How I Used ChatGPT to Build a Full Fundraising Strategy in 1 Hour—
And What It Really Means for Nonprofits
I. Personal Reflection
I’ve never felt like money was my language. Fundraising, even less so.
But I care about the kind of work that needs funding. And I care about making it easier for the people who do it.
So when I found myself using AI—specifically ChatGPT—to do what felt like 300 hours of fundraising strategy work in one hour, I had questions.
Was it a fluke? A trick? Or something worth understanding?
I’m still not totally sure. But what I found might be worth sharing.
What draws me to this work—AI, language, strategy—is a love for two things: hard translation and deep connection.
I don’t speak the language of money. But I do speak the language of language. And that makes me fluent, in a strange way, in tools like ChatGPT.
This is translation work: taking something complex and making it usable, adaptable, alive in someone else’s world. It’s also connection work: not just between people, but between whole systems—like nonprofit fundraising and AI—that could actually make each other better.
I’m sharing what I’ve learned. But more than that, I’m inviting your reflection, your insight, your voice in the process. Let’s translate together.
To be honest, I don’t know much about fundraising.
You’re probably better at this than me, if you are reading this (and you are).
So tell me…
Did I really use ChatGPT to do 300 hours of high-quality, high-impact nonprofit fundraising work in one hour?
I’m really asking.
II. The Real Work
In my life, I’ve held the following job titles (in order):
- Paralegal
- Pastor
- Non-Profit Founder
- Non-Profit Director
- International Non-Profit Assistant Director
- Director of Marketing
- Director of Digital Marketing & Emerging Tech/AI
- …and now, I guess, AI Consultant.
But none of these titles has ever felt right. Or sufficient.
That’s not just about labels. It’s about the kind of person I am—and the kind of work I end up doing.
Even in my current day job (yes, at a concrete chemical company), my title doesn’t reflect my role. And likely, neither does yours.
People like us—we’re driven by the mission. And when the mission is urgent, we take on whatever role we have to. Often, that work is both transformative and chaotic at once.
Being under-resourced, stretched thin, and drowning in both the urgency of the mission and the burden of admin… That’s not a personal failure. That’s the cost of doing good in a world that undervalues good.
And yet—we keep going.
For AI and large language models to be a real part of that mission, they can’t just help in theory. They have to help in practice—and not harm in the process.
Because people like us? We’ve learned the hard way: even helping can hurt.
So I started with a question:
Can AI actually help mission-driven people flourish? Can it reduce burdens, deepen impact, and do it without selling our souls or wasting our time?
This post is one way of answering that question.
It’s one experiment. One test. One invitation.
Let me show you what happened.
III. What You’re About to See
I wanted to see what would happen if I gave myself one focused hour to help a nonprofit fundraise— using AI, without being a fundraising expert, and without pretending otherwise.
So I documented it. All of it. A full hour of screen recordings. Every decision, every prompt, every AI output. Not to entertain, and not even to teach—at least not directly. Just to make the process visible. So others could watch, learn, test, or critique.
What came out of that hour surprised me.
- A full campaign strategy
- Donor segmentation and persona development
- Lead sourcing and prioritization
- Personalized outreach plans
- Re-engagement messaging for lapsed donors
- Formatted CSVs for CRM upload
- Supporting content to keep donor communications aligned with brand voice and mission
To get a second opinion, I handed all this work—transcripts, outputs, supporting docs—to a custom GPT trained to simulate nonprofit consulting firms. It reviewed the full body of work and returned a simulated invoice:
- Over 300 hours of consulting work
- Estimated value: $40,000
Is that number inflated? Possibly. But I didn’t invent it—and I didn’t try to optimize for it. Even if that estimate were off by a factor of five, it still reflects a dramatic shift in how much one person can accomplish with a few smart tools and a focused hour.
IV. How to Engage
If you want to scan, look for:
- Transcripts
- Documents
- Data visualizations
- A play-by-play summary of what each module includes
If you want to watch, click play. You’ll see every move—warts and all.
This isn’t a tutorial. It’s a case study, built in real time, for people who want to know what’s possible before they decide what’s next.
Custom GPT Setup & Strategy
This video shows how to configure a Custom GPT for nonprofits using strategic documents and prompt engineering.
Video Playlist
- Custom GPT Setup & Strategy
How I built a GPT with real nonprofit docs & strategy. (6:12)
- AI Audience Analysis & Donor Personas
Using AI to segment, visualize, and message to donors. (8:30)
- AI Donor Sourcing Strategy
Mapping donor types and aligning them to giving motivations. (4:08)
- AI-Assisted Donor Outreach & Personalization
Using AI to write custom outreach based on public donor data. (10:41)
- AI in Donor Data Analysis & CRM Strategy
Analyzing CRM data and building retention strategy with AI. (1:17)
V. What This Means
This Isn’t About One Hour
I didn’t set out to save $40,000. I set out to test a tool—and ended up modeling what might be possible if AI were used thoughtfully, playfully, and seriously in service of real nonprofit work.
The outputs are clear. The time saved is measurable. The custom GPT that reviewed the work estimated over 300 hours of effort across seven consulting roles.
But what matters most isn’t the total. It’s what this kind of leverage could make possible.
It’s not about the dollar amount—it’s about the new capacity it represents.
A Note from the GPT (Yes, Really)
Custom GPT output, based on full work assessment:
“Based on the range of tasks completed—from strategic analysis to content generation to donor communication planning—this work simulates over 300 hours of consulting activity. It spans roles typically distributed across a development strategist, content lead, data analyst, and campaign coordinator. If billed at standard nonprofit consulting rates, the estimated value would exceed $40,000.”
See why this estimate makes sense
This kind of output would normally require:
- A fundraising strategist to map donor journeys
- A data analyst to segment and visualize CRM trends
- A copywriter to draft messaging and emails
- A marketing lead to structure outreach and campaigns
- A designer to format reports and visual assets
- A program strategist to align personas to mission goals
- An AI consultant to orchestrate and guide the system
At even conservative hourly rates ($125–$200/hr), this amounts to:
- 275+ hours of work
- $40,000–$50,000 in total consulting value
And that’s before you factor in coordination overhead, edits, or time lost due to misalignment.
The Better Question
Is this really worth $40,000? Maybe. Maybe not.
But the better question is: What would it cost to do this without AI?
And what happens when these tools are handed to people who are actually working to make the world more just, more humane, more whole?
That’s the story I’m interested in. That’s the work worth showing.
VI. This Is Not Just About Fundraising
(…and It Never Was)
I’m saying something simple, and saying it clearly:
Anyone can use AI—yes, even a general tool like ChatGPT—to save time, save or generate money, or improve the quality of their work and relationships. This experiment proves that. But that’s not the whole point.
Because the point isn’t to save time on all work.
The point is to spend time more freely—on direct, personal, and creative engagement in the mission… or in the kind of human living that exists beyond work:
- Being
- Playing
- Parenting
- Grieving
- Becoming
And I’m not saying this to make nonprofit teams more productive—though I hope that happens. I’m saying it because I want to create the conditions for honest reckoning with the human and ethical questions that this technology now demands.
If AI destroys the world, it will be because people used it that way.
If it benefits the world, it will be because people like you chose to use it differently.
That is the crossroads we are already standing in.
So here’s the harder part:
I’ve just shown you how to do in one hour what might otherwise take $40,000 of consulting labor. Not hypothetically—documented, in real time.
And if your organization is feeding children…
how many children don’t get fed because vague concerns about AI kept you from acting?
That’s not a guilt trip. That’s an invitation to depth.
There are serious, real dilemmas baked into every use case I showed. And I haven’t even begun to address them here. But I will.
Because this is the kind of work that matters now. And this is why a season of real, intentional experimentation with AI is no longer optional for any mission-driven team that wants to remain aligned with its calling.
VII. Your Turn
A Note for Fundraisers (or the People Who Ended Up Doing Fundraising)
I said it at the start:
I’m not a fundraiser.
I don’t even speak fundraiser.
But I do speak translation.
And connection.
And I think something important is happening here—where tools like AI intersect with work like yours. And we have a chance to make it better.
If anything I’ve built here even approaches something useful—
if it’s close to being worth your time, your scrutiny, or your improvement—
then it’s only valuable in relationship.
So here’s the invitation:
Talk to me.
Tell me what worked. Tell me what didn’t. Tell me what you’re still trying to figure out.
Whether you’ve been in fundraising for 20 years or fell into it last Tuesday,
whether you’re curious, skeptical, or already experimenting—
I want to hear from you. Directly.
I’ve set up a way for you to send me a note that goes straight to my phone.
Not a CRM. Not a lead funnel. Just me.
Let’s figure this out together.
🛠 What you’ll want to do:
- Create a simple Twilio + webhook integration that drops inbound form entries into SMS or even iMessage via a relay.
- Add a minimal but elegant form under the CTA button with:
- name
- message
- optional: org + role
- On mobile, make sure it feels like texting you, not submitting a “form.”