Some challenges and opportunities to using AI

AI seems to be everywhere these days, and the hype and hyperbole can feel a bit overwhelming at times. At Little Green Light, we are getting requests to jump on board. But, as we do with all of our product development, we are taking time to understand how to provide the best customer experience while keeping privacy concerns front and center. We’re also not happy with the enormous energy requirements that AI is creating worldwide as well as with some of the on-the-ground issues of using it, which we share about in this post. At this point, we don’t see a particular need to rush into anything. And yet, AI offers some opportunities that we think are worth sharing.

Using Google AI Overviews

Some of our customers’ experiences using AI have been a bit bumpy. As an example, we’ve received a couple of questions recently from customers asking why the instructions on how to do something in LGL aren’t working. When they shared where they got the instructions, it turned out they were using the Google AI Overview.

In one case, a customer used a search prompt of:

How do I delete an Import in Little Green Light?

Google’s AI Overview response started with the incorrect statement, “You can’t directly delete an import or the data it created in Little Green Light using the Flex Importer.” This is not accurate. You can delete an import, as long as it is your most recent import.

What probably threw Google off in this case is that our documentation says you can “undo” an import rather saying you can “delete” an import. If you re-run that same search in Google but use the term “undo” instead of “delete” Google AI actually gets it right.

In another case, a customer asked:

How do I create a data field to record the processing fee amount on a gift in Little Green Light?

The Google AI Overview said you can do that using a custom gift field. This is actually very bad advice because those custom fields are for shorter dropdown lists, not open-ended currency values. The correct answer is that Little Green Light stores the gross amount and a net “deposited” amount for the gift, but not the fee itself.

So if you’re looking for information on how to use Little Green Light, we recommend going straight to the source, our Knowledge Base. Or, if you are using Google, you can get a general overview from the AI Overview, but please look at the sources it lists to see the all-important, nitty-gritty details for yourself.

Can AI help me with fundraising?

A strength of AI is its ability to help people think through ideas. You can iterate with AI, so you can treat it more like a conversation, not just a single question that generates a single answer. After you get a response, ask it to add some elements or take things in a different direction. I have mainly been experimenting with the free version of ChatGPT.

Creating a yearlong fundraising plan with AI

You can use AI to help you start building a fundraising plan for the year. You will likely decide to use only parts of the plan, but think of it as a fast way to brainstorm ideas. For example, I entered the prompt below into ChatGPT and got back a month-by-month fundraising plan that could get the ball rolling.

I would like for you to be my development director at a nonprofit. I am the executive director, and I’m asking you to give me a fundraising plan for the year. We have about 1,000 annual donors, and the plan should include two appeal letters and one big gala dinner event, as well as other ideas for generating donations. The projects should be spaced out so we can execute them without getting overwhelmed.

From there, you can ask AI to add or remove certain elements and provide more detailed suggestions for implementation.

Writing fundraising letters with AI

I asked ChatGPT to help me write a fundraising letter. The result was not bad, but you need to be careful with the style of the writing and with any facts and figures. Make sure the letter sounds like you, that you aren’t infringing on anyone’s intellectual property, and that all data is accurate. My prompt was:

Please write a fundraising letter that asks the donor to give generously and recommends gifts of $100, $250, and $500. Tell the donor what great work we do, based on the website [insert your website’s URL here].

Notification letter to the spouse of a deceased member

It can be challenging to write a letter to the surviving spouse of a deceased member of your community when you’ve received memorial gifts. But I was impressed with the letter that was generated in response to this prompt:

I am a nonprofit development director and I need to send a letter to the spouse of a deceased member. We have received seven gifts “in memory of” the deceased member, and I need to notify the surviving spouse. Can you write this letter for me?

ChatGPT included this note ahead of the letter, “Here’s a thoughtful and compassionate letter you can send to the surviving spouse.” And after the letter it added, “This letter strikes a balance between empathy and appreciation while ensuring the spouse is aware of the memorial gifts. Let me know if you’d like any adjustments.”

Conclusion

There are some useful opportunities for using AI today to help you get the ball rolling on a number of the key tasks you need to perform in your fundraising work. At the same time, we recommend exercising caution in considering the source and applying your own critical review and flavor to the final product.