they have with our organizations will not just solve donor retention problems for years but they will amplify the cause-driven passion of our supporters into active ambassadors, persuading anyone with whom they come in contact to join our organizations. 

Unconvinced? Let’s use Spotify as an example again. Who didn’t see social media posts in December about everyone’s Spotify Unwrapped (a personalized top song list) or race to check out their own? There’s a reason why December has the largest monthly gain in the streaming app’s listeners. 

Bringing hyper-personalization to our websites with personalized web pages or app messages that hone in on the issues that each donor cares about the most and sending thank-you emails that aren’t automated but use carefully curated words that your specific supporter uses to describe themselves, give a sense of connectivity only felt when you go to the mom-and-pop restaurant that knows your name and your order. 

Radical Empathy 

Last year, I got the CEO of one of the biggest nonprofits in the country on the phone in 10 minutes. Never met them before, no connections between us, and it wasn’t anything I said (I’m not that charismatic). It was because they believe in radical empathy. 

If you’ve lived under a rock and have not seen “Ted Lasso,” radical empathy is actively considering another person’s point of view to connect more deeply with them or being a human above your job title. It’s also when an executive, a fundraising director or an event manager share a part of their personal selves because you see that making a connection is a win-win proposition no matter what. 

While at my last organization, I asked everyone to cultivate cause champions by showing love and compassion to everyone. How they did that was up to them. For example, they could make personal phone calls (and not just to major donors), open our social media to supporters or show up to events, such as cookouts, karaoke nights and birthdays. 

The nonprofit space waffles back and forth between lagging donor retention and acquisition, but showing up for an ambassador of our cause and sharing the experience inspires mid-level supporters and new constituents to come forward and say, “This is where I belong.” 

Nonprofits that embrace new technology now will outpace a nonprofit twice their size that is trying to solve today’s challenges with yesterday’s solutions. The more we can embrace AI to automate the mind-numbing chores of staff so they’re not so burnt out and the more we digitize a high, personal touch each and every time someone visits our websites, apps and events, the more time we have to make transformational connections that will propel us past our fundraising goals.

Editor’s Note: Jamie Bearse predicted nonprofits must invest in technology this year to facilitate future growth in NonProfitPRO’s “40 Nonprofit Trends for 2024” resource. Download the nonprofit trends resource to read his prediction, as well as 39 others from nonprofit thought leaders. 

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.