Episode 249: When ChatGPT Becomes Your Donor Relations Assistant: Remember, Respond, Reinforce

What would happen if every donor who supported your nonprofit felt like they had a personal assistant dedicated just to them? Someone who remembered their birthday, their giving history, their interests, and their impact. Someone who responded warmly and accurately, every single time. Now imagine it happening automatically — without adding more to your workload.

In this episode of The Million Dollar Nonprofit, Tom Kelly shows nonprofit leaders how to use ChatGPT as a donor relations assistant — an AI teammate that keeps donors engaged, valued, and connected. Using the framework Remember. Respond. Reinforce., you’ll learn how to:

Remember: Use AI to track every donor’s history, preferences, and giving habits so you never miss a detail. Build donor profiles and communication rules that allow AI to act as the memory engine behind deeper relationships.

Respond: Draft warm, personalized replies instantly for emails, DMs, or texts. AI helps your team respond quickly while keeping tone, gratitude, and mission alignment consistent.

Reinforce: Maintain ongoing stewardship through automated check-ins, anniversary messages, personalized impact updates, event follow-ups, and upgrade invitations — all tailored to each donor’s journey.

You’ll hear a real example from a food bank in Ohio that created an AI donor assistant named “Harper.” Response time dropped from three days to thirty minutes, and donor retention jumped 18% in a single quarter. Donors said: “You always remember me.” “I feel connected.” “I’ve never been thanked this consistently.”

The episode includes plug-and-play prompts to help you: write warm donor follow-ups, personalize impact updates, send anniversary or birthday notes, and invite donors to upgrade or re-engage.