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Microsoft Copilot Studio for Non-Profits: Unleashing AI for Seamless Productivity, Fundraising, and Impact Measurement
02 Feb, 2024
Microsoft Copilot brings generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to many Microsoft business applications, from Microsoft 365 (Word, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, etc.) to Microsoft’s Power Platform (Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, etc.) to the Dynamics 365 suite (Sales, Marketing, Finance, Services, etc.).
Generative AI, which is a subset of AI, produces content, such as text, images, code, and even music, that emulates something a human would make. Copilot allows users to automate many time-consuming processes using conversational language prompts in Microsoft applications. Copilot can understand input prompts by individuals with varying levels of language skills and respond with the style and tone you define. Examples include using Copilot to write personalized emails to prospects, extract information from Excel tables, or summarize the points raised in a Teams meeting transcript.
Recently, Microsoft announced the introduction of Microsoft Copilot Studio. Copilot Studio lets users build their own apps using a low-code graphical builder. Non-profit organizations can provide their proprietary data to Copilot Studio apps from multiple data sources, such as CRM, SharePoint, or websites, and integrate that data with their other business applications, like Workday, SAP, and ServiceNow, using one of more than 1,100 prebuilt connectors that come with it. Or users can also write connectors themselves. User data is saved in secure cloud storage away from prying eyes.
In a blog announcing Copilot Studio, Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President, Modern Work & Business Applications, said, “New data out today shows early users of Copilot for Microsoft 365 are more productive, creative, and fulfilled. Customers also want to be able to customize Copilot for specific enterprise scenarios and connect it to their systems of record—from customer relationship management (CRM) to enterprise resource planning (ERP) to HR.”
In this blog, we discuss how non-profit organizations like yours can use Copilot Studio to create AI-driven apps to solve a wide range of problems using existing Microsoft tools.
How Copilot Studio can help non-profit organizations
Interactive conversational assistants for 24/7 customer service
Your non-profit can use Copilot Studio to build interactive assistants capable of holding natural-sounding conversations with website visitors, including clients, donors, and volunteer staff. By utilizing the internal and external data sources you define, Copilot assistants can answer visitor questions about your mission and programs, sign up as a donor or volunteer, request help from your program, set up a donation, and more. These AI-driven automated assistants are more than just a text-based chat; Copilot can understand prompts in various modes and provides responses that adapt to the context of the request. Copilot Studio natively integrates with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Studio, Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Bot Service, and other Microsoft conversational AI technologies.
Automating repetitive tasks
Copilot can be used to perform many of the routine manual tasks that take up valuable time for your staff and volunteers, such as:
- Accept website form submissions, notify the appropriate staff via email, save the information in CRM, and send an email thanking the person making the request
- Set up email reminders for managers, staff, and volunteers
- Route timesheets or expense requests to the person’s manager for approval
- Collect all emails, Teams transcripts, and information stored on SharePoint related to the same topic
- Summarize reports, transcripts, and documents for executive briefs
Fundraising
Use Copilot to analyze your donor database and existing messaging to segment prospects. Craft personalized appeals for donations and deliver them using the most effective messages and channels for each targeted segment. Copilot can even help with predicting future donor activity.
Getting the message right
Websites, emails, postal mail, and social media are critical to getting your donors, volunteers, and clients information. Copilot can help create the most effective messaging, optimize content, and craft the best calls to action to generate responses.
Setting up nurture campaigns
Attracting and retaining donors is vital to continuing your mission. Set up personalized nurture campaigns for donors using their preferred mode of communication. AI can even help identify the best time to make requests, the amounts to request, and craft messages for special donation requests, updates on recent successes, and notifications of upcoming events.
Evaluating program effectiveness
The goal of your non-profit is to help. AI can help you measure your organization’s effectiveness in tangible numbers that show your impact on your community, the nation, and the world. Copilot can help evaluate your programs, assess them by various factors (such as costs, time, and associated outcomes), and suggest improvements. These quantifiable assessments become invaluable as part of your fundraising efforts.
Matching volunteers to tasks
Volunteers are critical to ongoing operations. Help keep volunteers coming back by matching them with the tasks they prefer or have
Find out how your non-profit can benefit from AI
Many non-profit organizations have mountains of data but lack the resources and ability to put it to use effectively. Copilot Studio is changing that. You can use Copilot Studio in your day-to-day activities without substantial cost or advanced technical expertise to work more efficiently, prospect new donors more effectively, and measure the performance of their programs more accurately.
Contact HSO to learn how Copilot Studio can help your organization put AI to work to advance your mission.