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This week our team had great breakthroughs in evolving the Fundraising Neural Nets and Algorithms (FNAs). The FNAs are used by the autonomous fundraiser to predict a twelve month engagement journey for each donor, determine the best next action and execute the next engagement touchpoint.
Below is an example of the output of the FNAs. This chart represents a 12 month journey for a single donor and is the foundation for how the autonomous fundraiser decides its next best action.
This an example of a single potential journey for one individual donor at a single point in time. It illustrates how complicated fundraising really is and why fundraising professionals have a limit to the number of donors they can work with. The scale of impact for the autonomous fundraiser to manage this process for thousands of donors is the reason autonomous fundraising will change fundraising forever.
As we evolve both the decision-making and learning abilities of the autonomous fundraiser, our team had to explore how the autonomous fundraiser determines the most appropriate communication methods (text, email, a hand written note, etc.) for each donor engagement. Since this isn’t a marketing tool and because these communications happen asynchronously, the autonomous fundraiser chooses how to communicate information based on the most appropriate and adaptive methods relative to the specific information being communicated instead of using a generalized and singular communication method (i.e. always text, always email).
This insight was an interesting jumping off point for our team to explore what it means for the autonomous fundraiser to be truly donor-centric. For example, our team found that the most effective way for the autonomous fundraiser to thank a donor for their gift is with an AI generated, robotically hand-written note. The best way to invite a donor to an event is with an email because of the ability to add links that are helpful and allow the donor to better understand the details of the event. And, it’s generally best for the autonomous fundraiser to send a quick text message to wish a donor happy birthday.
During the years I spent working as a gift officer and as all frontline fundraisers know, we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the best way to communicate with our most important donors. We’ll generally use the most appropriate method to communicate the information that we need to inspire the donor to take the desired action. The autonomous fundraiser has to do the same.
This week, our team is focused on testing different combinations of communication methods for various types of messaging to help determine a baseline for how the autonomous fundraiser should communicate different categories of engagement. Lots to learn, and we’re making great progress.