238: Harnessing AI To Amplify Nonprofit Impact With Nathan Chappell & Scott Rosenkrans

May 6, 2025

Nathan Chappell, an AI expert and author, and Scott Rosenkrans, an AI evangelist, dive into how nonprofits can harness artificial intelligence to enhance their impact. They share insights from their co-authored book, discussing the necessity of curiosity and a flexible mindset for adopting AI technology. The conversation highlights AI's transformative potential in streamlining donor engagement and fundraising strategies. They emphasize the importance of innovation over incremental changes, encouraging nonprofits to embrace creativity and experimentation.

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INSIGHT

Curious Generalists Win With AI

The curious generalist outperforms narrow experts by connecting dots across domains using AI.
Democratised AI levels expertise and rewards curiosity over single-domain mastery.

ADVICE

Prioritize Responsible AI

Use AI within a responsible and beneficial framework that protects donors and beneficiaries.
Align every AI decision to organizational values and trust preservation.

ADVICE

Problem-First AI Adoption

Start with the problem, not the tool: map AI use to a real nonprofit challenge first.
Define the solution, then pick data and prompts that specifically address that use case.

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In this episode of What The Fundraising, Mallory is joined by fellow AI enthusiasts, Nathan Chappell and Scott Rosenkrans. They discuss leveraging AI, which offers nonprofit organizations an extraordinary opportunity to boost their impact and drive fundraising efforts to a new level. AI transforms the way nonprofits operate from streamlining donor engagement to personalizing outreach. However, adopting AI is not just about integrating a new technology. It’s about developing a culture of curiosity and flexibility. This requires a willingness to evolve, openness to experiment, and focusing on people over tools.

Nathan Chappell is an author, AI inventor, public speaker, and head of AI at DonorSearch AI and is one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and generosity.

Scott Rosenkrans is a responsible, beneficial AI evangelist and the associate vice president of DonorSearch AI.

Nathan and Scott co-authored the book Nonprofit AI, out now!. This groundbreaking creation explores how nonprofit organizations can utilize the power of artificial intelligence to transform fundraising strategies. They joined Mallory today to talk through how their book provides a guide to practical insights, real-world case studies, and strategies for adopting AI technologies in the nonprofit sector. Grab your copy here.

In this episode, you will be able to,

Learn the power of being curious.
Discover how to embrace uncertainty with curiosity.
Discover how to break the barriers of adopting AI.
Identify the importance of being cautious when adopting new technologies.

Get all the resources from today’s episode here.

Support for this show is brought to you by Donor Perfect. Our friends at Donor Perfect really understand fundraising on so many levels.

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If you’re looking to raise more from the right funders, then you’ll want to check out my Power Partners Formula, a step-by-step approach to identifying the optimal partners for your organization. This free masterclass offers a great starting point.