An Interview with Nathan Chappell
The counter-intuitive world of using AI to build deep donor relationships.
Nathan Chappell leads research and development for DonorSearch, where his focus is how artificial intelligence and big data can help nonprofit organizations build deeper relationships with donors. He also co-authored The Generosity Crisis: The Case for Radical Connection to Solve Humanity’s Greatest Challenges (2022).
Generosity is a theme with Nathan. A 2019 “Top 100 Influencer in Philanthropy” and presenter of the first TEDx on AI and the future of generosity, he also founded Fundraising.Ai, a member-centric collaboration that believes AI holds the power to inspire generosity, deepen empathy, increase personalization, and reinforce relational giving. As Nathan says, “I’ve never had a bad conversation around generosity.”
Before I talk about his work in AI, you should know this about me: my partner calls me a Luddite and my favorite part of fundraising has been personal conversations with major donors. So I came into this interview with curiosity – and skepticism – about how you can create radical connection with computers doing fundraising. Join me on my journey with Nathan into 21st century fundraising…
What is your fundraising role and how long have you done it?
I worked in nonprofits as a fundraiser for 20 years and, before that, started and sold two tech companies. So I was always a technologist working in the nonprofit sector. In 2017 I was told that I had to increase donor revenue by 25% but couldn’t hire more development staff. So I thought, “What would they do in the private sector?” and spent two years learning everything I could about machine learning.
Tell us about something funny, crazy or unexpected that happened in your world of Doing Good.
There is a crisis in fundraising. I was being asked to raise more money from a shrinking pool of donors. How do you reverse that? Immersing yourself in tech is the answer.
Household giving decreased 13-16% in the last 20 years (depending on your source, Gallup or Giving USA). At that rate, the number of households that gives is a straight line ending in 49 years. That type of decline in anything leads to significant industry disruption. So how do fundraisers work smarter, not harder? You resolve it by redefining “generosity” so that less is more.
If you could change one thing about the process, what would it be?
I would have every nonprofit make a fundamental shift to quantifying a donor’s connection. Nonprofits have become far too transactional. Of Americans, 51% don’t give because they feel like an ATM. Retention changes everything. It makes the focus of fundraising donor-centric. Most of the book focuses on relationships over revenue.
There are so many different flavors of AI: good AI fosters relationships; bad AI is transactional. (Think how an automated email makes you feel.) We run thousands of calculations per person and don’t use any wealth indicators. Take planned giving. A donor may score high on engagement, but low on giving. AI for relationship-building scales “good old-fashioned major gift work” to measure a person’s depth of connection: emails opened, times volunteered, events attended, gifts made – and the velocity of those actions.
AI has become so much more affordable. It’s accessible to nonprofits and can have such a tremendous impact in building sustainable revenue.
Think of your favorite nonprofit. What makes them great?
The Farm Link Project is one of my favorites. As a board member I’m completely biased, but they are an amazing group of young individuals who simply won’t take “no” for an answer. They are creative. Innovative. Nimble. Pure passion and drive. They refuse to be bound by what hasn’t worked before, and are willing to continuously reinvent themselves and their work to solve difficult problems.
What is one thing you'd like funders to know about nonprofits?
I spend most of my time focused on what nonprofits need to know about funders! But I’d say that it all boils down to trust. I think nonprofits discount the importance of trust to donors, and donors discount the amount of trust it takes to be fully committed to an organization. Trust is the currency of the nonprofit sector, and we live in a society where trust is diminished.
In recent years, the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that business is the only institution that’s seen competent and ethical. Yet nonprofit staff wake up and think about ethics and competency every day, and make conscious decisions to focus their work here. So how can funders not perceive nonprofits as trustworthy?
Interesting in learning more? Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn or by email.
Not quite ready for AI but want to brainstorm fundraising options for small, bootstrapping nonprofits? Check out the free fundraising tools at communitygrantwriters.us or schedule time to talk with Melanie.