Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the nonprofit world - not by replacing people, but by helping teams do more good with less effort. From automating routine administrative tasks to identifying potential donors and crafting personalized outreach, AI is proving to be a powerful ally for mission-driven organizations.
For many nonprofits, time and resources are constantly stretched thin. The promise of AI isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about amplifying impact. With the right tools, nonprofits can analyze data faster, communicate more effectively, and dedicate more energy to advancing their causes.
At Inclind, we know that AI isn’t the wave of the future - it is the present. Smart adoption of AI technologies is critical for nonprofits to succeed. Our team of experienced nonprofit website designers and developers can work with you to help you decide what tools are best for your needs. We can also help you integrate these tools into your tech stack and everyday processes. Contact us today to learn more about our automation services for nonprofits.
How to Choose AI Tools for Your Nonprofit
In the past year or so, AI has truly exploded. There are seemingly endless AI software options available. You might have even seen AI options when you use social media, draft a document, or write an email.
With so many different products on the market, it can be difficult to know what AI tools are best for your nonprofit organization. AI software can be helpful, but only if it is relatively easy to use, fulfills a need, and integrates with your current technology. Otherwise, these tools can be more trouble (and cost) than they are worth.
If you are considering adding AI to your nonprofit’s technology suite, then there are a few steps that you can take to make sure that you are choosing the right tools.
Identify Your Specific Needs
There are AI tools for practically everything, from writing proposals to creating videos. Not all of these tools will be particularly useful for your nonprofit. Take some time to think about where you and your team could use some help. Do you struggle with marketing? Is updating donor information a time suck? Are you having difficulty being consistent with outreach? An audit of where your staff hours are being spent and where you may need more help can be useful in deciding what types of AI tools might be a good investment for your nonprofit.
Think About Your Budget
There are free AI tools on the market, but many of them have limited services. For example, you can use ChatGPT for free, but can only perform a certain number of queries per day. Paid AI tools can provide greater benefits and may make more sense than spending more time struggling to use a more unwieldy free version. Once you know what your AI needs are, you can then decide how to allocate your budget to this software.
Consider Your Current Tools
For any software to be effective, it has to be able to “talk” to other technology. For example, you want your customer relationship management (CRM) software tobe able to communicate with your website so that it can automatically pull donor info from it and upload it to the database. Research each option that you are considering to make sure that it can be integrated with your existing suite of technology tools.
While AI tools are not a substitute for an employee (and still require a human to check for errors), they can be a way to boost efficiency. If you are interested in using AI to free up your employees’ time so that you can focus your efforts on your core work as a nonprofit, Inclind can help. We can work with you to evaluate various AI options and help you decide what may work best for your organization.
AI Tools to Optimize Nonprofit Operations
AI software can be a great way to reduce manual tasks and increase productivity. While AI has been heavily adopted in the corporate world, many nonprofits have held back a bit. Nonprofit organizations often have smaller staffs and budgets, which can make the adoption of new technologies more challenging. However, these same factors are the very reason why AI can be such a boon for nonprofits.
Below, we have listed a few of our favorite AI tools for nonprofits. If you have questions about how your organization can integrate AI into your operations, reach out to Inclind for support.
Momentum
Momentum is an AI-powered fundraising tool specifically designed for nonprofits. It uses data from your CRM to identify and prioritize potential donors based on giving history and wealth-screening information. The AI fundraising assistant can also draft personalized written communications and custom donor plans to simplify fundraising.
Momentum’s AI Donor Engagement Platform can be trained with your organization’s voice and style so that it can communicate in an effective way. It offers daily recommendations for fundraising, which can help staff to prioritize tasks and save time.
Common Uses
- Automate donor thank-you messages and recurring giving reminders.
- Create personalized follow-up campaigns after events or donation drives.
- Track giving patterns to identify opportunities for sustaining donations.
- Integrate with CRMs to ensure all donor communications are consistent and timely.
Pricing
Momentum does not offer a free tier. There are various pricing structures available, starting at $100 per month.
DonorSearch AI
DonorSearch AI (DSAI) is another AI-based fundraising tool that uses your nonprofit’s data to identify potential donors. It builds predictive models by analyzing its own database, public data, and proprietary data. In this way, it can identify people who have both the ability and interest in donating to your nonprofit. It even offers recommendations on preferred communication methods.
If your nonprofit needs to find new donors, then DSAI is a good option for identifying these people. It can also help locate and retain repeat donors and even increase gift size.
Common Uses
- Use predictive analytics to identify high-potential donors and major gift prospects.
- Segment donor lists based on wealth data, giving capacity, and philanthropic interests.
- Prioritize outreach to supporters most likely to respond to fundraising appeals.
- Gain insights into donor motivations to personalize stewardship strategies.
Pricing
DonorSearch does not offer a free tier. Pricing is available upon request from DonorSearch.
Buffer
Buffer is an AI social media assistant that can help you manage your digital presence. It can suggest (or even draft) content for your social media team, tailoring and optimizing posts for each channel. In this way, you can post unique content on platforms like LinkedIn, Threads, Facebook, and Twitter that is designed to meet specific goals.
This tool can also be used to polish and edit content that you create. It can also learn your tone so that your posts are consistent with your nonprofit’s brand.
Common Uses
- Generate engaging social media posts that align with your nonprofit’s mission.
- Brainstorm campaign ideas or hashtags for awareness months and giving days.
- Repurpose blog content into shorter social updates across platforms.
- Analyze audience engagement trends and suggest posting times or content improvements.
Pricing
Buffer has three different pricing options, including free, $5 per month, and $10 per month.
Canva Magic Studio
Canva Magic Studio is an AI-powered creativity tool. It works in Canva, the graphic design software that many nonprofits and businesses use to create images and graphics. It allows users to input media or text to create designs that are personalized to your nonprofit’s needs.
Canva Magic Studio offers several options, including Magic Write for generating text, Magic Media for creating images and videos from prompts, and Magic Animate for adding animations to your designs. Particularly for nonprofits that may not have a dedicated social media manager, it can be a great way to make great graphics for your digital presence.
Common Uses
- Instantly design flyers, event posters, and social media graphics with AI-generated templates.
- Use Magic Write to draft captions, donor appeals, or event descriptions directly in Canva.
- Generate on-brand visuals for storytelling and fundraising campaigns.
- Translate and localize materials to reach multilingual audiences quickly.
Pricing
The cost of Canva Magic Studio is $12.99 to $14.99 per month, with a discount for paying annually. There is also a free option with fewer AI options.
DALL-E
DALL-E is an image-generation AI tool from OpenAI (the same company behind ChatGPT). It can be a great option for creating images that represent your nonprofit’s brand and mission. These images can be a great alternative to using actual photographs, particularly if your nonprofit works in a sensitive area and cannot show pictures of clients or staff. For example, if your nonprofit is a domestic violence agency, then you might choose to generate images on DALL-E rather than potentially put the safety and privacy of your clients and staff at risk.
These images can also be a great alternative to stock photos, which often aren’t exactly right for your purposes.
Common Uses
- Create unique visuals for campaigns, events, and impact reports without hiring a designer.
- Generate illustrations that highlight your cause (e.g., clean water access, wildlife protection).
- Design concept art for marketing materials or donor gifts.
- Replace costly stock photography with original, mission-aligned imagery.
Pricing
DALL-E has a free tier available with 15 credits per month, free access through a ChatGPT subscription, or plans for 115 credits for $15.
Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI writing assistant and grammar checker application. This AI-powered technology can be used as a stand-alone website by copying and pasting your work into its editor or by integrating the app with an existing platform (such as Google Docs). It will proofread for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, check for plagiarism, and offer suggestions for style, clarity, and tone.
In addition, Grammarly can be used to help generate content. It can generate text from prompts, assist with brainstorming, and even rephrase sentences.
Common Uses
- Improve clarity and tone in donor letters, grant applications, and press releases.
- Ensure professionalism and grammatical accuracy in all communications.
- Adjust tone for different audiences (formal for funders, conversational for volunteers).
- Maintain consistent writing quality across teams and departments.
Pricing
Grammarly has a free version, plus two paid options - Grammarly Pro ($12/month if billed annually) and an Enterprise option for businesses.
Clearscope
If you struggle with search engine optimization (SEO), Clearscope is a great AI-powered tool to consider. It is a content optimization platform that can help you create content for your website that increases SEO rankings. It offers content optimization, with recommendations for keyword usage and content structure.
Clearscope can integrate with writing platforms such as Word, WordPress, and GoogleDocs. It also offers detailed reporting to analyze content effectiveness so that you can improve SEO scores.
Common Uses
- Optimize blog posts and web pages for SEO to reach more supporters organically.
- Identify keywords relevant to your cause and geographic focus.
- Improve readability and structure for better online engagement.
- Track content performance and update older articles to maintain visibility.
Pricing
The Essentials Plan starts at $189 per month, while a Business plan costs $399 monthly. There is also an Enterprise plan option, with custom pricing.
Instrumentl
Instrumentl is an AI tool for nonprofits that can help them find grant funding. It allows nonprofits to discover and manage grants through advanced AI-powered searching options. When using Instrumental, you can search nation-wide databases by keywords, size, and field to narrow down options. It also offers customized recommendations.
In addition, Instrumentl allows nonprofits to track grants, including deadline reminders. It includes project management features so that you can assign tasks and track progress.
Common Uses
- Discover grant opportunities tailored to your mission and region.
- Track application deadlines, eligibility, and submission requirements in one place.
- Use AI recommendations to match your programs to the best-fit funders.
- Collaborate with your team on proposals and monitor grant progress over time.
Pricing
This tool is on thepricer side, with plans starting at $179 per month and going up to $899 per month.
ClickUp Brain
ClickUp Brain is an AI-enabled project management tool that can connect your nonprofit’s data with its technology. It integrates with your software to pull tasks, people, documents, and company knowledge. It can then provide status updates on projects, answer questions, and more.
In addition to automated project status reports, ClickUp Brain can generate text for projects, summarize meeting notes, and manage tasks.
Common Uses
- Generate project briefs, meeting summaries, and task lists automatically.
- Use AI to draft updates for board reports or campaign progress notes.
- Organize content creation workflows and automate repetitive project management tasks.
- Extract insights from past projects to improve planning for future initiatives.
Pricing
To use ClickUp Brain, you must first have a ClickUp plan. If you do, then the cost is $7 per user per month, billed annually (on top of the ClickUp subscription cost).
Otter
Otter is an AI meeting agent. It is a great tool if your nonprofit has regular meetings. It offers live transcripts, automated summaries, and action items. It also has AI templates and AI chats that can be used to extract key information from meeting notes. The tool can also generate plans and emails, such as a follow-up email for action items from the meeting.
Common Uses
- Transcribe board meetings, interviews, and stakeholder discussions automatically.
- Create searchable notes for easy access to key decisions and quotes.
- Share meeting summaries with staff or volunteers who couldn’t attend.
- Use transcripts to generate donor stories or annual report content.
Pricing
Otter has a free plan, with limited transcription minutes. There is also an individual plan ($8.33 per month when billed annually) or a Business plan for teams ($20 per month, billed annually). For larger organizations, Otter offers custom pricing for Enterprise plans.
Notion AI
Notion AI is a workspace tool that can help your team stay on track. Notion is an “all-in-one” workspace that allows users to write, plan, collaborate, and organize in a digital space. Its addition of AI means that this workspace now includes data summaries, automated task handling, idea generation, and smart writing assistance.
This technology can be particularly useful for teams that may not work in the same office. It allows your employees to work collaboratively with an AI-boost.
Common Uses
- Summarize reports, brainstorm campaign ideas, or outline proposals in shared team spaces.
- Draft grant language or event plans collaboratively within Notion.
- Automate note organization and task follow-ups after meetings.
- Build internal knowledge bases or onboarding guides for staff and volunteers.
Pricing
Notion does offer a free option, with limited AI usage. Otherwise, Notion AI costs $8 per month per user when billed annually.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is perhaps the best-known AI tool (although sometimes for not-so-great reasons). It can be incredibly useful at answering questions based on prompts, creating images, and more. For example, if you want to write a blog post related to your nonprofit’s mission, you could ask ChatGPT to create an outline for you. Of course, an employee should always check the work for accuracy, but it can be a great starting point for your staff.
There are other possible uses of ChatGPT, such as creating graphics for use on social media. You simply have to tell ChatGPT what you want and it can create and refine an image based on your instructions.
Common Uses
- Draft donor communications, blog posts, and social media content in your organization’s tone.
- Brainstorm fundraising ideas, event themes, or community engagement campaigns.
- Research topics, laws, or best practices related to your mission.
- Summarize reports or extract insights from large datasets or documents.
Pricing
There is a free version of ChatGPT, plus a range of paid options from $20 per month to a Team plan ($25 to $30 per month) to a $200 per month Pro plan.
Gemini
Gemini is billed as Google’s “everyday AI assistant.” It is similar to ChatGPT in that it can answer questions and generate content (such as text and images). It also integrates with other Google services, such as Docs, Gmail, and Maps. This can help your team streamline productivity if you are already using Google products.
There are many different uses for Gemini, including managing tasks, summarizing information, and streamlining workflow.
Common Uses
- Integrate with Google Workspace to generate meeting notes, draft emails, or summarize documents.
- Analyze data from Sheets or Docs to uncover trends in fundraising or program outcomes.
- Suggest action items or insights from meeting transcripts and project discussions.
- Help staff quickly generate outreach materials using Google tools they already use daily.
Pricing
Like ChatGPT, Google offers both free and paid options for Gemini. Gemini Advanced and Gemini Business cost $20 per month per user, while GeminiEnterprise costs $30 per user per month.
Powerful AI Use Cases For Nonprofits
With limited budgets and lean teams, nonprofits benefit greatly from finding ways to do more with less. By using AI strategically, organizations can automate repetitive tasks, uncover insights from data, and focus their energy where it matters most: advancing their mission. Below are some meaningful ways that organizations are adopting AI into their workflows.
Streamlining Administrative Work
One of the simplest yet most powerful ways nonprofits can use AI is to reduce time spent on administrative tasks. AI-powered assistants can draft and respond to emails, schedule meetings, and summarize lengthy documents like board reports or grant guidelines.
Data entry is often one of the biggest drains on staff time. Data entry can also be automated with AI tools that extract and organize information from forms, spreadsheets, and scanned documents. By letting AI handle the repetitive work, nonprofit staff can devote more time to building relationships and delivering services.
Grant Writing and Research
Securing funding is a constant priority for most nonprofits, and AI can make the process faster and more efficient. Tools that use natural language processing can scan databases to identify new grant opportunities that align with your mission.
Once those opportunities are found, AI can help draft proposals, tailor existing templates for different funders, and even summarize program data into compelling impact reports. Instead of spending hours reworking each application, staff can focus on refining the strongest ideas and building funder relationships.
Donor Outreach and Retention
AI is also transforming the way nonprofits connect with donors. By analyzing patterns in donor behavior, AI tools can segment your supporter list and predict who is most likely to donate, lapse, or increase their gift. From there, AI can generate personalized messages that speak directly to a donor’s interests or past giving history.
AI tools can even optimize the timing and subject lines of fundraising emails to increase open rates. The result is smarter, more meaningful communication that strengthens relationships and boosts fundraising success without adding hours of manual work.
Content Creation and Marketing
Content creation is another area where AI can have a huge impact. Many nonprofits struggle to keep up with the constant demand for social media posts, newsletters, and blog updates. AI tools can help by generating draft content, creating social media captions, or turning field reports into compelling stories.
For video and multimedia campaigns, AI can even write scripts or suggest visuals to help explain your mission in engaging ways. By using AI as a creative assistant, nonprofits can maintain a consistent online presence and reach new audiences with less effort.
Data Analysis and Reporting
Every nonprofit collects data, from program participation and donations to volunteer hours and survey results. But turning that information into actionable insights can be difficult. AI can help by analyzing data to uncover trends, generate visual dashboards, and forecast future needs. For example, a food bank could use AI to predict seasonal spikes in demand and adjust inventory planning accordingly. Similarly, AI can automatically generate reports for board meetings or funders, summarizing key outcomes and highlighting progress toward goals.
Volunteer & Program Management
AI can also make managing volunteers and programs more efficient. It can match volunteers to opportunities based on their skills and availability, automatically generate schedules, and send reminders or training materials. Some nonprofits are even using AI chatbots to answer common volunteer questions or provide quick onboarding support.
These systems reduce the administrative burden on staff while improving the volunteer experience to ensure that people spend less time navigating logistics and more time making an impact.
Advocacy and Community Outreach
For organizations focused on advocacy or public awareness, AI can amplify outreach in meaningful ways. It can analyze public sentiment on social media to gauge the effectiveness of campaigns or identify emerging issues.
AI chatbots can also educate the public by answering common questions about topics like voting, health access, or environmental protection. In multilingual communities, AI-driven translation tools can make resources available to a broader audience, which helps nonprofits build inclusivity and trust across cultural lines.
Accessibility and Inclusion
Accessibility is a vital part of every nonprofit’s mission, and AI can help ensure materials are available to everyone. Automatic captioning tools make videos more inclusive, while text-to-speech and speech-to-text technologies allow people with different abilities to engage with your content. AI can even simplify complex documents into plain language, making information easier to understand for all audiences. These technologies not only help nonprofits comply with accessibility standards but also reinforce their commitment to serving diverse communities.
Custom AI Tools for Mission-Specific Work
Finally, some nonprofits are using AI to advance their missions in entirely new ways. Environmental organizations are analyzing satellite images to monitor deforestation or pollution. Health nonprofits are predicting disease outbreaks or identifying at-risk populations. Education-focused nonprofits are creating personalized learning tools for students. In each of these cases, AI is being used not to replace people, but to give them sharper insights and greater reach.
Automate More Of Your Busywork With Inclind
You might believe that your nonprofit won’t really benefit from AI, but you may be surprised. There are so many different AI tools on the market, many of which are specifically for nonprofit organizations. These technologies can allow you to streamline your operations and make the most of your budget.
At Inclind, we help organizations integrate technology that aligns with their mission and values. We’ll work closely with your team to identify bottlenecks and inefficient processes. We’ll then build personalized solutions around those weaknesses to save both time and money for your nonprofit.
If you'd like to learn more about our AI automation services, we are always here to chat with you. You can fill out our online contact form or hit the live chat button to speak to one of our experts about your nonprofit website.