AI Is Starting to Make Fundraising Look the Same

Over the past couple of years, we have seen organizations experimenting with AI in their fundraising and communications work.

Some nonprofits are using it for donor emails, some are using it for campaign planning, others are using it to help brainstorm content ideas or structure reports.

But there’s also a growing issue that’s becoming hard to ignore.

So many nonprofit communications are starting to feel and sound exactly the same.

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And you can usually spot it pretty quickly.

The famous em dashes — the slightly over-polished tone. The fake enthusiasm. The constructed contrast: “The problem is not the technology. The problem is how people use it.” Vague emotional language that somehow manages to say… well nothing specific at all. 🔹And the most obvious one, the emojis. 🎯

And people are becoming very good at sensing AI-generated communication, even when they cannot fully explain why.

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I am not saying donors will shout, “This was written by AI!", but they will quietly stop feeling engaged by what they are reading.

I mean, don’t you? I quickly disengage from posts I see that were clearly not written by the person. I mean, if you are going to generate intellectual-sounding content (read: slop), at least remove the emojis.

And even when it's done well, the result is communication that looks so good, while still so fluffy that it is completely forgettable.

You can’t let your donors see your message as forgettable.

This becomes especially important in fundraising because attention is already limited. We are competing with dopamine-laced, 20-second videos on social media. If every email, mailpiece, social post, or marketing document sounds too polished in the exact same way, very little stands out.

And while AI-generated writing sounding repetitive is certainly a concern, what worries me most is what happens when organizations start relying on AI to do all the thinking behind the communication itself.

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Building Trust and Human Connection.

If you are in the fundraising world, you likely understand the importance of building trust and human connection with donors.

This is what donors expect.

Donors want to hear from a real person who understands the mission, understands the need, and understands why support matters right now.

Fundraising requires constant judgment calls. Deciding what story to tell, which donors need to hear it, how much urgency is appropriate, and what information matters most are all part of the work.

It’s about actually helping someone connect to your mission and understanding why that gift was made.

We are talking about human interactions, like the ones we have in person or over the phone. Those interactions tend to include, not only details, but thoughts, personality, and small observations that reflect actual, imperfect human thinking.

That imperfect perspective is what donors respond to. Perfect grammar, polished formatting, and great paragraph structure help, but they are not what builds trust or inspires someone to give.

In painful contrast, AI-generated content often becomes so polished, so vague, or so obviously computer-generated, that the reader’s connection to the story or mission begins to fade.

The irony is that AI is actually incredibly useful in fundraising when it is supporting human judgment instead of replacing it.

The nonprofits getting the most value from AI are usually not asking it to do all their thinking for them. They are using it to help organize ideas, improve structure, summarize information, or accelerate parts of the writing process that would otherwise take longer.

Some of the most valuable uses of AI in fundraising are actually happening behind the scenes to:

• identify donor patterns across their database;

• organize meeting notes into actionable next steps;

• build donor personas;

• brainstorm stewardship ideas;

• structure campaign plans;

• summarize reports and program updates;

• improve internal organization and planning.

Notice that none of those examples replace professional judgment. They simply help the fundraiser make better decisions, move faster, or stay organized.

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The problem starts when organizations skip that part entirely.

The nonprofits that will use AI to improve their organizations over the next few years will be the ones using it to strengthen their thinking, improve organization, and support execution, not the ones trying to outsource a human perspective or automate every piece of communication.

After all, donors are giving to people, missions, communities, and causes they believe in.

AI can help process information. It can help organize ideas. It can even help improve a first draft.

But it cannot understand a donor relationship, recognize nuance, or make the kinds of fundraising judgments that build trust over time.

And that still requires communication that is genuinely human.

- Austin Pierce