AI for NGO Fundraising: Enhancing Grant Matchmaking Through Data Visualization and Automation

Background

Traditional grant-finding methods are often time-intensive, costly, and inefficient, limiting NGOs’ ability to secure funding critical for positive social change. The partnership between Omdena and the social enterprise Our Community aimed to address this issue by leveraging AI for NGO fundraising. By introducing automation and intelligent tools, the project sought to streamline grant monitoring and accessibility across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, Canada, and South Africa.

Objective

The project’s primary goal was to create innovative AI fundraising tools that enable NGOs to efficiently identify and monitor grant opportunities. The focus was on simplifying the matchmaking process between grantmakers and not-for-profit organizations to boost funding flow and empower social initiatives globally.

Approach

The project ultilized cutting-edge techniques, including:

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): An analysis pipeline was built for feature extraction from diverse data sources.
• Data scraping: Over 1,200 PDF documents, Twitter feeds, and Google data were analyzed using automated APIs.
• Automation tools: Custom-designed microservices using RESTful APIs automated the data extraction and analysis processes.
• Structured and unstructured data processing: The team used specialized web scrapers for structured table data and NLP for unstructured sources.
• Visualization dashboard: A user-friendly, interactive dashboard was developed to present grant distribution data visually, covering billions of dollars in grants across six countries.

These tools enhanced data accessibility and usability for NGOs, revolutionizing AI for non-profit fundraising.

Results and Impact

The project delivered impactful outcomes:

• Scalable Automation: Fully automated the grant data collection process, reducing time and cost significantly.
• Comprehensive Data Insights: Processed large-scale, multi-source datasets, covering billions of dollars in grants.
• Global Reach: The solution supported NGOs across six countries, improving accessibility to crucial funding opportunities.
• Enhanced Decision-Making: The interactive dashboard allowed NGOs to visualize grant distributions and make data-driven decisions.

By integrating AI fundraising tools, the project empowered NGOs to focus on their mission rather than the complexities of fundraising.

A demo of the Streamlit application

Future Implications

The success of this project highlights the transformative potential of AI fundraising tools for NGOs worldwide. It paves the way for:

• Policy Advancements: Encouraging governments and funders to adopt data-driven approaches for grant distribution.
• Scalable Adoption: NGOs in other regions can replicate the methodology to streamline fundraising processes.
• AI Innovation: Further research into AI applications for targeted donor engagement and impact tracking.

By demonstrating how AI can simplify and amplify NGO fundraising efforts, this initiative lays the groundwork for widespread adoption of AI for non-profit fundraising, driving social impact globally.