Boosting Diversity & Inclusion: A Non-Profit’s Success Story Using Keap Segmentation and AI-Driven Outreach

Client Overview

Global Community Initiatives (GCI) is a prominent international non-profit organization dedicated to fostering social equity and empowering marginalized communities through education, advocacy, and economic opportunity programs. Operating across multiple continents, GCI’s mission is to create a more inclusive world where every individual has the chance to thrive. Their core activities involve running various programs, hosting events, and facilitating partnerships aimed at uplifting diverse populations. A critical component of their operational success relies on effective outreach to potential program participants, volunteers, and donors, all while upholding their foundational commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

While GCI had a strong mission and established programs, their existing outreach methods were struggling to keep pace with their ambitious DEI goals. They recognized that a more strategic, data-driven approach was necessary to genuinely broaden their reach and ensure their programs were accessible to the full spectrum of communities they aimed to serve.

The Challenge

GCI faced several significant hurdles in achieving its diversity and inclusion objectives, particularly concerning participant engagement and program enrollment:

• Inefficient Manual Outreach: Their outreach teams spent an exorbitant amount of time manually identifying, contacting, and following up with potential participants. This process was not only time-consuming but also prone to human error and inconsistency, limiting the volume and quality of engagement.

• Generic Communications: One-size-fits-all email campaigns and promotional materials failed to resonate with the diverse cultural, socio-economic, and demographic groups GCI aimed to attract. This generic approach often led to low engagement rates and missed opportunities to connect meaningfully with specific communities.

• Difficulty Tracking Diversity Metrics: GCI struggled to accurately track the diversity of their applicant pools and program participants in real-time. Without robust data, it was challenging to identify gaps, measure progress against DEI goals, and demonstrate impact to stakeholders.

• Limited Personalization: Despite understanding the importance of tailoring messages, the manual effort required to segment their audience and personalize communications was overwhelming. This meant opportunities to highlight specific program benefits relevant to distinct groups were frequently overlooked.

• Scaling Constraints: As GCI expanded its programs, its manual outreach methods became an insurmountable bottleneck, hindering their ability to scale operations without a proportional increase in staffing costs. The lack of automation prevented them from reaching a broader audience efficiently and effectively.

• Risk of Unconscious Bias: Human-led outreach, even with the best intentions, can inadvertently perpetuate unconscious biases in who gets prioritized or how messages are framed, potentially undermining DEI efforts.

These challenges collectively stifled GCI’s potential for impact, creating a need for a sophisticated, automated solution that could not only streamline operations but also actively enhance their diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Our Solution

4Spot Consulting partnered with Global Community Initiatives to implement a comprehensive automation and AI-driven outreach strategy. Our solution centered around leveraging Keap’s robust CRM and segmentation capabilities, integrated with AI for intelligent content generation and Make.com for seamless workflow automation. Our approach was strategic, beginning with our signature OpsMap™ diagnostic to thoroughly understand GCI’s unique challenges and DEI objectives.

The core of our solution involved:

• Advanced Keap CRM Segmentation: We architected a sophisticated segmentation strategy within Keap. This allowed GCI to categorize potential participants and communities not just by basic demographics, but by specific diversity attributes (e.g., ethnicity, socio-economic background, geographic region, disability status, language preferences), interests, past engagement history, and program eligibility criteria. This granular segmentation became the foundation for highly targeted outreach.

• AI-Driven Content Personalization: We integrated AI tools to generate hyper-personalized and culturally sensitive outreach messages. This moved beyond simple merge tags, allowing the AI to adapt tone, language, and specific program highlights to resonate deeply with each defined segment. The AI helped craft multiple message variations, ensuring content was relevant, inclusive, and free from unintended biases, significantly enhancing engagement.

• Automated Outreach Workflows (Make.com & Keap): We designed and implemented intricate automation sequences using Make.com (formerly Integromat) to connect GCI’s various data sources with Keap. These automations handled everything from initial contact based on specific program triggers, through personalized follow-ups, event invitations, feedback requests, and seamless onboarding. This eliminated manual intervention for routine tasks, freeing up GCI’s team to focus on high-value interactions.

• Real-time Diversity Tracking & Reporting: We built custom dashboards and reporting mechanisms within Keap and integrated analytics tools to provide GCI with real-time insights into the diversity of their applicant pools, program participation rates, and engagement metrics across different segments. This allowed GCI to continuously monitor their DEI progress and make data-informed adjustments to their strategies.

• Bias Reduction Framework: By systemizing outreach through data-driven segmentation and AI-generated content, we significantly reduced the potential for unconscious bias in the initial stages of engagement. The AI was trained on principles of inclusive language and diverse communication styles, ensuring equity in message delivery.

Our holistic solution transformed GCI’s outreach from a labor-intensive, generic process into an efficient, highly personalized, and strategically aligned engine for boosting diversity and inclusion.

Implementation Steps

The journey to GCI’s success was meticulously planned and executed by 4Spot Consulting through a series of well-defined steps:

1. OpsMap™ Strategic Audit & Discovery: Our engagement began with a deep dive into GCI’s existing processes, stakeholder interviews, and an analysis of their current data infrastructure. We identified key bottlenecks in their outreach, understood their specific DEI objectives, and mapped out the ideal participant journey. This phase was crucial for defining the scope and desired outcomes of the automation project.

2. Keap CRM Configuration & Advanced Segmentation: Based on the OpsMap™ findings, we meticulously configured GCI’s Keap CRM. This involved structuring custom fields to capture granular diversity data (with appropriate consent and privacy considerations), establishing tags for various program interests, geographic locations, and demographic attributes, and creating the foundational segments crucial for targeted communication.

3. Integration Architecture with Make.com: Using Make.com, we designed and built the intricate integrations necessary to connect Keap with GCI’s external data sources, such as their program application forms, event registration platforms, and existing community databases. This ensured a unified, real-time flow of information into Keap, creating a single source of truth for all participant data.

4. AI-Powered Content Generation Setup: We configured and trained AI models to generate dynamic, personalized content. This involved defining parameters for different segments (e.g., tone for youth programs vs. professional development), inputting guidelines for inclusive language, and establishing a library of core messages that the AI could adapt. We developed templates for email, SMS, and even preliminary social media messaging, which could be auto-populated and customized by the AI for specific outreach campaigns.

5. Automated Outreach Workflow Development: We then built out the complex automation workflows within Keap and Make.com. These included:

   • Automated lead capture and immediate segment assignment based on initial data.

   • Trigger-based personalized email sequences for different programs and diversity segments.

   • Automated follow-ups for those who opened emails but didn’t click, or those who started applications but didn’t complete them.

   • Event invitation sequences tailored to specific community interests.

   • Feedback collection and survey distribution post-program enrollment.

   • Internal notifications to GCI staff for high-priority leads or engagement milestones.

   Each workflow was designed to be highly adaptive, ensuring that participants received relevant information at the right time, minimizing manual intervention.

6. Reporting and Analytics Dashboard Creation: We developed custom dashboards within Keap and integrated them with external reporting tools to visualize key performance indicators. These dashboards tracked campaign effectiveness, open rates, click-through rates, application completion rates, and, most importantly, the diversity composition of GCI’s participant pipeline and enrolled cohorts.

7. Staff Training and Knowledge Transfer: Once the systems were live, we conducted comprehensive training sessions for GCI’s outreach and program teams. This ensured they understood how to leverage the new Keap segmentation, interpret the AI-generated content suggestions, monitor performance dashboards, and make data-driven decisions for continuous improvement. We focused on empowering them to manage and optimize the automated systems independently.

8. Ongoing Optimization and Support (OpsCare™): Post-launch, 4Spot Consulting provided ongoing support and optimization. We continuously monitored system performance, refined segmentation criteria based on new data, and iterated on AI prompts to further enhance message effectiveness and ensure alignment with evolving DEI goals. This iterative process ensured the system remained agile and maximally effective.

This structured implementation, from strategic planning to detailed execution and continuous refinement, ensured GCI achieved a robust, scalable, and highly effective outreach system.

The Results

The partnership with 4Spot Consulting delivered transformative results for Global Community Initiatives, directly impacting their diversity and inclusion goals and significantly improving operational efficiency. The quantifiable metrics clearly demonstrate the success of the Keap segmentation and AI-driven outreach strategy:

• 48% Increase in Diverse Participant Applications: Within the first six months, GCI observed a 48% surge in applications from individuals identifying with historically underrepresented groups. This was a direct result of the hyper-targeted, culturally sensitive outreach enabled by advanced Keap segmentation and AI personalization.

• 35% Reduction in Manual Outreach Time: The automation of lead identification, segmentation, content generation, and follow-up sequences freed up GCI’s outreach team. They reclaimed an average of 150 hours per month, allowing them to focus on high-touch, relationship-building activities rather than repetitive administrative tasks.

• 27% Higher Email Open Rates & 22% Higher Click-Through Rates: Personalized, AI-generated messages resonated far more effectively with target audiences. This led to a substantial increase in engagement, indicating that the content was perceived as more relevant and valuable by diverse communities.

• 20% Faster Program Enrollment Cycle: The streamlined and automated application and follow-up process reduced the time it took from initial contact to full program enrollment by 20%, ensuring that interested individuals could join programs more quickly and efficiently.

• Significant Improvement in Data Accuracy and Visibility: Keap’s centralized CRM, powered by Make.com integrations, provided GCI with a holistic and accurate view of their participant data. They gained immediate access to diversity metrics, enabling real-time progress tracking and more informed decision-making.

• Enhanced Resource Allocation: With clearer data on which outreach strategies performed best for which segments, GCI could strategically reallocate marketing and outreach resources, ensuring maximum impact for their DEI initiatives.

• Measurable Reduction in Unconscious Bias: By relying on data-driven segmentation and AI-moderated content, GCI minimized the subjective human element in initial outreach, ensuring all segments received equitable and appropriate communication, thereby reducing the potential for unconscious bias in the engagement funnel.

These results not only helped GCI achieve its immediate operational goals but also significantly advanced its mission of fostering a more diverse and inclusive world. The implemented solution provided a scalable, sustainable framework for continued growth and impact.

Key Takeaways

The success of Global Community Initiatives underscores several critical insights for non-profits and organizations aiming to significantly advance their diversity and inclusion objectives through strategic technology adoption:

1. Segmentation is Paramount for DEI: Generic outreach fails diverse audiences. Granular segmentation within a robust CRM like Keap is not merely a marketing tactic; it’s a fundamental strategy for understanding and respectfully engaging specific communities. It allows organizations to tailor messages that acknowledge unique needs, cultural contexts, and aspirations.

2. AI Elevates Personalization and Reduces Bias: AI-driven content generation moves beyond basic personalization, enabling organizations to craft messages that are not only highly relevant but also culturally sensitive and inclusive. Furthermore, by automating message creation under a defined framework, AI can help mitigate unconscious bias that might inadvertently creep into human-written communications, ensuring equity in outreach.

3. Automation Drives Efficiency and Impact: Automating repetitive outreach tasks (lead capture, follow-ups, segmenting) through platforms like Make.com frees up valuable human capital. This allows teams to focus on deeper engagement, relationship building, and strategic initiatives, rather than getting bogged down in administrative overhead. The efficiency gains directly translate into a broader, more effective reach.

4. Data is the Foundation of DEI Progress: You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Implementing robust tracking and reporting mechanisms for diversity metrics is crucial. Real-time dashboards provide actionable insights, allowing organizations to identify gaps, celebrate successes, and continuously refine their strategies to meet evolving DEI goals.

5. Strategic Partnerships are Key to Transformation: GCI’s success wasn’t just about technology; it was about a strategic partnership with 4Spot Consulting. Our OpsMap™ framework ensured that technology solutions were deeply aligned with the non-profit’s mission and specific challenges, leading to measurable, sustainable outcomes rather than just implementing tools. This strategic-first approach is vital for achieving complex goals like boosting diversity and inclusion.

6. Scalability for Sustainable Growth: The implemented Keap and AI solution provided GCI with a scalable framework. As their programs expand, the automated system can effortlessly grow with them, enabling broader impact without a proportional increase in manual effort or costs. This ensures the sustainability of their DEI initiatives long into the future.

By embracing advanced Keap segmentation and intelligent AI-driven automation, Global Community Initiatives not only optimized its operational efficiency but also set a new benchmark for truly inclusive and impactful community engagement. This case study demonstrates that technology, when strategically applied, is a powerful enabler for social good.

“Working with 4Spot Consulting has been a game-changer for our organization. Their expertise in Keap segmentation and AI allowed us to connect with communities we’ve struggled to reach for years. The quantifiable increase in diverse applications and the sheer amount of time we’ve saved mean we can now focus more deeply on our mission, making a real impact where it matters most. It’s not just automation; it’s amplified inclusion.”

— Dr. Anya Sharma, Director of Programs, Global Community Initiatives

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: The Indispensable Keap Expert: Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition with Automation and AI