Fundraising.AI
Episode 34
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OVERVIEW
Revolutionize the donation process, making it smarter, more efficient, and deeply personalized, all while ensuring transparency and trust within the nonprofit sector!
This episode features Salvatore Salpietro, the Chief Community Officer at FundraiseUp, a tech company that enhances charitable giving by optimizing donation processes. Their platform helps nonprofits boost engagement and revenue through improved conversion rates, modern payment options, and personalized donor experiences. Moreover, Fundraise Up partners with global organizations like UNICEF USA and The Salvation Army UK.
Sal begins today’s conversation by sharing his role in fostering community engagement and recounts his transition from the tech industry to the nonprofit sector. Sal narrates the origin story of Fundraise Up, rooted in the founders’ frustration with complex donation processes, which led them to create a more user-friendly and AI-powered platform that optimizes donor experiences at scale.
The discussion moves to the challenges and benefits of AI in fundraising, where Sal and the hosts, Nathan and Scott, emphasize the importance of making donations seamless to prevent donor abandonment. They explore how AI enhances efficiency and personalization in fundraising while addressing ethical concerns surrounding AI use in the nonprofit sector. Sal explains Fundraise Up’s commitment to transparency, privacy, and ethical practices, ensuring their AI models are built on anonymous data to avoid bias.
Looking ahead, Sal predicts that AI will revolutionize nonprofit operations by creating efficiencies and improving outcomes rather than transforming the sector entirely. He also mentions the upcoming Fundraising AI Global Summit, where he will present unexpected AI outcomes that drive impact.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- [03:13] Fundraise Up's Origin Story and Mission
- [05:09] Sal's Journey to Fundraise Up
- [07:56] Use of AI in Fundraising
- [23:21] Ethics, Privacy, and Transparency in AI Use
- [26:32] Future of AI in the Nonprofit Sector
- [34:37] Upcoming Fundraising AI Global Summit
TIPS AND TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT TODAY
- Prioritize building solid relationships with your supporters.
- Use technology to simplify and enhance the donor experience.
- Implement AI tools to tailor donor interactions and increase conversions.
- Offer diverse and user-friendly payment options.
- Use AI to analyze donor behavior and optimize engagement strategies.
- Be clear about how AI and data are used in your operations.
- Follow frameworks like GDPR and SOC 2 to ensure privacy and security.
- Focus on creating a seamless and dynamic checkout process to reduce donation drop-offs.
- Keep adapting to technological changes and advancements.
- Choose AI solutions that align with your ethical standards and operational needs.
FAVORITE QUOTES
- "There's a lot of unnecessary fear around AI. AI has benefits for us, just like the internet did." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "AI is just going to change how we work. It's not going to change this industry." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "Every tool that nonprofits are using has AI in it, pretty much already." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "The threats hold for friction is way lower on a donation than it is for buying a pair of shoes." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "I get the serotonin hit when I donate. I feel generous when I click donate in the email on your website." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "Our job is to delight the donor and make it so easy that they're blown away." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "Fundraise Up optimizes the dynamic donor checkout experiences at scale and makes it personalized to the donor, leveraging AI." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "Fundraise Up doesn't use any personal information in any of our AI; it's completely anonymous data. It's anonymized." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "It's not out to transform the sector. It is out to transform process, transform mindsets, transform efficiency." - Salvatore Salpietro
- "AI will transform the tech in the sector. I hope that, at some point, every platform in this space will have some sort of AI. - Salvatore Salpietro
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MEET YOUR HOSTS
Nathan Chappell
As a thought leader, public speaker, author and inventor, Nathan is one of the world’s foremost experts on the intersection between Artificial Intelligence and philanthropy. Nathan serves as Senior Vice President of DonorSearch AI, where he leads AI deployments for some of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations. Nathan’s subject matter expertise has been featured in several publications, including Fast Company, University of Notre Dame and the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy. In 2021, Nathan founded Fundraising.Ai as a member-centric collaboration of nonprofit professionals with a focus on data ethics, data equality, privacy and security, sustainability. Nathan presented the first TEDx on the topic of artificial intelligence and the future of generosity in 2018. Nathan is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and holds a Masters in Nonprofit Administration from University of Notre Dame, an MBA from University of Redlands, a certificate in International Economics from University of Cambridge and a certificate in Artificial Intelligence from MIT.
Scott Rosenkrans
Scott Rosenkrans is the Assistant Vice President of DonorSearch Ai and has been with the organization for three years. He began his journey in the nonprofit sector twelve years ago as a prospect researcher. He quickly became fascinated with data as he noticed the organization that he previously worked for was amassing a wealth of information but was unsure how to efficiently use the data and resources to its full potential. This led him to become interested in predictive modeling and data analytics. During this time, he began to create an immense commitment to delivering tailor-made machine learning models to nonprofits.
The thing that Scott loves most about working for DonorSearch is the ability to prioritize what is best for the client and nonprofit sector above all else. He believes that growth is our most important core value because the DSAi team continuously evolves and brings a unique perspective that provides value to our clients. He stays ahead of industry trends because of his insatiable drive to constantly try out new things.
Favorite nonprofit: Shriner’s Children Hospital because of their extreme commitment to providing exceptional medical care, while also alleviating the financial burdens on families.
