By Greg Fine – a marketing consultant who leverages 30 years of for-profit marketing and advertising experience to help nonprofits create larger-than-life giving campaigns and marketing that connect.

At face value, AI appears to be a gift from the fund development and marketing gods. AI tools seemingly transform campaign development from a hands-on, intensive process into hit-enter ease. But what’s the reality?

In truth, turning campaigns over lock, stock, and barrel to AI reduces a nonprofit’s uniqueness — and its good name — to AI blandification, as defined by Russ Napolitano.

Napolitano captured it well: “While AI undeniably offers efficiency and scalability, the concept of ‘creativity’ remains a uniquely human trait that machines cannot fully replicate.”

What is AI?

For simplicity, AI can be categorized into two types: generative and non-generative. This article focuses on the generative version.

Non-generative AI doesn’t create new content; it analyzes data to make predictions, automate tasks, or surface insights. Think of tools like spam filters, donor segmentation algorithms, or predictive analytics that forecast campaign performance — systems that excel at recognizing patterns in existing data.

By contrast, generative AI creates new content based on what it has learned from massive datasets. Tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini can write donor emails, generate social media captions, or brainstorm fundraising themes — instantly producing new material in response to prompts.

Bottom line: Non-generative AI helps understand what’s already there. Generative AI helps imagine what could be.

Generative AI is like a ginormous digital Encyclopedia Britannica that compiles the internet’s knowledge base and immediately plops it on a screen. It is essentially a vast rearview mirror.

That’s the problem.

ChatGPT and Gemini repackage all that information, rendering it into headlines, social posts, and emails crafted to feel human. However, there’s nothing new there. It’s an artful, artificial remix of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos or one of John Muir’s essays — not original, just reassembled.

Slinging AI Blandwash at Your Donors

Nonprofits are fundamentally in the relationship business — with beneficiaries, with volunteers, and with donors. Letting ChatGPT or Gemini create campaigns means regurgitating a random collection of thoughts found on the Web. Relying solely on generative AI to create messaging means forfeiting the work – and creativity – required to forge real relationships.

More importantly, nonprofits risk losing their brand identity if they relinquish their humanity. If Nonprofit A and Nonprofit C say the same thing, they will eventually become indistinguishable. Over time, donors will yawn and move on because there is nothing to bond with. Both are the same. Both are algorithm-blended blandwash.

Be Real: 4 Human Essentials in Fundraising Campaigns

Instead of “appealing to the average” and homogenizing appeals campaigns, focus on creating and illuminating your nonprofit’s distinct voice. Human energy should be invested in the campaign elements that require emotional connection. Let AI handle the administrative and analytical lifting. Here’s where human input remains essential:

1. Emotional Storytelling and Persuasion

    • Humans understand the emotional triggers that inspire generosity — whether it’s urgency, personal connection, or a compelling mission-driven narrative.
    • AI can identify donor preferences, but humans must craft authentic and heartfelt stories that resonate.

2. Creativity and Innovation

    • AI is trained on past data; it cannot invent truly novel ideas outside existing trends.
    • Nonprofit fundraising requires fresh campaign concepts, singular visuals, and engaging calls to action — all of which require human ingenuity.

3. Building Genuine Relationships

  • Donor relationships are built on trust and connection, which AI cannot replicate.
  • Major gifts and long-term donor engagement still depend on human-to-human interactions — phone calls, handwritten notes, personal meetings.

4. Ethical Oversight & Nuance

  • AI lacks ethical reasoning and could unintentionally generate misleading or insensitive messaging.
  • Humans ensure messaging aligns with organizational values and respects donors’ emotions and motivations.

The Future is AI + Human Collaboration

AI is a powerful tool, but not a replacement for human-driven fundraising and marketing outreach. The most successful nonprofit campaigns will:

  • Use AI to analyze data, optimize timing, and identify personalization opportunities
  • Rely on humans to craft compelling stories, develop creative strategies, and nurture donor relationships

Nonprofits that embrace this hybrid approach will see the most success — leveraging AI’s efficiency without sacrificing the human touch that makes fundraising genuinely effective.

Greg Fine is a warm-blooded, storytelling human who leverages 30 years of for-profit marketing and advertising experience to help nonprofits create larger-than-life giving campaigns and marketing that connect. Learn more at Greg The Fine – Outsized Marketing for Mid-Size Nonprofits.