What’s the Future of AI for the Nonprofit Sector?

Summary

Nonprofit Leadership Podcast: What’s the Future of AI for the Nonprofit Sector?

Host: Dr. Rob Harder
Guest: Ben Miller, Senior Vice President of Data Science at Bonterra
Release Date: December 1, 2024

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Introduction

In the December 1, 2024 episode of the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast, host Dr. Rob Harder delves into the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the nonprofit sector. The episode titled “What’s the Future of AI for the Nonprofit Sector?” features an insightful conversation with Ben Miller from Bonterra, a company dedicated to supporting nonprofits through advanced technological solutions.

Guest Introduction and Bonterra’s Role

Dr. Harder opens the discussion by introducing Ben Miller, highlighting his role at Bonterra and the company’s comprehensive support across the nonprofit ecosystem. Ben explains, “[Bonterra] helps nonprofits raise money, manage cases, handle grant administration, and facilitate corporate giving” (02:09).

As the SVP of Data Science, Ben Miller focuses on building predictive models and AI tools that enhance nonprofit efficiency and funding outcomes. He emphasizes Bonterra’s unique position, arising from a merger of nine companies, allowing them to address virtually every aspect of nonprofit operations (02:32).

Enhancing Fundraising and Donor Engagement with AI

The conversation pivots to the core topic: leveraging AI for good within nonprofit organizations. Dr. Harder poses a critical question about how AI can enhance engagement between nonprofits and their donors, especially during crises.

Ben responds by sharing experiences from as early as 2010, where AI-driven predictive models identified donor behaviors based on their lifecycle stages. He notes, “AI can help you prioritize your communications, ensuring you engage appropriately with donors who are eager to hear from you versus those who prefer less frequent contact” (03:48).

A pivotal example Ben shares involves Hurricane Katrina, where AI was employed to differentiate between one-time emergency donors and those likely to continue their support. This distinction allowed the nonprofit to focus retention efforts effectively, significantly increasing sustained donations (04:44).

Prioritizing Data and Improving Operational Efficiency

Dr. Harder further explores how AI aids nonprofits in making sense of vast amounts of data to improve fundraising, volunteer engagement, and service delivery. Ben elaborates, “[AI] helps you prioritize the most important activity, whether it’s identifying key donors to engage or optimizing your overall fundraising strategy” (06:05).

He illustrates this with a case study where Bonterra automated a previously manual and error-prone mailing process. By implementing AI, a large nonprofit uncovered a significant group of donors they had inadvertently excluded, leading to an additional $70,000 raised per month (07:23).

Overcoming Barriers to AI Adoption

Addressing the skepticism surrounding AI adoption, especially concerning budget constraints and technical expertise, Ben acknowledges the fears many nonprofit leaders have. He shares a personal anecdote, “I’m also a diabetic using an AI-powered insulin pump, which has been life-changing. This illustrates that trusting AI can lead to positive outcomes” (10:21).

Ben advocates for a cautious yet open approach, encouraging nonprofits to start small by experimenting with AI tools on a limited scale. He suggests, “Test AI with a small segment of your donor base, such as 5%, to evaluate its effectiveness before scaling” (11:00).

Ethical Considerations in AI Implementation

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the ethical use of AI in nonprofits. Ben stresses the importance of data security, mitigating biases, and ensuring human oversight. He states, “Bonterra has developed its own ethical framework based on industry best practices to ensure responsible AI usage” (16:08).

Key ethical considerations include:

• Data Security: Protecting donor and organizational data from breaches.
• Bias Management: Identifying and counteracting inherent biases within AI models.
• Human Involvement: Ensuring AI complements rather than replaces human roles.

Ben emphasizes that nonprofits must choose technology partners who transparently address these ethical concerns, warning, “If a software provider can’t answer questions about data handling and ethical practices, they’re likely not a good partner” (17:52).

Future Trends and Predictions for AI in Nonprofits

Looking ahead, Ben anticipates several emerging trends in AI that will shape nonprofit operations:

1. Hyper-Personalization: AI will enable nonprofits to tailor their communications and services to individual donor preferences and needs more precisely.
2. Advanced Analytics: Enhanced data analysis frameworks will allow organizations to better understand their performance and identify areas for improvement.
3. Increased Adoption Among Large Nonprofits: While larger nonprofits are currently more adept at integrating AI, smaller organizations will begin to catch up as user-friendly and affordable tools become more widespread (19:25).

Ben predicts that AI will become indispensable for nonprofits seeking to maximize their impact and efficiency, much like the transition to cloud computing in the past.

Recommendations for Nonprofits Considering AI

For nonprofits with budgets ranging from $1 to $5 million, Ben offers practical advice on investing in AI:

• Start Small: Allocate a portion of the budget (e.g., $10,000 to $20,000) to pilot AI projects and assess their value.
• Utilize Free Resources: Explore free AI tools with caution, ensuring no sensitive data is compromised.
• Evaluate ROI: Measure the efficiencies and increased funding generated from AI investments to justify the costs (23:32).

Ben also highlights Bonterra’s offerings, including AI-integrated packaging and beta tools available for nonprofits to test without significant upfront investments.

Conclusion

Dr. Rob Harder wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of intentional AI use in the nonprofit sector. He underscores Ben Miller’s key insights on overcoming barriers, ensuring ethical practices, and embracing the future of AI to drive greater impact.

Ben leaves listeners with a call to action to explore AI tools thoughtfully and leverage them to enhance their organizations’ missions. Dr. Harder encourages nonprofit leaders to access additional resources through Bonterra’s website and other recommended platforms mentioned during the episode.

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Key Quotes:

• Ben Miller [02:32]: “Bonterra touches the entire ecosystem of the nonprofit space.”
• Ben Miller [03:48]: “AI can help you prioritize your communications, ensuring you engage appropriately with donors.”
• Ben Miller [07:23]: “We uncovered a pocket of donors that they had not been mailing because the mail plan missed them, raising upwards of $70,000 per month.”
• Ben Miller [10:21]: “I’m also a diabetic using an AI-powered insulin pump, which has been life-changing.”
• Ben Miller [16:08]: “Bonterra has developed its own ethical framework based on industry best practices to ensure responsible AI usage.”
• Ben Miller [19:25]: “I see hyper-personalization and advanced analytics as the future trends that will shape how nonprofits operate.”

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Resources Mentioned:

• Bonterra Website: bonteratech.com
• Fundraising Effectiveness Project: fundraisingeffectivenessproject.org
• Giving Tuesday: Co-sponsored with AFP

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For nonprofit leaders seeking to integrate AI into their operations, this episode provides a comprehensive overview of the benefits, challenges, and ethical considerations essential for making informed decisions. Ben Miller’s expertise offers valuable guidance on navigating the evolving landscape of AI in the nonprofit sector.

Transcript

[Dr. Rob Harder]

This is Dr. Rob Harder with the nonprofit leadership podcast, Making youg World Better. What does it take to be an effective nonprofit leader today? What are the biggest challenges? What are the biggest obstacles? How should nonprofits fundraise in an economy that is constantly changing? All of these reasons combined led me to start this show. And it's my hope that through this series, people can learn not only what it takes to be an effective nonprofit organization, but to hear from effective leaders who are successful successfully making a positive impact in their communities. We hope you enjoy the show as together we hear how they are making their world better. Welcome to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in today. So, did you know that every time you go online and do a search, you are interacting with AI? Every time you post something on social media, you're interacting with AI. So the question is not should I use AI? It's how am I using AI? And that is the same question for every nonprofit leader. I'd pose it this way. Every one of you who are nonprofit leaders, whether you're an executive director, a board member, volunteer director of development, whatever your role is, the question ought to be this. How can I use AI intentionally and for good for my nonprofit organization? And this is exactly the conversation I'm having with my next guest, Ben Miller. Ben is from Bonterra, and you'll hear in this conversation all that Bontera is providing. First of all, but we're going to explore these questions about how can we really utilize AI for good. What are those concerns, those ethical concerns, and those privacy concerns about utilizing AI? That and more will be discussed with this really interesting conversation with Ben Miller, again from Bonterra. As always, thanks for tuning in. Now, onto the show. This podcast is sponsored by Donorbox Donor Box, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business. Well, welcome to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. I have Ben Miller in the studio. Ben, thanks so much for joining today.

[Ben Miller]

Thanks for having me.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Absolutely. You got it. Well, let's start with having you share a bit about Bob Bonterra and your role within the organization. For my listeners, this AI conversation has been something I've had many times with different guests. And a lot of what you do there, of course, at Bontera is all about that. So let's talk a bit about first, though, with Bonterra. How does your role impact nonprofit? Since this is a nonprofit leadership podcast.

[Ben Miller]

Sure. So Bontera sort of touches the entire ecosystem of the nonprofit space. You know, we help nonprofits raise money. We help nonprofits with case management and casework. We also help with grant administration, grant funding, and corporate giving. And Bonterra has was a merger, a come together of about nine different companies, essentially. And so we have every element of the nonprofit ecosystem, it seems. And my role in particular, I am the SVP of data science, and I get to build predictive models and AI that helps nonprofits do their work more efficiently and produce, you know, more funds and receive more funding.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Excellent. Well, AI this, as I mentioned, this is a hot topic, I'm sure, for every single sector, but certainly for the nonprofit sector, a lot of people are having conversations about it, trying to figure out, can I use AI for good for my organization? What are the pitfalls, what are the problems? So let's talk about. When it comes to utilizing AI for good for one's organization, one of the main motivators really typically has been, is to get these greater efficiencies that can be created through AI. So in light of that, how can AI tools enhance engagement between nonprofits on the one hand, and their donors, particularly in times of crisis or high need?

[Ben Miller]

Sure. And I think there's a lot that could be said here. I will try to focus it in on exactly that question. One of the things that through my experience early on, Maybe it was 2010, we used AI to build predictive models. And what it would do is help to identify a donor's likelihood depending on where they were in their life cycle, whether a brand new donor, whether they were a longtime donor. And we would help to identify, oh, this person's likely to upgrade their giving. This person really is likely to become a recurring giver. One of the things that that was indicative of was a donor's propensity for the organization. So how much they may want to hear from a nonprofit. Right. So you could base your communications based off of that score as well. So some people are really, really into a nonprofit organization and really want to hear every bit of information you're willing to give them. And some people want to hear every once in a couple of years because that's when they're ready to give. And so the models can help to identify that so that you're not pestering the people that don't want to be pestered, and you're not ignoring the people that want to be attended to. And so a lot of ways AI can help you with that. But I think your question directly dealt with disasters or emergency funding. And that's something I've seen over my career. In fact, the very first time that I got involved with nonprofits was with Hurricane Katrina. It was this large nonprofit organization that helped during Katrina and received a huge influx of donors. We used data science to identify donors that were likely to come back and stick because there were some that were just giving because it was a time of need. And there was an interesting tidbit which I'll share with you, which is one of the things we found was if there was change associated with the donation, so it was like $26.38 that that person was much more likely to come back and retain. And so I tell that story just because it was anecdotal one that I really enjoy. But like, data science can help when hang on to some of those donors, but also identify the right time. In an emergency donation time, you really kind of want to put the biggest, broadest net out that you can, because everyone's sort of primed to give at that point.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Yeah, no, it's a good example. Well, related to that, how does AI help organizations prioritize and make sense of their data to improve outcomes like fundraising, volunteer engagement, and service deliver?

[Ben Miller]

Sure. So at the heart of AI, it's really data. And sort of data at the heart of data is like it's capturing our actions, capturing our activity. And so what AI can do is help you to prioritize what's the most important activity. So in this case, let's say it's a donation. Sure. We can prioritize the most important donor to reach out to at the moment. Or let's say you're trying to do a really big plan. You can use AI to take these math equations and optimize, you know, what's most important, what should come next and next and after that. And so my background was a major in math, so I like to use math a lot. But math is a really good way to take numbers and create an optimal solution so everything can be reduced to numbers, even words, as you're seeing in the current gen AI proliferation, where we take words, we turn them into numbers, then we are able to connect them and then put them back out and able to do these really, really cool things with. With large language models. So.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Okay, well, let's go into that. Like, for my listeners who are really wanting real examples that maybe they can take back to their team or take back to their board, can you give a my listeners in a specific example or two of how AI has really enhanced the operations and resulted in better outcomes for a nonprofit organization?

[Ben Miller]

Sure, I'll. I'll use one that is a little bit different. So we do work with case Management software as well. But a lot of times what you deal with there is very private, you know, phi, you know, public health information. And so you have to be very, very careful about that data and utilizing AI. Now, there are ways to do it, and we're exploring them because we want to make sure that, you know, we can optimize those operations. But you have to be very careful. So it's going to be a little bit longer of a time before that sees AI to its fullest. But let me give an example of a case where with the donor predictions, for example, we were able to take a process that was previously done with a person who would take an Excel document. They would say, okay, I would like to bring in my most recent donor. So I'm going to pick everyone who gave in the last 12 months. And then they would break it up into all these different segments, micro segments, rfm, which is called recency, frequency and monetary value. So I how recent, how much money did they give, how frequent? And they built a mail plan to sort of say they're all the people that we're going to mail. Now, that process would take a long time because you'd have to have somebody manually go through, build out the process. They might say, I'll take this segment, but not this one. And they have to look at historical information. And then, well, oh, wait, our mail quantity that we budgeted for was this. And we're at this. And now I got to tinker with it to try. And it was a cumbersome process and manual. And when you applied AI to it and data science to it, what we were able to do was make something that was that really big, complicated. And in seconds, you could kind of get this prioritized list. But I want to show you an efficiency that we employed this with a large nonprofit and they were prior using, and it was really hard for them to kind of walk away from what they've been using. It's a really hard thing to do. You know, what you know, you know your past. And it's really hard to step into something new. Well, they decided, okay, let's do it. We uncovered a pocket of donors that they had not been mailing because the mail plan missed them. So the way the mail plan said, it just was human error, which happens. And it was, I will take everyone in the last 12 months with two or more gifts, but it forgot to get anyone in the last 12 months with one gift. And so if you had only given one and this group actually raised, you know, on, on upwards of 70,000 per month. And so they were missing this huge. And so we were able to get really good efficiencies there, not only with, like, the time it took to build all this, but also with, you know, really valuable donors that were just being left off.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

That's such an interesting example. It's like right under the nose, so to speak. But like I said, I just needed something that was a little bit more efficient and comprehensive. Well, there's no doubt there are some nonprofits that are really hesitant to adopt AI due to budget constraints, often lack of technical expertise. They just, I don't know what AI is, I don't know how to use it. So maybe speak to the skeptic out there who's listening. Team is very concerned about the downsides to using AI. How can user friendly AI models overcome these barriers and really democratize the process and the access to this technology for operations and nonprofits of all sizes?

[Ben Miller]

Well, first I'll say I recognize you. I am you. Like, I am also nervous about change, right? So I appreciate that. And I'm also a diabetic that is using a insulin pump that has AI in it that helps to modulate my blood sugar. So that I would also argue that, like, you know, this could kill me and I'm trusting it. So, you know, that it might be okay to take a risk with, with who you're contacting or in your everyday use. And, and, and maybe if you're not, if you need to test into it, test into it, that's okay. So I understand why people are hesitant. I understand it's, it's important. You know, you, you're doing really hard work. That is important for a nonprofit that's doing really good work. Right. And you need to raise money, you need to get the services out. So there are a lot of important things hanging on it. But some of the regression models that are used, for example, were invented over 150 years ago. So this is not new technology. It might be new to how we look at things, but this was what they were using to plot the star paths in the sky, you know, and, and, and so the technology is vetted. But I want to get to something that you mentioned which was like, user friendly. And I think the user friendly is the tough thing. So there are a lot of free resources out there. You can go out and get free AI right now, but you trade off quality. Right? And so I would caution to take that for what it's worth. If you can find a software that has good quality AI attached to it. First you can feel that and you can test that. You could be able to do an A B split and see that this is working. But not only can you test it, you can become to rely on it. And you'll find that if you just take this one leap of faith and do it in a risk averse way, like maybe just 5% of your population, I'll risk this test. But if you can, you'll find that you won't look back. I've been doing this my entire career trying to convince people to use more new AI donor data science. And you know, it is easier today than it was a decade ago, I will say that. But so yes, please go out there, explore the, the free stuff. Find stuff that's really, well, user friendly because that, that helps you to not maybe you don't even know that. Need to know that there's AI behind. Right. You just need to know that it's producing the thing you want it to produce and it's getting you the thing that you want want to achieve.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

So that, that's interesting. You feel like it has improved and is becoming more user friendly.

[Ben Miller]

Yes. Well, I think also people are, you know, if you think about it, we're all using AI every single day, whether it be with our Google search, whether it be on Spotify or, or Instagram or LinkedIn or all of these things. Alexa, Siri, all of these things are using AI. And so I'm having my pump. We are all using it, we just may not know it.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

We'll be right back. Are you looking for an easy and effective way to boost your nonprofit's donations? Look no further than Donor Box, the online fundraising platform that streamlines your fundraising efforts, maximizes donations and simplifies giving for your supporters. With Donorbox, you can create beautiful donation forms, accept digital wallet payments, track donations, and send auto receipts. And the best part, there are no setup or monthly fees and no long term contracts required. So what are you waiting for? Visit donorbox.org today to get started. That is donorbox.org hey friends, thanks so much for listening to the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. Many of you know that I provide leadership and life coaching. With my 30 years of nonprofit experience. I know firsthand how hard leaders like you work. I also know how important it is to have someone you can call on and to get help with the barriers and leadership challenges you will face both professionally and personally. I really want to help people thrive and become all they were meant to become by providing coaching and consulting services. And it's been so much fun working as a coach working with clients who are leaders just like you, looking to grow personally and professionally. What you may not know is that I also provide consulting services. Currently. In fact, I'm working with an organization to help them create a clear strategy and plan to raise $3.5 million to expand their organization. So perhaps you're an executive director and you sense your organization has hit a lid on growth and you need a strategy as to how you can scale your nonprofit. Or perhaps the culture you set out to create is not the culture you have currently and it's impacting your staff retention. Or maybe you're facing a major resource challenge and you don't know what to do. That's where I can help. I come alongside leaders and organizations to create strategies to grow their organizations and maximize their impact. If your nonprofit needs help with fundraising strategy or operational effectiveness, reach out today. You can simply email me@rob robparter.com and you can go to my website, robharder.com or you can call me 435-776-5173. I would be happy to provide a free sample coaching session or a consult to see how I can best be of help to you and your organization. Well, thanks again for listening. Now back to the show. That is a great point. No, that's I think it's a lot of, for a lot of people that just surprised, you know, you're already using it, you just don't maybe aren't aware of it. So it's better to at least be aware of it and be intentional in the use of AI. Okay, so one of those concerns is continue to talk about this because I've had, as I mentioned, many people on the show to talk about this particular aspect of the ethical concerns around AI, particularly with sectors like nonprofits, because we're so I think nonprofits are mission driven, obviously, and they're very people driven. And so they're often on the front end when it comes to issues of equity and issues of, you know, security and things like that. So what are some of the ethical considerations nonprofits really should be aware of when implementing AI tools? When it comes to the ethical use of it? Again, how can they ensure that they're using AI responsibly for their nonprofit?

[Ben Miller]

I think it's a great question. I think it's a very important question. I take ethics very, very seriously and I want to call out fundraising AI, which is a group out there that is leading the charge and trying to set ethical guidelines. I work with that group and Nathan Chappell Akot in particular, has been great efforts trying to make AI ethics achievable and obtainable for all nonprofits. Bonterra itself has put out its own ethical framework and values, you know, based in part by, you know, what fundraising AI has done and the considerations that you have to. You know, one would be data security, which is obviously right, like. But data breach is troublesome, and you need to protect your donor's data. You need to protect your own organization's data. Biases is a big problem. There are inherent bias just in systematic biases that happen that we aren't even aware of. And there are ways to manage that by measuring it and trying to counteract whatever you measure. And there's also the consideration of, like, taking work away from somebody. Right. Like, if you automate something. And I don't think AI is going. I think a human needs to be involved in any AI. Right. And so I don't believe AI is coming for your job, but I believe that if you don't start learning AI, you know, you might find that it's harder to find work because it's leveraging the ability to work with it. So those are all really good considerations. And I would just urge that any nonprofit out there that is trying to weigh these, you know, to ask the questions, and if you're not getting the answers, then that's a problem. Like, your software should be able to answer what they're doing with your data, how they're protecting your data, how they're handling biases and what their posture is on ethics in general. And if they can't answer the question, that's a good sign that they're probably not a good partner.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Yeah, no, that's very interesting. Okay, good to know on that. And I'm glad there's. Yeah. I know from Microsoft and other companies that are very large and have a lot of money, they could put a lot of resources there trying to really address the issues of, yeah. Security, privacy, as well as the biases that do pop up. And it was interesting you mentioned that you don't think that AI is going to take anybody's job per se, but it's more people who don't adopt at least some of AI to maximize it. That's where you feel like that's where people are going to be potentially in trouble of getting behind, would you say, on the technology curve or talk a little bit more about that?

[Ben Miller]

Yeah, I've heard people equate it to, like, the cloud, when we were transitioning to the cloud. And yeah, there are Some companies out there still that aren't on the cloud, but they're very few and far between. And it's a shift that's happening just like that, where it's going to take time, but there'll be a time where it's just the advancements are so great and the ones that are happening right now that we don't even know about will start happening in five years. We'll start to see them. It's something that we're not going to change. And so I don't think it means that everything's like the sky's not falling, we're not having Terminator. There's not that kind of stuff. But if you can make your, you can do your work faster, better if you learn how to leverage AI.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Yeah, good to know. Well, as AI technology continues to evolve, what do you see the future being for AI and particularly in the nonprofit sector? Are there emerging trends or tools that you think will really play a major role in, say, shaping how nonprofits operate in the next few years? Or what do you see the future of AI being?

[Ben Miller]

Yeah, so you know, I mentioned sort of like the donor selections and the donor scoring that we had done for more than a decade, and I now see that, that becoming more and more prevalent. It's not the mainstream yet. I still don't think it's mainstream. I think it's. And so I think that is going to continue to evolve. I do think that there'll be a lot of personalization that happens, hyper personalization, where we start to really attach to a donor their wants, needs, interests, and communicate to them how we are addressing those needs and interests. And I think that that will be a big change that we see. I also think analysis is going to be something that really changes as well. I don't think it's worked out yet. We're actively trying to work this out as well. But anything you can put a framework around you can then apply AI to, to then automate the framework in some fashion. So I see like the ability to understand how you're doing both with your fundraising, with your operations, and then addressing problem areas because of this decision framework that is automated now. I think that's where AI is going to change, shine and help us to be more efficient. Yeah.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

And interesting. I'm curious from your perspective because you work with for profit businesses, nonprofit organizations in general, in terms of like trends, do you see nonprofit organizations across the board adopting AI quickly or are they way behind the for profit sector or is it only the big nonprofit organizations that are typically really maximizing the AI tools that are out there. What's kind of your sense of how nonprofits are in general, you know, either using or not using AI?

[Ben Miller]

I think you have it quite right that the larger nonprofits, you know, they're, they're more adventurous, more, they have more room budget to explore. That said, they're still behind the for profit sector. You know, I deal with contracts all the time because AI is now becoming mainstay in the corporate contracts where it's like, what are you doing with it? How are we handling it? And so they're there and it's very prevalent there, especially in the financial industry. And so, you know, they're, they're ahead in that way. And, and, and you know, you'll. But if you look at a small nonprofit, they may not have anything at all. They might not even have an AI policy. So I do think that the smaller to mid sized nonprofits are, are sort of behind, you know, technologically. You know, legislative, legislative is not the right word, but like, you know, with their own internal policies and procedures. So I do see that there's this catch up that needs to happen. But you know, like, I'm sure as you've dealt with, you know, in the nonprofit sector, there's this overhead myth too, right? There's this odd pressure to like, don't spend so much money, but do the best good you can. And so it's like, do the best good you can, but not any better, but then don't spend. So like it's, that's a problematic situation, right? Because in order to address these and be on the front edge of AI, you need to have the resources, you need to have the money, you need to take risks and find out that that one didn't work and you find out that this one didn't work. And then so inherently it's against their nature to do that because they're so heavily scrutinized. And I think that's a shame. And I hope that we can kind of lift that overhead myth and get it out once and for all.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

I'm glad you mentioned that because that is a big deal. That is a big concern for a lot of executive directors, CEOs of nonprofits because their board or their donors have said, yeah, let's really reduce that overhead cost. And then what happens is like I said, they don't have the resources to implement these AI tools which would actually improve and actually make things much more efficient in their organization. So it's a little bit of a catchphrase too, as you mentioned, I do think that's starting to change. I really think that that conversation, that narrative is really switching now. It's really. Since COVID I've seen that switch. And then otherwise, in terms of AI use, do you feel like it's one of those, let's talk about costs a little bit. What give a sense for someone who's new to AI like with the tools that are out there, I know they can do some research on it. But in general, like, how much money do you envision would be worthwhile for a nonprofit organization? We'll just say one that has a budget of 1 to 3, maybe up to $5 million. How much should they invest in AI? Like what are some of the products out there that maybe Bontera even provides that could really make a difference where their investment makes a dramatic difference to their organization?

[Ben Miller]

That's a great question. I don't know that I have an exact number, but I will at least talk through it. You know, for one, there's a lot of free resources out there. So is it po, which is an area where you can go explore a lot of large language models. ChatGPT has a free offer of their AI. Now, I do caution that like when you use this free stuff, there's always a trade off. Don't share private or confidential data with it. Right. Because that's a problem. But you can at least explore and understand what these things are capable of. You can test at least maybe if not the most up to date LLM or model, you can test one that's pretty close to recent and get a good sense of it. At Bonterra, we, we have different packaging, but you know, like AI I believe is part of most of our packaging. And we also are got a couple beta tools out there that we're testing right now for free. And so there, there are ways to sort of dip your toe in. But, but you asked for specifically for, you know, a million to $5 million. Let's say that's your budget. If I'm thinking back to my days where I were helping nonprofits budget, I mean, I think in typical, you know, you might spend on a $3 million budget, you might be spending $2 million both in fundraising and in service delivery and you know, everything else. Or maybe you're going to spend all the way up to 3 million, right? Because you have to spend every. You are spending everything. But as far as like the overhead part. Part of it and you know, so that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for Discovery. But with a budget that large, you know, I, I'd say, you know, 10 to $20,000 could be something that you could put aside to sort of test and see. I think what anybody should do, whether you're a nonprofit or not, is look at the value you get and then peg your expense against it. And I think what you'll find is you'll see much more. If you did spend 10 to 20, you might get 80, $90,000 back in efficiencies and value that you undercover. You know, Donor Trends was my company that was consumed by Bonterra, and we used to have a guarantee where if you used our AI tools, we knew that you could get money back into the nonprofit. So as a way to try to like, hey, don't be so nervous. Spend the money with us. But I promise you, you're going to get this money back here, here, and we'll show you and demonstrate it for you. So, you know, I think that's where testing can happen as well. You can sort of see the value you're going to get from the tool and then evaluate the cost you're willing to spend to get it.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Okay. No, it's helpful. Well, good. Well, for my listeners, again, how can people find out more about you and more about Bonterra?

[Ben Miller]

So bonteratech.com is our website and you can go and check us out there. I'm on LinkedIn as well if you want to check out more information about me. Some free resources I also would like to sort of throw out. There is the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, which I'm the outgoing chair of. Where does has a lot of free resources out there. Giving Tuesday is a co sponsor alongside of afp and those are also great resources to go find more information for nonprofits.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

That's good to know. I'll make sure those are my show notes as well for my listeners. But, Ben, thanks so much. Thanks for what you're doing for the nonprofit sector and thanks for just taking time to share a bit about your insights on AI. It's such an important topic and appreciate your insights.

[Ben Miller]

Absolutely. And thank you for having me and wonderful that you've got the show and exploring these AI options for nonprofits. I encourage everyone to go out there and explore. So thank you. Thank you for having me.

[Dr. Rob Harder]

Hey, friends. Well, I wanted you to know that this podcast can be found on itunes, Spotify, Amazon, Google podcasts, and wherever you listen to other podcasts. I also want to encourage you to, like, subscribe and share this podcast with others. This will actually help us get this great content out to more nonprofit leaders just like you. You can also join the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast community, find other resources and interviews of past guests, all on my website, nonprofit leadershippodcast.org well, thanks again for listening. And until next time, keep making your world better. And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, the Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. Go to YouTube and look up Nonprofit Leadership Podcast. We'll see you there. This podcast is sponsored by DonorBox Donor Box, helping you help others with the best donation forms in the business.