Introduction: how AI is reshaping fundraising for nonprofits and donors alike
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way nonprofits connect with donors and manage their fundraising efforts. As the lines between donor and consumer blur, the need to give donors a "typical online experience" grows. To meet new donor expectations, AI is quickly becoming a must-have tool for nonprofits. This is especially true for larger organizations, where the ability to personalize interactions and streamline processes plays a crucial role in driving revenue.
According to the Giving USA 2024 Annual Report, 58% of nonprofits have already integrated AI into their daily operations, with fundraising and marketing seen as the key areas set to benefit. But even with AI’s growing adoption, many nonprofits still face hurdles, like figuring out how to use these tools effectively or overcoming the initial complexity of implementation.
While tools like ChatGPT, which generate content, get a lot of buzz, it’s predictive AI that’s really making waves in fundraising. This technology is the game-changer nonprofits need to drive real results.
What is predictive AI?
Predictive AI works by analyzing large volumes of data and identifying patterns in donor behavior. This enables it to make real-time recommendations, such as suggesting the optimal donation amount or determining the best time to offer a donation upgrade. This type of AI has proven effective in significantly boosting donation conversion rates and increasing recurring donor acquisition by creating personalized experiences for individual donors.
Why AI-driven personalization matters
For donors, AI creates a smoother, more intuitive giving experience. Picture this: instead of donors guessing how much to give, AI suggests donation amounts in real time that fit their profile. This takes the guesswork out of giving and makes the process a lot easier. That personalized touch not only increases donor satisfaction, but it also helps build stronger, long-term relationships with your organization. For nonprofits, this translates into more engaged donors, larger donations, and a steady, predictable revenue stream.
Moving beyond traditional A/B testing
Nonprofits have relied on A/B testing for years to refine their strategies, and it’s still useful for testing specific elements of a campaign. But when it comes to understanding individual donor behavior, traditional A/B testing can only take you so far. Donors are not all the same — they have different preferences, capacities, and motivations. Static gift arrays and broad tests don’t always capture that diversity.
This is where AI steps in. AI doesn’t just find broad trends like A/B testing — it tailors the donation experience in real time for each donor. It learns from key data points, adjusts to things like the donor’s device, location, or traffic source, and then delivers a personalized experience right when it matters most. This adaptability allows nonprofits to connect with donors in a way that static tests just can’t match.
How Fundraise Up uses AI to revolutionize fundraising
At Fundraise Up, AI is at the core of how we help nonprofits enhance their digital fundraising efforts. We’ve been harnessing the power of predictive AI for years, optimizing donor experiences well before AI became a trend. And today, our platform is designed to not just meet, but exceed, the expectations of nonprofits and their supporters, while safeguarding privacy and building trust.
We really appreciate the innovative features in Fundraise Up, such as using AI to populate suggested donation amounts. Fundraise Up is constantly innovating and testing the effectiveness of each new feature to make sure that we can offer an amazing donor experience and even help bring in new donors who will make an impact on our work. — Matthew, Communication Director, China Partnership
From the Checkout process to Campaign pages and Donation forms, AI is woven into every aspect of the donor experience on our platform. This isn’t just about making giving easy — it’s about transforming how nonprofits engage with donors, leading to significant results like doubling online revenue and tripling recurring donor acquisition rates.
Fundraise Up’s AI approach
At Fundraise Up, we believe in harnessing the power of AI to deliver smarter, more personalized donor experiences — while safeguarding privacy. Our AI models are designed to optimize the entire donor journey using a combination of non-PII data and a unique blend of historical and behavioral insights. This ensures nonprofits can maximize donations while maintaining trust and security with their supporters.
A privacy-first approach: non-PII data
Nonprofits collect a staggering amount of data, but making sense of it in a way that drives real results is no small task. Our AI taps into a mind-blowing number of data points to optimize each donor interaction, using non-personally identifiable information (non-PII) or simply anonymized metadata to continuously refine and enhance the donor journey. This means we can predict and deliver what donors need in the moment — without ever needing personal information like their name or email.
The result? A donation experience that is not only personalized but also designed to maximize outcomes — whether it’s larger average donations, more frequent giving, or higher conversion rates.
Combining historical and behavioral data for smarter insights
At Fundraise Up, we combine the best of both worlds: deep, historical data from millions of donation transactions and real-time behavioral insights. This blend enables us to predict and adapt to each donor’s needs as they engage with your nonprofit’s digital platforms.
- Historical data: We’ve trained our AI on years of donation history from thousands of nonprofits globally. This unique dataset allows our platform to make highly accurate predictions about what works best for different types of donors.
- Behavioral data: In real time, our AI adjusts based on donor behavior — things like the device they’re using, the time of day, or even how long they’ve been engaging with your site.
This real-time adaptability, coupled with long-term data insights, allows for highly targeted donation suggestions and frictionless donor experiences.
Pioneers of AI in fundraising
We’re not new to AI. In fact, Fundraise Up has been pioneering AI in the fundraising space for years, giving us a unique advantage over platforms that are just starting to experiment with AI-driven features. Our AI has been rigorously tested and optimized through years of real-world application, leading to tangible results for nonprofits: higher conversion rates, increased donation sizes, and more recurring donors.
Fundraise Up understands nonprofits more than other technology solutions do. The team makes everything as turnkey as possible, and our donors benefit from it. — Rupert Schutz, Director, Digital Performance, Boys & Girls Clubs of America
A data-driven approach: constant optimization through testing
We don’t believe in set-it-and-forget-it AI. Our models are continuously tested and refined through A/B testing and performance optimization. This commitment to real-time improvement means your nonprofit is always benefiting from the most accurate, impactful AI available.
And because AI isn’t perfect, we’ve built in fallback systems to ensure that even if something unexpected happens, your donor experience remains smooth and uninterrupted. It’s this level of detail that sets us apart from competitors who might offer AI but lack the depth of real-time optimization and testing we provide.
Reliability at scale: fast, efficient, and built for high traffic
In the nonprofit sector, moments like #GivingTuesday or end-of-year campaigns can lead to significant surges in traffic. Fundraise Up’s AI is built to handle these high-demand times with ease, ensuring that donors always have a seamless experience, no matter how many people are engaging with the platform simultaneously.
Unmatched web page speed and performance
Speed isn't just about handling high traffic volumes — it's also about how swiftly our AI models can make predictions. Our research reveals that even tiny delays — a mere 100 milliseconds of extra loading time — can negatively impact checkout conversion rates. Sluggish response times frustrate donors and significantly reduce conversions. That's why our team is laser-focused on developing AI models that not only deliver pinpoint accuracy but do so at lightning speed.
A unique dataset to drive results
We’ve spent years developing a unique dataset that no other platform can replicate. Our AI doesn’t just analyze donor behavior — it learns from a deep well of real-world data that has been collected over nearly a decade.
The insights we provide are grounded in actual donor activity, not just assumptions or generalizations. We don't dilute our data with information from unrelated sources like GoFundMe, where donation motivations differ significantly from those of charity donors. This makes our AI smarter, more reliable, and more effective at helping your nonprofit raise more money.
The results speak for themselves
Fundraise Up’s AI delivers standout results, consistently outperforming industry benchmarks. Here’s how we compare:
Conversion rate (click-to-donate):
- Fundraise Up: 29% (with most customers seeing between 20-40%)
- Industry average: 12%
Average one-time donation:
- Fundraise Up: $161
- Industry average: $115
Average monthly recurring donation:
- Fundraise Up: $32
- Industry average: $24
These metrics clearly show how our AI-driven platform helps nonprofits boost both donor conversions and donation amounts.
AI-powered features and how they work
Smarter donation suggestions in real-time
Fundraise Up’s AI shines by making highly accurate donation suggestions at the perfect moment. Nonprofits have long struggled with determining the “perfect ask” — ask for too much, and you risk scaring away potential donors; ask for too little, and you leave money on the table. Fundraise Up solves this by analyzing dozens of data points — from device type and location to time of day and user behavior — and tailors donation amounts in real-time.
We consider everything, ensuring the suggested amount feels right for each donor. Whether it’s someone on a mobile phone in the evening or a desktop user during the day, our AI adjusts the ask to fit their unique context. The result? Donors are more likely to give, and give more.
Impact: Nonprofits using these AI-powered suggestions see a 10-15% increase in overall revenue and up to a 2x increase in donor acquisition rates.
AI optimization for recurring donor acquisition
Recurring donations are critical to sustained revenue, and our AI makes it easy for donors to convert from one-time givers to long-term supporters. By analyzing behavioral data, our AI suggests recurring donation options at the optimal moment — whether it's setting the default frequency before the donation, right during the checkout process, or even after the successful donation.
Impact: Nonprofits using Fundraise Up have seen up to 30% of one-time donors convert to recurring donors through AI-driven prompts.
The recurring upsell has been a game-changer for us. Our team has seen a huge uptick in recurring donations, and we are confident that it's because Fundraise Up makes the process so easy from start to finish. — Maggie McBride, Digital Marketing Manager, Community FoodBank of New Jersey
Smart recommendations for covering transaction costs
Another revenue-boosting feature is our AI’s ability to suggest when to ask donors to cover transaction fees. This isn’t just a blanket request — our AI identifies the right moment to make the ask, ensuring more donors choose to cover these costs.
Impact: On average, 84% of donors on our platform cover transaction fees, compared to the industry average of 50-60%.
Today, data shows that 68% of our donors now cover the cost of transaction fees, resulting in additional revenue that we can put back into services. — Erin Bialecki, Director of Development and Communications, RedRover
AI-driven donor upgrades
Fundraise Up’s AI doesn’t stop once the donation is made. We continue to engage donors with personalized upgrade opportunities, whether through email or our Donor Portal. These upgrades are tailored to each donor, offering seamless ways to increase their giving over time.
- Fundraise Up’s Donor Portal serves as a personalized hub where donors can manage their contributions, review their giving history, and interact with the nonprofit. When a donor clicks the ‘Give More’ button, they’re directed to a customized donation screen with AI-suggested amounts tailored specifically to them.
- Upgrade Links simplify the process for donors to increase their recurring donations or cover transaction fees. When donors click an Upgrade Link, they're directed to a personalized page displaying AI-driven suggested donation amounts. This tailored approach significantly enhances the likelihood of a successful upgrade.
Impact: Up to 60% of donors offered AI-driven upgrade options increase their contributions, with some upgrading by as much as 110%.
Best practices for nonprofits: embrace and trust AI
The organizations that integrate AI into their fundraising operations are already seeing significant improvements in conversion rates, donor retention, and overall revenue. But with this powerful technology also comes a need for trust — trust in the data-driven insights AI provides, and trust that AI can enhance, rather than replace, human decision-making in the fundraising process.
Why nonprofits should trust AI
Even with all the benefits AI offers, some organizations are still hesitant. There are concerns about data accuracy, complexity, or a fear that relying on AI might take away the personal connection in the donor journey. These are understandable worries, but they often miss the mark.
AI, especially as implemented by Fundraise Up, is designed to work with your team, not replace it. It enhances your ability to connect with donors by taking care of the technical, data-driven tasks, freeing up more time for the human touch that matters most.
Test it, trust it, and scale It
At Fundraise Up, our AI-driven features are built in and ready to go, so you can start benefiting right away. From optimized donation amounts to adaptive cost coverage and recurring gift suggestions, these features are designed to boost results with minimal effort on your part.
We encourage you to test these features out and see the difference for yourself. With AI already integrated into your campaigns, you can quickly measure its impact on conversion rates, average donation sizes, and recurring donor acquisition – without needing to worry about complex setups or configurations. It’s easy to get started, and the results speak for themselves.
The team at Fundraise Up is a huge reason for our success. We weren't just sold a product – it was the product along with a partner that helped us choose the best strategy for MAP International. — Janice Bryant, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, MAP International
Addressing common concerns about AI
Data privacy and security
- Concern: How will AI handle donor PII (personally identifiable information), and can it ensure the security of sensitive data?
- Solution: Fundraise Up’s AI operates using non-PII data, meaning it relies on behavioral and engagement data that doesn’t involve sensitive personal information. This ensures compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, while still providing personalized experiences.
Ethical use of AI
- Concern: How can AI be used ethically without pressuring donors or exploiting their emotions and make unbiased decisions?
- Solution: Fundraise Up’s AI is designed to enhance, not manipulate, the donor experience. It uses insights to suggest appropriate donation amounts and timely prompts based on individual behaviors, ensuring that the donor feels empowered and respected throughout the process.
Flexibility and control
- Concern: What if the nonprofit wants more control over how AI is used or wants to test its effectiveness first?
- Solution: Fundraise Up offers full flexibility, allowing nonprofits to switch AI features on or off as needed. You can gradually test features like personalized suggested amounts or adaptive cost coverage without committing fully, enabling you to experiment and adjust based on what works best for your organization.
Add AI to your fundraising toolkit
Harness the power of AI to improve your online fundraising strategy. With personalization and improved performance, you ’ll join the 3,000+ Fundraise Up customers that already benefit from more conversions, larger gifts and a bigger donor base. Speak with our platform experts today for a live demo of our AI.