How nonprofit marketers can use AI to solve digital fundraising’s real blockers

At Delve Deeper’s Actionable AI events in New York City and Washington DC, nonprofit marketers and digital fundraisers came together to work through the challenges holding back stronger donor relationships: siloed data, weak segmentation, limited personalization, and inefficient media.

In candid conversations with teams from leading charities, AI showed up where it matters most: helping teams see donors more clearly, move faster, and make better decisions.

Here’s a summary of what we heard in the room.

Siloed data: “Everything is somewhere. Nothing is connected.”

Most nonprofit teams have plenty of donor data. The problem is getting a usable view of it.

One attendee described the reality this way: “Four years ago, we started a database transition for the direct mail department, and it’s still not done, and it put everything else on freeze, hold, so that it ripples down and impacts everything.”

Another described paid media data in one platform, Salesforce in another, email in Pardot — and no audience-centric view across individual giving teams.

What the room wanted: a clearer source of truth, a way to see where sustainers are coming from, and a practical path to make existing systems work together.

Try this: Run a 15-minute data quality check before your next campaign. Learn how by downloading our AI Quick Fixes here.

Segmentation: “Useful” matters
more than “more.”

The issue isn’t whether nonprofit teams can create segments. It’s whether those segments help them make better decisions.

As one attendee put it: “How do we split these people up into segments that are actually useful to us? But also, how much capacity do we actually have to use all the segments we are thinking of? And how do we not overload ourselves with possibilities?”

That’s the real tension: moving beyond giving level without creating a segmentation system the team can’t actually use.

What the room wanted: donor groups based less on how much someone gave and more on why they gave, what they responded to, and what they may be ready to do next.

Try this: Build a better ask ladder to move beyond one-size-fits-all RFM and calibrate asks to donor behavior.  Learn how by downloading our AI Quick Fixes here.

Personalization: The blocker is execution.

Everyone wants to personalize. The hard part is turning insight into a workflow.

One attendee said it plainly: “We’re customizing how we speak to our donors based on their giving levels, but not on who they are as a person.”

Another said their organization has many causes and subjects to talk about, but still struggles “to communicate with the individual donor on a topic that resonates with them.”

That’s where AI needs to be used carefully. The opportunity is not replacing human judgment. It’s helping teams match the right existing message, story, or asset to the right donor faster.

What the room wanted: a workflow for connecting segments to actions — without requiring a full new creative production process every time.

Try this: Turn your annual report into a year of content. Learn how by downloading our AI Quick Fixes here.

Inefficient media: The platforms are optimizing. But for what?

Nonprofit media teams are running across channels, platforms, agencies, and dashboards — often without a shared view of what is actually driving donor value.

One attendee described “social, search, and programmatic” as siloed channels run by different teams “not talking to each other as much across the different channels.” To sum up, it’s about “different teams, different platforms, and bidding on the same people without even knowing.”

The frustration is not just attribution. It’s confidence: knowing what to stop, what to scale, and what to test next.

What the room wanted: a clearer view of which channels, campaigns, and creative are driving donors who stay — not just donors who click.

Try this: Get a quick optimization to see what budget should be stopped or scaled Learn how by downloading our AI Quick Fixes here.