AI for Nonprofits: How to Use AI, Steps, and Tools

Last month, I talked with a program director at a small housing nonprofit. Her five-person team was buried in paperwork, grant deadlines, and donor outreach.

When I asked about using AI tools to lighten the load, she sighed and said: "We tried that ChatGPT thing once. It wrote weird robot text nobody would believe came from us."

This happens all the time. Nonprofits grab whatever AI tool they've heard about, try it without guidance, get mediocre results, and give up. Meanwhile, other organizations quietly transform how they work.

The numbers back this up. About 82% of nonprofits admit their staff use AI tools under the radar, mostly for writing emails and social content. But only 25% have any real plan for it. 

What's interesting is when nonprofits get strategic about AI use, good things happen. Some organizations report 30% fundraising increases after implementing AI for donor communications.

I wrote this guide because I got tired of seeing AI articles that don't address what nonprofits deal with. You know, tiny budgets. Overworked staff. Board members asking why you're not on TikTok yet. The usual.

So, instead of theoretical AI babble, I'll break down exactly how nonprofits can use AI to stretch limited resources, reach more donors, and fulfill their missions more effectively.

No jargon, no hype, just practical applications that work in the real world.

Why AI Matters for Nonprofits in 2025?

Most nonprofits in 2025 are struggling with the same problems they had over 10 years ago. Not enough staff. Too many grant reports. Donors want more personalized attention.

And everyone's favorite: "We need to do more with less!"

The numbers tell a pretty brutal story. According to research from Google, 40% of nonprofits admit that nobody on their staff knows anything about AI. Meanwhile, 41% say AI would greatly benefit their work. That's a mess of contradictions right there.

So why should you care when you already have 50 other priorities?

For starters, your competition already uses these tools. A friend who runs a medium-sized homeless services organization told me something that stuck with me:

"We noticed all the grants were going to organizations with slick applications and perfect data. We couldn't figure out how they were producing that quality with similar staffing until we realized they were using AI tools to handle the basic writing and data visualization."

The playing field isn't level anymore. Organizations that stick to completely manual processes for everything find themselves falling behind in both fundraising and program delivery.

What surprised me most when looking at the research was learning that 74% of online donors want nonprofits to use AI for marketing, fundraising, and administrative tasks.

They're not worried about authenticity like we think. They're worried their donations are being wasted on stuff that could be automated.

One small animal shelter started using AI to write basic social media posts about adoptable pets. Their development director told me,

"I felt guilty at first like I was cheating. Then, I realized I could post about twice as many animals, which meant more adoptions. What's more authentic than fulfilling our mission better?"

In 2025, AI for nonprofits isn't about robots taking over. It's about letting your humans do the human part of the work while computers handle the boring stuff.

Your staff didn't sign up to spend hours formatting reports or scheduling social media. They signed up because they care about your cause.

When they can focus on that, everybody wins.

How Nonprofits Can Use AI?

Most nonprofits start using AI in predictable places. The top three areas are internal productivity (35%), marketing and communications (31%), and fundraising (24%).

But knowing where to use AI isn't the same as knowing how to use it effectively. Let's look at practical applications that save time and money.

AI for Content Generation

Most content guides tell you to use AI to write social media posts, blogs, and reports. But simply prompting it won’t get you good results. Here are the best tricks I found for creating content with AI.

Create a simple one-page "voice guide" that describes your organization's tone, values, and language preferences. Share this with AI tools before asking for content to get more on-brand results.

You can also give AI the transcript of your monthly meetings to extract real stories your team shares naturally.

And don't ask for "create social media posts for my food drive". Instead, give specific prompts like "Write a Facebook post announcing our food drive on June 5th that encourages people to donate canned goods and mentions we're trying to collect 1,000 pounds of food" and must attach the brand voice and transcript documents.

You can also breathe new life into that annual report nobody reads. Feed each section into AI, asking it to turn formal report language into social media posts or blogs that make someone care about your work.

Like that, you've got months of content from something you've already created.

Most nonprofits waste time writing the same emails repeatedly. Try creating what I call an "email formula library."

Take your most common email types (volunteer confirmation, donation thank you, event reminder), write one great version of each, and use AI to adapt that formula for each specific situation. You might save hours every week.

The text is great, but the video now gets way more attention. You can now make AI videos in minutes to share impact stories that would otherwise take days to produce professionally.

Use AI tools like Zebracat to turn your written content into video in minutes without needing editing skills. You just type what you want to say, and it creates a complete video with visuals and voiceover.

AI for Donor Management and Fundraising

30% of nonprofits report that AI has boosted fundraising revenue in the past year. However, most nonprofits only use AI to segment donors and don’t get the results. There's more interesting stuff you can do.

Take a look at your donation page abandonment rate. How many people start to donate but leave before finishing? Run this data through AI analysis to spot issues.

Often, the problem is simply that your form takes too long to complete compared to other sites. Small fixes here can make a big difference in completed donations.

Use AI to analyze your current donor base and create a “donor profile”. Now find people with similar characteristics to your best supporters by analyzing public information about who gives to similar organizations. This helps focus your acquisition efforts.

Try analyzing when each donor tends to give. Instead of sending appeals based on your calendar, you might discover certain donors consistently give at specific times (like year-end, spring, or around their birthday).

Schedule personalized outreach for these windows, and you'll likely see better results.

AI for Grant Writing and Funding Applications

Grant writing is perfect for AI help. It's repetitive, follows patterns, and consumes way too much time. But instead of copy-pasting whatever AI gives, write grants this way.

Copy text from a funder's website, mission statement, and prior grant announcements into an AI tool and ask it to identify the key phrases, priorities, and values. Then, use those exact words when writing your proposal. Funders notice when you speak their language.

If you've had some grant rejections (and who hasn't?), try this:

Feed your rejected applications into AI and ask it to identify common weaknesses or patterns. You might discover you consistently underexplain certain sections or use language that doesn't resonate with funders.

To save serious time, try using AI to generate program logic models. Input your program description and ask for a detailed framework including inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact.

This gives you something solid to refine rather than building from scratch.

I've also noticed organizations getting better results by customizing their language for different types of funders. Government, foundations, corporations, and individual donors each respond to different tones and emphasis areas.

Keep separate AI prompts for each funder type to help tailor your language appropriately.

AI for Outreach and Marketing

Social media management can devour your time with disappointing results if you're not strategic about it.

Look at what's already working for similar organizations. Ask AI to analyze your most successful competitors' social accounts to identify what content types, posting times, and engagement strategies are getting results.

The biggest time-saver is content refreshing. Take your best-performing posts from previous years and use AI to update the information and language while keeping an effective structure.

It takes minutes versus hours for new content creation, and these refreshed posts often perform nearly as well as they did originally.

When planning events, AI can help create complete run-of-show documents, speaker introductions, and talking points based on simple bullet points about the event's purpose and participants.

This might seem minor, but these documents take hours to create manually and are usually needed when you're already busy with other event details.

AI for Volunteer and Staff Management

Good volunteer experiences often lead to donations, making this area worth investing some AI effort.

Try analyzing your volunteer database to identify patterns: which initial roles lead to longer retention, which responsibilities correlate with eventual giving, and what communication frequency keeps people engaged.

You can use these insights to design volunteer pathways that naturally lead to deeper engagement.

When reviewing volunteer applications, look beyond what people explicitly list as skills. Ask AI to help identify implied or secondary skills that might not be mentioned directly.

You'd be surprised how many valuable capabilities get overlooked in traditional screening processes.

You can also use AI-powered learning platforms to deliver customized training to volunteers and staff, adapting to their existing knowledge and learning pace.

After volunteer shifts, consider automatically generating personalized thank-you emails that reference the specific tasks accomplished that day. This takes minimal staff time but makes volunteers feel seen and appreciated, which improves retention.

Pay attention to volunteer engagement patterns. Decreased hours, slower response to communications, or missed shifts might signal that someone is about to stop volunteering. Early intervention can often prevent dropout and maintain your volunteer base.

AI for Administrative Efficiency

Nobody wants to spend their time on paperwork, yet administrative tasks eat up roughly a third of nonprofit staff hours.

AI productivity tools can reduce administrative workload by up to 40% when implemented correctly.

Here are some practical tasks you can automate:

• Organize, categorize, and extract information from documents using AI tools to make retrieval fast and easy 
• AI tools can help with bookkeeping, expense categorization, budget tracking, and financial reporting.
• Transcribe meeting discussions with AI and even identify action items and assignments
• Automate data entry tasks and clean up inconsistencies in databases
• Generate routine reports for various stakeholders, pulling from multiple data sources with AI

Steps to Implement AI in a Nonprofit Organization

The hardest part of bringing AI into your nonprofit isn't picking the right tools. It's changing how your team works without creating chaos.

Most organizations rush into buying AI software before they understand what problems they need to solve. Let's talk about a better approach that won't waste your limited time and money.

Assess Organizational Needs and Readiness

Skip the fancy readiness assessments. Just ask your team one simple question: "What tasks do you hate doing that don't require human judgment?" Their answers will point to your best AI starting points.

You don't need a consultant for this. Grab a sheet of paper and track where your time goes for a typical week. Focus on repetitive tasks that eat up hours but don't need your expertise or creativity. These are perfect for AI assistance.

Most nonprofits discover that about 30% of their work falls into things like reformatting reports, drafting routine communications, or entering data. Automate these first.

Set Clear AI Goals and Objectives

The biggest mistake I see is nonprofits saying, "We're going to use AI" without specifying what problem they're trying to solve. That's like saying "We're going to use a hammer" without knowing what you need to build.

Keep your goals tied directly to your mission. How will this AI implementation help you serve more people, raise more money, or reduce staff burnout? If you can't answer that clearly, reconsider your approach.

Start with just one or two clear objectives. You can always expand later, but trying to transform everything at once usually leads to nothing changing.

Choose the Right AI Tools and Solutions

Don't fall for marketing hype or complex solutions. For most nonprofits, the best tools are the ones you'll use consistently.

Consider these factors when selecting tools:

1. Ease of use (simple interfaces that don't require technical expertise)
2. Security features and data protection
3. Pricing and whether they offer special pricing for 501(c)(3) organizations
4. Integration with your existing systems (CRM, email platform, etc.)
5. Customer support options
6. Reviews from similar organizations
7. Consider how much staff training each tool will require

Useful trick: Create a simple AI tool directory for your organization listing approved tools, what they're good for, and basic usage guidelines. This helps staff know what's available and appropriate for different tasks.

Train Staff and Volunteers on AI Usage

Even the best AI tools will gather dust if people don't know how to use them. Invest time in proper training.

Unfortunately, 69% of nonprofit marketers who use AI have not received training. This leads to ineffective use and missed opportunities.

Forget general "Introduction to AI" sessions. Nobody remembers those. Instead, create short, task-specific training: "Using AI to draft volunteer thank-you notes" or "Creating social media graphics with AI."

The key message in any training: AI gives you a starting point, not a finished product. Everything it creates needs human review before use. It helps address the common fear that AI will replace people's jobs.

I've found that 20-minute "micro-training" videos work best. Staff can watch these when they need to learn a specific task, rather than trying to remember something from a workshop months ago.

Implement AI Solutions in Phases

Don't try to transform everything at once. A phased approach reduces risk and allows for learning along the way.

A typical implementation might follow this pattern:

1. Pilot phase with one team or department
2. Evaluation and adjustment based on feedback
3. Expanded rollout with improved processes
4. Regular check-ins and optimizations

During the pilot, gather both quantitative data (time saved, outputs produced) and qualitative feedback (user satisfaction, concerns raised).

Be prepared for some resistance. Change is hard, and AI can trigger fears about job security. Address these concerns openly by focusing on how AI handles tedious tasks so humans can do more meaningful work.

Monitor AI Performance and Optimize

AI isn't "set it and forget it" technology. Regular monitoring and optimization are essential.

Once you're regularly using AI tools, schedule monthly check-ins to ensure they're delivering value. This doesn't need to be formal, just consistent.

Ask users what's working and what isn't. Their feedback will tell you more than any metrics. If people aren't using a tool, there's usually a good reason.

Watch for quality issues. Randomly review AI outputs to ensure they maintain your standards and values. This is especially important for external communications.

Remember that 76% of nonprofits don't have an AI policy in place. Even a simple one-page document outlining appropriate uses can prevent problems.

Focus on when AI should and shouldn't be used rather than on technical details.

Best AI Tools for Nonprofits in 2025

The AI tool industry is overwhelming right now. Every week, there's a new "game-changing" AI platform with a fancy website and big promises.

I've tested dozens of these tools with nonprofit clients and found most aren't worth your time. The ones below deliver real value specifically for nonprofit work without requiring a tech degree.

AI Tools for Donor Management and Fundraising

AI tools can help you find, connect with, and retain donors. These tools aren't just about sending more emails or creating flashier campaigns, they're about understanding your supporters better than ever before.

DonorSearch AI

DonorSearch AI helps nonprofits identify which potential donors are most likely to give to their cause. It analyzes your current donor base and enriches it with hundreds of additional data points to predict giving behavior.

Instead of guessing who might support your work, it shows you exactly where to focus your limited time.

Key Features

• Identifies which prospects are most likely to make a gift within the next 12 months
• Adds over 800 data points to your existing donor information
• Creates custom AI models specific to your nonprofit's unique donor patterns
• Makes complex data easy to understand with clear visualizations
• Offers tailored approaches for healthcare, education, arts, and other nonprofit sectors

Dataro

Dataro analyzes your donor database to predict which supporters will most likely give, upgrade, or lapse, helping you target the right people at the right time. Over 300 nonprofits across 20+ countries currently use it to drive their fundraising strategies.

Key Features

• Predictive scoring that ranks donors by likelihood to respond to different campaign types
• Integration with common nonprofit CRMs like Salesforce, Raiser's Edge, and Microsoft Dynamics
• Campaign targeting tools that help build donor segments based on predicted behavior
• Automated weekly updates to predictions as donor behavior changes
• Content generation for personalized donor communications

If Dataro feels too complex or your organization is smaller, check out KIT (Keep In Touch). It's more affordable and designed for nonprofits with fewer donors.

KIT connects to your CRM and provides simple donor insights without requiring data science knowledge. Their predictive features help identify which donors are most likely to give again soon.

AI Tools for Content Creation and Marketing

Creating content used to be expensive and required specialized skills. Now, AI tools make content easier to create, especially for small nonprofits with limited resources.

Zebracat

Zebracat is the best AI video generator among all I have used. It converts text into fully edited videos with AI avatars, voiceovers, visuals, and music, which are perfect for sharing impact stories, campaign updates, or educational content.

Key Features

• Turn your existing written content into videos without starting from scratch
• Access to 170+ languages for international outreach
• Makes videos accessible to all audiences automatically
• Includes millions of images and video clips you can use without copyright concerns
• Adjust videos without technical skills
• Reduced pricing for qualifying organizations

Canva AI

Canva has been around for years, but its newer AI tools have made it particularly valuable for nonprofits.

It's a graphic design platform that lets you create everything from social posts to presentations without design skills. The AI features help speed up the process and improve quality.

Key Features

• Magic Resize automatically adjusts your designs for different platforms. Make something once, then convert it to Instagram, Facebook, email header, etc.
• Instantly removes backgrounds from images with one click.
• Translates text in your designs to different languages, great for reaching diverse communities.
• Magic Write generates text for captions, headlines, or descriptions when you're stuck.
• Suggests color combinations that work well together based on your starting point.

AI Tools for Grant Writing and Research

Grant writing might be the most time-consuming task nonprofits face. With limited staff and resources, every hour spent on applications is an hour not spent on direct service. 

Thankfully, several AI tools can help streamline this process.

Grantable

Grantable uses AI to help nonprofits manage their entire grant process, from finding opportunities to submitting polished applications.

The platform analyzes successful grant applications to help organizations understand what works while providing tools to streamline writing and collaboration.

Key Features

• Helps draft application sections based on past successful grants
• Finds relevant grants based on your organization's profile and goals
• Monitors deadlines and application status across your grants pipeline
• Shows success rates and suggests improvements for future applications
• Allows multiple team members to work on applications together
• Provides insights into the likelihood of grant approval

Pros and Cons of Grantable

Grantboost

Grantboost analyzes your organization's mission, team, and funding goals to create customized grant proposals that align with funder expectations. Nonprofits can either start from scratch or input existing material for the AI to enhance.

Key Features

• The tool generates grant proposals based on information about your team, mission, and goals
• You can either copy/paste existing information or start from scratch
• Review and edit AI-generated content to match your organization's voice
• Tools to help manage the entire application process from start to finish

Pros and Cons

Other valuable tools in this space include:

Instrumental helps match your nonprofit with relevant grant opportunities and provides templates for common application sections. It's particularly strong for organizations just starting their grant-seeking journey.

OpenGrants provides an AI-powered search engine that filters opportunities by location, mission area, and funding amount. I've found their filtering system particularly useful for finding local funding sources that larger databases sometimes miss.

AI Tools for Program Impact Measurement

Measuring program impact is often the most challenging part of nonprofit work. You need to prove that your efforts make a difference, but tracking and analyzing outcomes can be incredibly time-consuming.

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud is a CRM platform built specifically for nonprofits that helps track program delivery and measure outcomes. It centralizes data from participants, programs, and services to help organizations demonstrate their impact to funders and stakeholders.

Key Features

• Build custom frameworks to track the specific outcomes that matter to your programs
• Track participant journeys and service delivery in one place
• Visualize program results with reports that update automatically
• Create custom assessments to collect participant data at different stages
• Track which participants are in which programs and their progress

Pros and Cons

Sopact Impact Cloud

Sopact Impact Cloud is an AI-powered platform that helps organizations measure, manage, and report on their social and environmental impact. It offers tools for data collection, analysis, and visualization, making it an ideal solution for impact-driven organizations.

Key Features

• Creates visual maps of how your activities lead to outcomes
• Pulls information from surveys, CRMs, and spreadsheets into one place
• Builds real-time visuals of your impact metrics
• Collects feedback directly from program participants
• Generates funder-ready impact reports
• Spot patterns and trends in your impact data

Pros and Cons

AI Tools for Administrative Efficiency

Administrative tasks drain nonprofit resources faster than almost anything else. Here are some tools that can help speed up these necessary but time-consuming processes.

Notion AI

Notion AI sits within the popular Notion workspace platform that many nonprofits already use for notes, tasks, and project management. It brings AI capabilities directly into your existing workflows, helping with everything from document creation to information retrieval.

Key Features

• Finds information across Notion, Slack, Google Drive, and connected apps
• Creates first drafts of reports, emails, and other content
• Extracts insights from uploaded PDFs and images
• Answers questions about your organization's knowledge base
• Import knowledge from any app to make Notion AI smarter

Pros and Cons

ClickUp

ClickUp combines task management with AI features that help with writing, summarizing content, and organizing information. Several nonprofits I've worked with use it to coordinate across programs while keeping everyone accountable.

Key Features

• Helps draft emails, reports, and other content directly within your project workspace
• Creates workflows that automatically assign tasks, send notifications, and track progress
• Builds intake forms for volunteers, donations, or program applications that feed directly into your workflow
• Allows teams to create and edit shared documents with version history
• Offers pre-built templates for common nonprofit workflows like donor management and event planning

Pros and Cons

Challenges and Risks of Using AI in Nonprofits

Let's talk about the stuff that can go wrong with AI. This isn't meant to scare you off, but going in with eyes open helps avoid the mistakes I've seen other organizations make.

Data Privacy Concerns

About 70% of nonprofit professionals worry about data privacy when using AI. Many nonprofits handle sensitive beneficiary information that requires protection.

To mitigate this risk:

• Choose tools with strong security credentials
• Limit what sensitive data you input into AI systems
• Create clear policies about what information can be used with AI
• Stay informed about privacy regulations affecting your sector

The Resource Trap

The promise of AI is saving time and money. The reality is sometimes the opposite if AI tools are not implemented strategically.

Start tiny. Pick one simple task that takes too much time now. Try using a free or low-cost AI tool just for that specific task for two weeks. Measure whether it saves time before expanding.

Remember that learning curves are real. Something that eventually saves time might initially take longer as staff adjust. Build in extra time for this transition period.

Bias and Representation Problems

About 57% of nonprofits worry about bias in AI outputs. This isn't just about being politically correct, it's about serving communities accurately.

The fix isn't avoiding AI altogether. Instead, get specific in your prompts about diversity and representation. Rather than "create images of volunteers," try "create images showing diverse volunteers of different ages, ethnicities, and abilities working together."

Also helpful: Have people from different backgrounds review AI-generated content. Things that seem fine to one person jump out immediately to someone with different life experiences.

Accuracy Problems

AI can confidently present incorrect information as fact. For nonprofits that need to maintain public trust, this creates serious risks.

To address this:

• Always have a human review of AI-generated content
• Fact-check information before publishing
• Use AI as a starting point, not the final product
• Set clear quality standards for AI outputs

Losing the Human Touch

The biggest risk might be losing what makes nonprofit work special: genuine human connection.

I've seen organizations get so excited about efficiency that they automate interactions that should stay personal. Board updates, major donor communications, volunteer recognition, and staff feedback are areas where people notice and care about real human attention.

A simple rule of thumb: The more important the relationship, the more human touch it deserves. Use AI to save time on the routine stuff so you can invest more personal attention in these key relationships, not less.

Conclusion

Look, I get it. Adding one more thing to your nonprofit's plate feels impossible. But here's what I've learned watching organizations implement AI: Start tiny.

Pick just one annoying task that eats up your time. Try an AI approach for two weeks. See what happens.

The organizations getting the most from AI aren't tech experts. They're just willing to experiment.

Don't overthink this. You don't need policies and committees to get started. But you do need to be realistic. AI won't magically fix underfunding or staff burnout. It will simply free up time for the human work that matters.

Most importantly, remember why this matters. Every hour your team spends on tasks that could be automated is an hour they're not spending on your mission.

Every dollar wasted on inefficient processes is a dollar not serving your community.

Your work is too important to get stuck in outdated ways of doing things. Try something new this week, even if it's small.