297. How Smart Tech is Changing Fundraising + How to Harness Its Power for Your Mission - Nejeed Kassam

InnovationDigital StrategyFundraising

Jul 18

Written By Julie Confer

Najeed Kassam, FundraisingKIT, Keela, We Are For Good Podcast

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Overview

Meet Nejeed. He empowers nonprofits with A.I.-powered technology while also highlighting the positive impact that adopting smart technology WILL have on the sector. Friends, technology can be simple AND revolutionary. Believe us, this is the convo you've been waiting for to get jazzed about your data! 🤩

💡Learn:

How smart technology is transforming the fundraising landscape
Making the business case for leveraging A.I. in nonprofit
Storylines you can extract from data
Outdated technology "best pratices"

Today’s Guest

Nejeed Kassam, Founder of FundraisingKIT and CEO of Keela

“Tech isn’t coming for your jobs. Tech shouldn’t be scary to the sector, it should be an opportunity to do your jobs better.”

— Nejeed Kassam, Founder of FundraisingKIT and CEO of Keela

Episode Transcript

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Episode Overview

Nejeed’s story and journey to where he is today (4:00)
Overview of Keela (10:00)
Storylines you can see through data (19:00)
Modern day best practices (23:10)
Outdated “best practices” we could do away with (26:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Nejeed’s life (37:40)
Nejeed’s One Good Thing: Human beings have phenomenal capacity. (48:00)

Powerful quotes

“My parents taught us get as much education as you can, because nobody can take that from you and don't forget about serving the community that you live in.” -Nejeed

“There's power and there's opportunity in our data. With the right tools that can phenomenally transform how fundraisers work and give them a chance to be healthier, to raise more money, to feel less stressed. There's so many positive upsides and ultimately unlock the most amount of generosity from our communities.” -Nejeed

“The problem that I feel is so prevalent is our technology reflects the problems of the past and the fundraising of the past, not of the future.” -Nejeed

“Tech isn't coming for your jobs. Tech shouldn't be scary to the sector, it should be an opportunity to do your jobs better.” -Nejeed

“We're asking for more and more from our fundraisers without raising their salaries too much and without raising their budgets so they can hire more people. The answer to that problem is technology not anger.” -Nejeed

“Get that data in one place and start to analyze it right. Bring your email marketing data, your online forms data, your campaign data and your phone log data into one place. Then get to work on it. That data is telling you a story and it isn't prescriptive, it's guiding.” -Nejeed

“Every fundraiser should be a fundraiser that's powered by data.” -Nejeed

“Fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.” -Nejeed

“To be empowered by data, you have to be data driven.” -Nejeed