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Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) has been transforming fundraising through data-driven decision-making, automation, and personalized donor engagement. Existing research focuses on AI applications and outcomes in the nonprofit sector in western context, with little known information in the Globa...

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Main Author: Zayed, Marwa Y
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Zayed, Marwa Y
author_browse Zayed, Marwa Y
author_facet Zayed, Marwa Y
author_sort Zayed, Marwa Y
collection Thesis
description Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) has been transforming fundraising through data-driven decision-making, automation, and personalized donor engagement. Existing research focuses on AI applications and outcomes in the nonprofit sector in western context, with little known information in the Global South, particularly Egypt. This gap makes understanding the organizational conditions that shape AI difficult and limited. This thesis examines how organizational, cultural, ethical, and resource-related factors shape Egyptian nonprofit organizations’ readiness to adopt AI in fundraising. Through a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 fundraising directors, CEOs, a governmental representative, and technology professionals working in Egyptian nonprofits based in Cairo across diverse missions. The data were analyzed thematically to capture the real perceptions. The findings showed that while the participants express curiosity and interest toward AI, the Egyptian nonprofit remains in a pre-adoption stage. Individual fundraisers use generative AI tools, mostly the free versions informally, without organizational support or the existence of clear governance and data protection structured frameworks. Five main forces shape the readiness of Egyptian nonprofits' fundraising, indicating that adoption is constrained by psychological readiness and resistance, tensions between innovation and human-centered fundraising, digital capabilities and human capital gaps, data ethics and governance concerns, and financial and competitive pressures, and not by resistance to innovation. They interact altogether, limiting nonprofits’ ability to adoption phase.  If these readiness factors are mitigated, it may lead to the potential adoption of AI in Egyptian fundraising. AI adoption in fundraising is less shaped by technology and more by organizational readiness, governance, leadership alignment, investment in human capital, and AI literacy.
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institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:04.810Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3804 Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising Zayed, Marwa Y Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) has been transforming fundraising through data-driven decision-making, automation, and personalized donor engagement. Existing research focuses on AI applications and outcomes in the nonprofit sector in western context, with little known information in the Global South, particularly Egypt. This gap makes understanding the organizational conditions that shape AI difficult and limited. This thesis examines how organizational, cultural, ethical, and resource-related factors shape Egyptian nonprofit organizations’ readiness to adopt AI in fundraising. Through a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 fundraising directors, CEOs, a governmental representative, and technology professionals working in Egyptian nonprofits based in Cairo across diverse missions. The data were analyzed thematically to capture the real perceptions. The findings showed that while the participants express curiosity and interest toward AI, the Egyptian nonprofit remains in a pre-adoption stage. Individual fundraisers use generative AI tools, mostly the free versions informally, without organizational support or the existence of clear governance and data protection structured frameworks. Five main forces shape the readiness of Egyptian nonprofits' fundraising, indicating that adoption is constrained by psychological readiness and resistance, tensions between innovation and human-centered fundraising, digital capabilities and human capital gaps, data ethics and governance concerns, and financial and competitive pressures, and not by resistance to innovation. They interact altogether, limiting nonprofits’ ability to adoption phase.  If these readiness factors are mitigated, it may lead to the potential adoption of AI in Egyptian fundraising. AI adoption in fundraising is less shaped by technology and more by organizational readiness, governance, leadership alignment, investment in human capital, and AI literacy. 2026-06-11T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2745 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3804/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Artificial Intelligence Egyptian Nonprofits Fundraising AI Adoption Readiness Funnel Public Administration
spellingShingle Artificial Intelligence
Egyptian Nonprofits
Fundraising
AI Adoption Readiness Funnel
Public Administration
Zayed, Marwa Y
Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising
title Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising
title_full Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising
title_fullStr Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising
title_full_unstemmed Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising
title_short Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring AI Integration in Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising
title_sort readiness before adoption exploring ai integration in egyptian nonprofit fundraising
topic Artificial Intelligence
Egyptian Nonprofits
Fundraising
AI Adoption Readiness Funnel
Public Administration
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2745
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3804/viewcontent/auto_convert.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT zayedmarway readinessbeforeadoptionexploringaiintegrationinegyptiannonprofitfundraising