Personally engaging a large donor base with AI-powered fundraising tools

Insights from Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County on how they use Raise from Gravyty

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County leads a powerful response to causes that affect the Jewish people locally and globally. Every day, the Federation works to improve people’s lives in the Palm Beaches and around the world, and its success has been noted for nearly sixty years. In 2019, the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County won the Health and Human Services Organization of the Year award from the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches.

Federation’s Goal: Personally engage a large donor base

As Federation’s Chief Development Officer, Matt Kernkraut saw a large potential donor base of more than 16,000 individuals that could be invigorated if they were personally engaged with each other and the Federation. This relationship-based approach to fundraising would become a critical component of the Federation’s philanthropic growth strategy.

Along with Vice President of Campus Operations, Chris Malone, he set out to ensure that this donor base was invited to participate in the Federation’s work in meaningful ways by developing a strategy that included everyone from the CEO to frontline fundraisers. Together, Matt and Chris found a solution in Raise from Gravyty, an AI-powered fundraiser enablement tool, becoming the first AI-enabled Jewish Federation in North America. 

Strategy

When the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County came to Raise from Gravyty, Matt and Chris outlined three critical success areas:

1. Surfacing donors to fundraisers
2. Promoting action for fundraisers
3. Helping to prioritize individuals for relationship development based on a range of data points within our CRM system.

Surfacing donors

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County implemented a strategy of asking current donors to increase their giving. However, pursuing this approach with a donor file of 16,000 is no easy task. The  Federation recognized that development professionals contacted donors they knew well to ask for gift increases. 

Raise from Gravyty helped overcome this discomfort of communicating with donors who development professionals were less-familiar with expanding the prospect pool for gift increases. 

Since the Federation began its engagement with Raise from Gravyty, new fundraisers have entered the fold. All fundraisers are onboarded by Raise’s team of fundraising professionals to ensure fast adoption and understanding of AI and machine learning for fundraiser enablement. Because of the onboarding, any member of the Federation’s team can quickly execute an advancement strategy and product outcomes with AI tools. 

We all know that our staff naturally gravitates to people whom they like, whom they already have relationships with through committees, and individuals who attend our events. However, we recognize that our database is full of others who case about us and might give more if we gave them an opportunity to be meaningfully engaged. Raise from Gravyty provides a solution to this challenge. It both surfaces new potential donors, reminds us to stay in touch with our closest stakeholders, and gives staff the tools to take action.

Matt Kernkraut, Chief Development Officer, Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County

Raise from Gravyty solves these challenges by identifying the best donors for discovery, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Before the Federation’s Raise from Gravyty implementation, development officers spent significant time creating an engagement strategy for each assignment. It has improved operational efficiency and empowered the Federation team to engage, qualify and manage 5,000 additional high-capacity donors.

Prompting action

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County’s staff organizes donor assignments strategically based on donation size, geography, and affiliation. Fundraisers usually have data about the donor’s giving history but often do not have the information they need to determine when and how in their approach. 

Prioritizing relationships

The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County knows that personal relationships drive philanthropic growth. Raise from Gravyty makes it possible to reach donors with personalization and increase giving by building stronger relationships. 

For example, Raise from Gravyty’s birthday message prompts are particularly helpful for donors of all giving levels. The team managing touchpoints with these donors have used these birthday messages to increase activity and increase the level of philanthropic support.

Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County AI-enabled success

The strategy worked. The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County used Raise from Gravyty to prioritize relationships, prompt action for fundraisers, surface new donors to fundraisers, and, most importantly, raise new revenue.

In one year, Raise from Gravyty empowered the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County’s fundraisers to inspire $1.2M in new and increased giving from more than 475 donors. 

The new evolution in fundraising begins with AI: Transform your fundraising outcomes with Raise from Gravyty

Every nonprofit is unique, yet most have common fundraising challenges. Learn more about how Raise from Gravyty and AI can transform your fundraising by expanding your workforce and building your major gift pipeline. Book your free consultation.