Ethical AI Fundraising Strategies for Nonprofits in 2025
Why AI Matters to Fundraising
Artificial intelligence (AI) includes software that can spot patterns, draft text, or do tasks faster than a human.
In a recent U.S. survey, 3 out of 4 nonprofits said AI saved staff time, especially on data clean-up and writing first-draft emails. blog.google
Nearly 80 % of nonprofits still don’t have an organization-wide AI policy. The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Donors notice: organizations that answer questions quickly and send truly relevant messages raise more money and keep supporters longer.
Three Rules for Ethical AI Fundraising
1. Keep Personal Details Out of the Machine
Imagine AI as a powerful copier that keeps a shadow image of everything you feed it.
Never paste a real donor’s full name, address, or giving amounts into a public AI tool (like ChatGPT).
An easy workaround would be to swap specifics for placeholders before you hit “submit”. For example: “Donor A, gift range $100–$250, five years of giving.”
You can use AI to scan large amounts of information, just make sure you anonymize it!
2. Use AI to Handle the Heavy Lifting, But Never the Handshake
Good uses for beginners:
Spotting trends – “Show me donors whose giving went down last year.” (Always anonymous)
Drafting copy – “Write a first pass of our thank-you letter in a warm, friendly tone for gifts of $500 or more.”
Summarizing survey comments – “Give me three main themes from 200 responses.”
AI gives you a head start but it’s still your job to finish the race. Relationship steps like phone calls, personal notes, coffee meetings should always stay human.
3. Always Put a Human in the Final Seat
Before any AI-created list or message leaves your office:
Read it. Does it sound like you? Or does it sound like it was written by AI? The more that you use AI, the more you’ll be able to distinguish this.
Check numbers. Sometimes the data AI pulls can be incorrect always verify the data that it generates to make sure that it is accurate.
Sign off. If you work on a team, try keeping a simple “reviewed by” log so everyone knows who gave the green light. Anything generated by AI should ALWAYS be checked by a human.
Green Light / Yellow Light / Red Light Examples for AI
Green Light (Safe)
Counting how many gifts came in last month
Drafting social-media captions from last year’s annual report
2. Yellow Light (Exercise Caution and Pay Attention)
Asking AI to predict exact amounts each donor will give anonymously
Letting AI write a first draft of a major-gift proposal for staff/human review and edits
3. Red Light (Stop!)
Uploading full credit-card numbers or financial details
Publishing an AI draft letter word-for-word with no edits
Ready to try AI for your Nonprofit?
PRIDE Philanthropy can help your nonprofit raise more money while using simple AI tools to take some of the admin tasks off of your plate. Book a free chat and we would love to learn about your nonprofit!
