Giving Compass' Take:

• Beth Kanter shares insights into fundraising in the next era of digital technology from the Festival del Fundraising in Italy. 

• What will these changes mean for your philanthropy and organizations you support? 

• Read about the relationship between philanthropy and technology. 

I spoke about how the technology is evolving and future implications. It is very important as we approach this next technical era, that we don’t put on blinders. We need to look at how the technology is impacting our organizations and the people we serve. I also shared some current examples of what early adopters are doing both the fundraising niche and for program delivery.

AI-Driven fundraising key benefit is the ability to scale 1:1 engagement that now is primarily reserved for major donors. And, while automation has enabled early adopter fundraisers with the right database tools to pinpoint donor segments and customize communication, it is not the same thing as 1:1 engagement at scale. AI-Driven fundraising has the ability to scale customized donor interaction at scale. When you think about combination of AI-Driven fundraising and networks, the potential is mind blowing.

However, if only focused on the ROI benefit – you lose some of that potential because it lead to prospecting over keeping current donors engaged. We must embrace the concept of  ‘CoBoting” is not part of the strategy. (CoBoting is using AI to free up human time from manual and tedious process and focus on the truly human abilities like donor engagement, creativity, etc).

Like any technology, there is both the benefits and the dark side.

Read the full article about fundraising and digital technology by Beth Kanter.