Fundraisers report that their biggest challenge in prospect engagement is booking the first donor meeting. Here are two ways that any fundraiser can use AI to book more donor meetings.
On a recent webinar with Joe Manok, Vice President of University Advancement at Clark University, we took a poll of fundraisers from over 90 institutions across the country.
Our research has shown that it takes an average of 6.5 touchpoints to book a first meeting with a donor. So, the fact that over 60% of attendees answered “Getting the first meeting” makes good sense.
Booking that first meeting with a donor is hard. Inboxes are full. There’s a lot of noise and distractions. It can be so challenging to capture a donor’s attention.
Here’s some great news: There are a few quick and inexpensive ways that you can use AI to power, personalize, and politely persist in your outreach to book that first donor meeting.
1. Use AI to inform personalized outreach.
Using free versions of AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini (or low-cost, higher-capability versions of these tools), you can glean the internet for publicly available information on a prospect. Use those findings to develop an outreach angle that is likely to connect the donor’s interests with the university.
Suggested AI prompt for ChatGPT: “I am a fundraiser at _______. Can you please help me understand____________’s philanthropic and family history and help me identify a potential intersection with our work here at ________.” (Important note: Do not share any confidential donor information, such as giving history, with open-source AI tools.)
Up-level with Signal by EverTrue:
In Signal, fundraisers can see a live AI-generated prospect bio that summarizes all the information that exists on that donor – from academic involvement to giving history to trends from past contact reports. Fundraisers can prompt Signal for more information on a donor, such as asking “Is this prospect married?” “How many children do they have?” “Have they ever mentioned a favorite professor?”
2. Use AI to build a multi-step outreach plan.
All fundraisers know that omni-channel outreach is the key to capturing donors’ attention. Email, phone calls, LinkedIn connections, hand written letters, texting, and social media engagement all have a place in the “outreach toolkit.”
Given that it takes an average of 6.5 touchpoints to book a first donor meeting, having a month-long plan for politely persistent outreach is the key to breaking through to a donor.
Suggested AI prompt for ChatGPT: “Please build a seven-touchpoint outreach plan, including email copy and suggested voicemail scripts, for me to politely and persistently reach out to _________ for a meeting to discuss philanthropy at __________. This outreach plan should span the course of a month and include a mix of emails, phone calls, one hand-written note, and a LinkedIn connection.”
Up-level with Signal by EverTrue:
In Signal, fundraisers can view synthesized summaries of past contact reports that highlight key themes and fundraising angles. Using these insights, fundraisers can use Signal’s custom cadences to get targeted email copy, phone call reminders, and follow-up prompts – and then move their prospects through a structured outreach cadence. Cadences are customizable based on the prospect’s “warmth,” the goal of the outreach (i.e. book a meeting, follow-up on a gift conversation, or stewardship), and the duration of the outreach (i.e. a weekly touchpoint or a monthly impact update).
ROI
Clark University is one example of a team that has fully leaned into AI to power their fundraising in an ethical, informed, safe, and strategic way – and they are seeing some amazing results.
When tasked with doubling their campaign goal and cutting the campaign duration in half, Joe Manok knew the team would have to lean on AI-powered tech tools to remove the minutiae of fundraising and keep their brainpower focused on building relationships.
Now, the Clark team operates with 1/2 of the recommended full-time fundraising team and is now projecting over $3.4MM in estimated savings over the course of the next six years.
Clark joins a growing number of institutions across the country that are safely using AI to keep fundraisers focused on what they do best: building relationships. (Not keeping track of meeting reminders, phone call follow-ups, or stewardship touchpoints.)
Tune in to the full (free!) webinar, featuring EverTrue President Brent Grinna and Clark University Vice President for Advancement Joe Manok for more tips on how fundraisers can work smarter and generate more impact by leaning into the power of AI.
