Machine Learning and Fundraising: Applications of Artificial Neural Networks

In fundraising management, the assessment of the expected gift is a key point. The availability of accurate estimates of the number of donations, their amounts, and the gift probability is relevant in order to evaluate the results of a fundraising campaign. The accuracy of the expected gift estimation depends on the appropriate use of the information about Donors. In this contribution, we propose a non-parametric methodology for the prediction of Donors' behavior based on Artificial Neural Networks. In particular, Multi-Layer Perceptron is applied. In the numerical experiments, the expected gift is then estimated based on a simulated dataset of Donors' individual characteristics and information on donations history.