Use AI for Nonprofit Fundraising in 2025…now!
Introduction: Use AI for Nonprofit fundraising and more tips for 2025
Nonprofit fundraising strategies are always important during the year-end 2025 and 2026. We believe that asking all year round makes more sense than that giant pitch where you fight 1000s of other nonprofits for all the “tax-write-off dollars”in the market. But here we are, and I am just writing this article now, so use it for today, tomorrow, and next year. Please note: It is more than just AI suggestions. Use what you can to help your non-profit.
But first, your nonprofit website can help the future of your revenue growth
Many people first find you through your website. Never believe that you can just build it and they will come. Google is constantly changing its algorithm for search engine optimization, and now, with more and more people using ChatGpt for search, content and video are more important than ever. We know because we see a drastic decline in our non-profit clients’ donations and website traffic when they pause creating new content.
Tips and Tools for Content
- What: 1 to 2 long-form (1200-word) articles/ or per week, optimized using either Yoast SEO or Rank Math. These are SEO tools found on WordPress.
- How: Article topics should be driven by your organization’s case studies, stories, and testimonials
- Helpers: Top AI writing tools to use include ChatGPT, Jasper, Gemini, or https://www.clearscope.io/
- To Do: Use these tools, but also rewrite as much as you can in your own voice. Then use tools to check the originality of your text. Thank you, Google, for making it so hard for us to write! (Google will ding you for AI text.) https://plagiarismdetector.net/, https://www.duplichecker.com/
- Use Grammarly: Find all your errors
- Update and republish existing content: This helps too
AI Tools to help with Fundraising
Fundraise Up: We are somewhat biased, but our favorite AI fundraising software is FundraiseUp. We recently designed a website using it, and we love how it seamlessly integrates into the pages we designed, with easy ways to have multiple campaign pages.
- Increased revenue: Our clients have reported increased revenue from their websites.
- Stronger recurring giving: The platform’s AI-optimized checkout and tools to encourage monthly upgrades help improve recurring donor retention rates.
- Personalized donor experience: The platform uses AI to adapt the checkout process to individual donors based on factors like location and browser, suggests optimal donation amounts, and offers language and currency localization.
- Enhanced donor engagement: Interactive elements and a self-serve donor portal make it easier for donors to give and manage their contributions, which can lead to more engagement.
- Modern payment options: supports a wide range of payment methods, including digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, traditional methods, and local direct transfers.
- Efficiency and cost-effectiveness: The platform has no upfront costs, monthly fees, or contracts, and its tools are designed to reduce manual reporting and support calls.
- Data and insights: An admin dashboard provides instant, easy-to-understand data visualizations for tracking performance and making data-driven decisions.
Donorbox: This software also uses AI to help increase conversion. AI Assistant (Jay·AI): This assistant helps automate routine tasks, write fundraising copy, and summarize emails.
- Data and insights: It provides fast access to data and can help identify donor interests and behaviors.
- Content creation: Jay·AI can generate personalized messages, thank-you letters, and social media posts.
- Campaign planning: The AI helps identify what strategies are working and provides data-driven insights for campaign optimization.
- Donor management: The AI-powered CRM helps segment donors, predict donation flow with recurring payments, and provides actionable insights and reminders for outreach.
Does your website need a redesign? We have seen increases in donations up to 25% with the websites we’ve developed. But even if you don’t have the budget, these are must-have pages that your nonprofit website must have: We recently wrote an in-depth article about this, which you can find here. Here is the list of must-haves for your website:
- Homepage
- About Us
- Impact
- Our Team
- Our Programs
- Our Stories
- History
- Mission
- Donation
- Contact Us Form
Double your impact with platforms like Double the Donation, which help donors check if their employers will match their gift.
1: Who are your nonprofit’s top customers (or who will show you the money?)
Identifying your target audiences (i.e., “customers”)and how to reach them is the most important part of nonprofit strategies to increase funding. Who are they:
- Donors – your donor can be small or large, repeat or new. Each one of your donors needs to be strategically communicated with. They might donate online or by mail.
- Funders or sponsors – your funder can be a large corporate entity or, again, a small local business. How do you find and engage your funders?
- Grantors – this is the most time-consuming, but also can result in the largest financial reward.
Donors
Similar to any business, you need to deepen your value, retain, and cross-promote the benefits of donating to your organization.
Retention
- Focusing on existing donors often provides a higher ROI than getting new ones.
- It costs much more to acquire new donors than to keep existing ones. A small improvement in retention rates can produce large improvements in revenue and profit over time.
- How to retain a donor? Involve them in your organization by creating fantastic videos on how they impacted your organization, offer discount tickets to your events, involve them in surveys on how they would like to see your organization change or help, invite your largest donors to a lunch to show your appreciation.
- Ask them to sponsor a specific new initiative
- Loyalty programs for donors: Create recognition tiers (“Impact Circle,” “Legacy Leaders”) that celebrate consistent giving and show tangible results of support.
- Thank-you videos: Personalized thank-you videos have 4x higher engagement than email acknowledgments. Use tools like EWA (Empowering Web Agency) and Bonjor
- Transparency builds trust: Use short reports or infographics to show where every dollar goes. This directly impacts repeat donations.
- Some non-profits design mission-based stationary and or other premiums to send with their mailing. A survey from ideas42.org found between a 17% and 50% increase in donor response.
Finding New Donors
Finding new donors is more difficult, but your website can be a crucial tool to help you find new donors.
- SEO: SEO is a necessary component of marketing. You CAN get organic traffic to your website if you spend the time to write articles and film the videos. No time to do all that? Hire college interns who have a marketing or film background. We always pay our interns at least minimum wage, but some universities trade for college credit. Publish your content on all platforms, including Google Business page, Facebook, Instagram, TikToc and LinkedIn.
- AI-Based Donor Tools: Yes, you need to invest in these tools, but if one donor hits it out of the box, it is well worth the investment. Windfall.com, and Donor Search
Corporate Partnerships & Sponsorships
A sponsorship is about a partnership with your organization – it’s not just about a corporation giving you money. Having the right sponsorship that supports similar missions to your organization is the optimal choice. Your website can help you attract the right corporate partner. (How to build a corporate sponsorship)
- Create sponsorship packages that incorporate social media visibility, event branding, and video storytelling. Ensure they have good visibility on your website, including their own page or a video describing why they believe your partnership is important. (How your website can increase sponsorships)
- Partner with local or values-aligned businesses
- Use AI tools to help you find companies aligned with your nonprofit, including ChatGPT or Bing Copilot. Ask very specific questions, for example, “Which companies announced new CSR or community partnerships in 2025?”
- Set alerts for keywords like “corporate sponsorship,” “CSR initiative,” “cause marketing partnership,” and your cause name.
- Here is an example of a ChatGPT Output!
Putting it all together
Goal: Find and secure new corporate sponsors for a nonprofit helping (Fill in the blank)
- Use ChatGPT to list companies funding your mission.
- Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator + Apollo.io to collect contact names.
- Use ChatGPT or Jasper to draft a personalized email.
- Use Lemlist to send and track engagement.
- Use Canva Magic Write to design a branded sponsorship deck.
- Use ThankView to send personalized follow-ups or thank-you messages.
Grants, Foundations, and Government Funding in 2025
Grant funding will remain competitive, but opportunities continue to grow in categories like:
- Mental health and wellness
- Climate action
- STEM education
- Food insecurity and housing
To Win More Grants:
- Use storytelling and visuals in proposals (include a link to your impact video).
- Maintain an up-to-date, professional website—many funders check digital presence before awarding.
- Track grant cycles using databases like GrantStation and Instrumentl.
- Repurpose your successful grant templates to apply for similar opportunities quickly.
Articles about grants are listed at the end of this article. - Combine quantitative data (people served, meals provided, hours volunteered) with qualitative stories.
- Send quarterly “Impact Updates” instead of just annual reports.
- Apply for smaller, less competitive community grants regularly—microgrants often add up faster than one large grant cycle.
2. Earned Income Opportunities
Nonprofits can sell services or products aligned with their mission:
- Workshops, consulting, or training (e.g., “Trauma-Informed Care Certification”).
- Merchandise with a story—tote bags, art prints, or eco-friendly goods.
- Use Woo-Commerce or Shopify to build an e-commerce store
- Use Woo-commerce or Learn-Dash to sell courses.
3. Expand Digital Fundraising Channels
Modern donors want convenience and accessibility. Limiting fundraising to your website or in-person events means leaving money on the table.
Multi-Channel Revenue Growth Plan:
- Social Giving: Use Facebook and Instagram fundraising tools for birthdays and peer-to-peer campaigns.
- Email Marketing: Monthly impact newsletters outperform general appeals—focus on transformation stories, not statistics alone.
- Text-to-Give Campaigns: Enable quick mobile donations with platforms like GiveButter or Qgiv.
- QR Codes: Place them on posters, brochures, and events to lead directly to donation pages.
- Video Webinars: Use EWA or Zoom to host live storytelling or Q&A events with beneficiaries.
Tip: Track every digital campaign through Google Analytics and your fundraising platform. Measure donation source, device, and completion rate.
4: Optimize Events with Hybrid and On-Demand Experiences
Events are still the #1 way nonprofits generate large donations. But hybrid and digital enhancements are the future of fundraising events.
Smart Event Strategies for 2025:
- Livestream your gala: 40% of online viewers donate during live broadcasts when inspired.
- On-demand replay: Record your event and share a follow-up donation link to extend fundraising weeks later.
- Micro-events: Host smaller, cause-focused gatherings that are easier to manage and highly personal (e.g., “Dinner with the Director,” “Art for Change”).
- Integrate corporate sponsors: Offer speaking opportunities or branded segments to increase sponsor investment.
5: Tell Your Story Through Video
Video remains the most powerful storytelling medium for nonprofits. Donors give more when they see the difference they make.
Best Practices:
- Keep impact videos under 90 seconds; longer ones can be featured on your website as well.
- Feature real people, not just staff.
- End with a strong, emotional call-to-action (“Help us continue this work—donate now.”)
- Add captions for accessibility and mobile viewers.
Example: We Are Immediate produced fundraising videos for EWA and Riverstone, which were later repurposed for social ads—resulting in a 200% increase in online engagement.
Video Ideas:
- “A Day in the Life” of someone helped by your programs
- “Behind the Scenes” with staff or volunteers
- Short updates from your Executive Director
6: Invest in Staff Development and Internal Systems
Revenue growth depends on people as much as strategy.
A motivated, well-trained staff can multiply fundraising results.
How to Strengthen Your Team:
- Offer digital skills training: CRM management, SEO, or AI-powered fundraising.
- Build an internal innovation culture: Allow team members to test new ideas quarterly.
- Recognize achievements: Celebrate campaign milestones to maintain morale.
- Outsource strategically: Partner with digital experts (like We Are Immediate) for web design, SEO, or analytics instead of overloading your internal team.
7: Sustainability and Mission-Driven Branding
A powerful, mission-aligned brand is more than a logo—it’s how your audience feels when they interact with your nonprofit.
2025 Branding Essentials:
- Consistency across channels: same message, tone, and visuals on your website, social, and email.
- Mission clarity: Be able to explain your purpose in one emotionally compelling sentence.
- Sustainability focus: Share your environmental or ethical commitments transparently—it matters to younger donors.
Example: Nonprofits that showcase clear mission alignment in every touchpoint (email, video, web) see 2–3x higher conversion on campaigns.
8: Measure, Adapt, and Scale
Revenue growth is not a one-time project—it’s a continuous process of testing and refining.
Monthly Review Checklist:
- Which campaigns performed best?
- What’s the ROI of each fundraising channel?
- Are donors engaging more with email, social, or video?
- Which donor segments are growing fastest?
Use this insight to double down on what works and phase out what doesn’t.
Conclusion
Nonprofit success in 2025 will belong to organizations that combine heart with innovation—those who pair mission-driven storytelling with data, technology, and design.To grow revenue:
- Keep donors emotionally connected and consistently informed.
- Modernize your website and digital tools.
- Automate wherever possible—but always stay personal.
- Invest in storytelling that moves hearts and opens wallets.
As technology and donor expectations evolve, one thing remains constant: people give to people they trust. Build that trust through transparency, authenticity, and beautiful digital experiences—and your nonprofit’s revenue will follow.
