Nonprofit Innovator Podcast

This week we talk with the NGO Direct Relief about the AI-powered Facebook Messenger chatbot they successfully fielded for customer service during disaster response events. During a natural disaster like Hurricane Maria they field thousands of calls from people with needs ranging from emergency clean water and food to those who want to volunteer, donate, or simply learn more about the organization. Call volume goes up exponentially during these periods and with just three staff in the communications team call response times were extending out to 24 to 48 hours. In this episode, we hear from Direct Relief's President and CEO Thomas Tighe and Communications Director Tony Morain about their smart approach to developing and fielding their customer service chatbot - literally during a natural disaster - and their next steps in building out the bot after it proved valuable in the field test. P.S. The bot helped reduce inquiry response times to under a minute.Nick Julia, founder and CEO at Mind Heroes - th