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  • 1.  My AI endeavor

    Posted 3 days ago

    I hear a lot about implementing AI in advancement every single day. I'd like to share a little experiment that I detailed on my Substack.  After being inspired by Joe Reis who vibe coded a clone of Salesforce (called Slopforce). I decided to create my own CRM using Perplexity AI based on an existing table structure and well-known platform.  Read more here.  

    https://donorology.substack.com/p/raisers-edge-re-made-simple?r=713ey2


    Since the publication of this article about 24 hours ago, I have added into my experiment...


    Web hooks that automatically screen a few dozen public databases and update records in the CRM.  


    An agent to create donation forms that connect with stripe and two other payment processors.   


    An interactive instruction webpage that details use of the product including animations.  


    BTW, this is not a commercial product.  It will not be for sale.  I just want to push AI as far as I can to see how it can dramatically impact and benefit nonprofits.  Most uses of AI seem to be of the  "mole hill" variety. but some are indeed mountains.  I am not sure where my experiment lands but am excited to keep innovating with AI.


    Dave Woodley 
    Chief Data Officer
    Unlock * Share * Connect
    Office of Data Services
    University of Alaska Foundation
    907-786-1373


  • 2.  RE: My AI endeavor

    Posted 2 days ago
    Very interesting, David. Thank you for sharing. Legal and ethical issues aside, does the data connector Perplexity created potentially open the door for extending inputs into your CRM for people who don't hold licenses? As a simple example, if you wanted to allow colleagues to submit address updates using a cloned CRM form and then fed those updates through your login. I'm not a Raisers Edge user and have no idea whether they would even allow it but it's interesting to think about how things like this could disrupt traditional licensing models.

    Best,

    John Smilde

    Director of Development Operations | Cato Institute

    1000 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001

    jsmilde@cato.org

    202.216.1451




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: My AI endeavor

    Posted 2 days ago
    Thanks for the feedback, John.  I think a bit of clarification might be needed.

    What is cloned is the table structure - Constituents, Gifts, Funds, Actions, Opportunities, etc.  The product exists as an independent template in an AIrTable free subscription.  All access to the product would be governed through those privileges.  I'm not sure I see an advantage to passing data from the Airtable CRM to RE.  You would not save on licenses because the RE model has unlimited users and sets its fee based on the number of constituent records.  However, Blackbaud's API is open and any developer can use it to write or read records to the database.  In fact it is completely possible to create something like a Google Form that posts directly to RE.

    I don't see any ethical or legal issues given that the table structure I replicated is commonly used across not only fundraising CRMs but also commercial ones.  However, given the small possibility that there could be concerns is why I opted not to make the product downloadable or monetized at this point.



    Dave Woodley 
    Chief Data Officer
    Unlock * Share * Connect
    Office of Data Services
    University of Alaska Foundation
    907-786-1373





    Original Message


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