Allison Fine and I will be presenting at the Nonprofit Marketing Summit on August 21st at 11:00 am PT for a session called “Beyond Transactional Fundraising: Nurturing Donor Relationships with AI.” We’ll be talking strategies and approaches for creating life-long donors and how artificial intelligence can help save time and scale those practices.

The Nonprofit Marketing Summit: Community Rising on August 20-22 is a 3-day, FREE virtual conference has 75+ sessions designed to help you turn transactions into a community of long-term dedicated supporters.

Join us at Community Rising to get the keys to inspiring your audience, turning them into champions of your mission, and empowering your nonprofit to break through the noise.

Are you ready to go on an unexpected adventure?

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You’re invited to join me at the biggest, free, and all-virtual conference for the nonprofit sector!

I’m excited to speak at the Nonprofit Marketing Summit: The Unthinkable on March 5-7, hosted by Community Boost!

Join my session “Unlocking Productivity with Generative AI Writing Tools for Nonprofit Marketers” on March 7 at 11:00 am PT. This session is for staff at the beginner level of using AI and want to responsibly adopt generative AI and reap productivity benefits. I’ll share some of the productivity research, benefits and limitations, and demo some simple ways integrate into marketing work flows. I’ll also share some practical tips for organizational or team adoption. 

 Save your FREE seat now to attend the most impactful + insightful conference for nonprofit professionals this year. Your ticket includes: 

1: Access to my session and 70+  others taught by the top thought leaders, all working together to give you the education, resources, and tools needed to make an unthinkable impact a reality. 

2: Join a community of over 25,000+ nonprofit professionals so you can connect with the most impactful organizations in the industry.

3: Maximum Impact, all FREE for you: Pay $0.00 for access to 3 DAYS of powerful sessions that will equip you to raise more in 2024.

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Last month, at  the Global Nonprofit Leaders Summit in Seattle hosted by Microsoft, I  moderated a roundtable, “Empower Employees with AI Productivity Tools,” with leaders from three nonprofits: Alex Duncan,, British Heart Foundation; Jon Townsend, National Trust; and Joel Ramjohn, Agape Source. As early adopters, they shared valuable insights on the early stages of AI adoption for nonprofits.

The illustration above captures the full AI adoption journey for nonprofits that will take months to years to complete. It begins with learning, habituation, and cultural shifts to fully harness AI  benefits responsibly. The path may seem daunting, but the key is to start with your people.

Understand staff concerns about AI changing their jobs

Jon Townsend, National Trust says that leaders should understand people’s anxiety about AI in the workplace as the very first step. It often revolves around job security, with fears of obsoletism due to “offloading” tasks to the AI. There’s also discomfort over the rapid pace of change and perceived steep learning curve while being overwhelmed with current workloads. Additionally, there’s worry about the impersonal nature of AI, which might diminish human interaction and decision-making in professional settings.

Some nonprofit staff members have expressed concerns about losing their sense of purpose.They anticipate that AI might reduce their job role to mere oversight of automated processes, stripping away the meaningful engagement that comes from hands-on creativity and a decline in job satisfaction.  

The workplace research suggests some nonprofits jobs will change or be disrupted. Leaders should emphasize that “disrupt” doesn’t mean someone’s job will no longer be necessary. It means removing the busy work out of their hands so they turn their attention to more mission-critical work. AI cannot do someone’s job from A to Z, it is more of a joint effort known as “copiloting.” Humans and AI each do what they do best, with humans always in charge of the final product and division of tasks.

This is why it is important for leaders to encourage staff to reflect on their workflow processes and to encourage experimentation as described below. When staff are able to map out what the AI can do and what they can do, they get a view of their job role that they have never had before. It lessens the fear and it helps them focus on where these tools are useful and where they can become more useful, valuable to your nonprofit’s mission. It is also important to create feedback loops for staff to share their experience with others and provide professional development opportunities for those whose jobs tasks change and evolve.

Give Staff Time for Hands-On Discovery

Leaders should provide time for staff for hands-on exploration. Discovery can help them understand the benefits and the limitations as it applies to their specific work flows. It helps them cultivate essential human skills like adaptability, creativity, and problem-solving, which are invaluable in a world increasingly shaped by AI. Experimentation should feel like playful,  be fun and create a sense of wonder.

Unlike other types of technology, generative AI is easy to use, as simple as typing in a question or what is called a prompt.Until people put their hands on the technology, they may have a misconception that they have to be technically savvy or know how to code to become skilled in copiloting. Or they may feel they have to use AI for all job tasks to be productive, another false impression.  AI is more like hot sauce, you can use it sparingly.

During our panel, Joel Ramjohn from Agape Source illustrated the power of playful experimentation with AI. He described how volunteers, previously spending hours on research for culturally resonant welcome baskets, turned to Copilot for quicker insights. By simply asking, “What food items would be meaningful as a gift to someone from XYZ country?” They made it a game first, using locations that they all knew really well. When they applied it to their actual work task, they realized they could design personalized gift baskets in minutes, not hours. 

Apply in Low Risk Ways to Work Flows

Now it is time to learn prompting skills applied to different job tasks. Staff should be encouraged to think about day-to-day tasks in their job, especially ones that they find time consuming or difficult. For example, a marketing coordinator may identify tasks such as writing a first draft for content, or analyzing hundreds of open-ended survey comments. 

Encourage staff to look for “points of pain” where busy work, known as the “digital debt” – processing endless emails, managing back-to-back meetings zaps people’s energy or reformatting information  and robs time away from strategic thinking. Applying AI to basic collaboration workflows can offer a dividend of time (and brain space). During our panel, Alex Duncan, British Heart Foundation, mentioned that they were able to  analyze the time savings for staff in various tasks such as managing meetings, processing email, writing drafts, summarizing long reports, or analyzing data as saving 45 minutes per day.

The most important skill staff can learn from this activity is to know when to use AI and when to use human skills. This process begins with learning technical skills such as  “prompting,” which involves constructing the right questions to ask generative AI tools in order to get useful answers.  

Staff also need to learn the limitations in using these tools for these types of tasks and how to ensure responsible use.  These steps include auditing the output for accuracy and mistakes; understanding that the AI can generate a good first draft, about 80% of the work, but the humans must complete it; and understand what information should not be shared, like personally identifiable information or confidential documents, if using public models.  

Nonprofit leaders must be intentional and thoughtful about taking the first steps to AI adoption. It must a people-first orientation, focusing on listening to staff concerns, creating safe spaces and time for them to discover, and apply the technology in their own way. By being human-centered, it ensures AI adoption is aligned with the organization’s core values and exponentially multiply impact.

I was thrilled to have a conversation with Devi Thomas from Microsoft Philanthropies. She shared a few highlights from Microsoft’s recent nonprofit sector research. We also discussed use cases, benefits, limitations, adoptions, and lots of practical tips. You can watch the video here as well as the human curated resources shared and a Copilot created summary transcript here.  If you want to continue learning about AI for nonprofits, register for the Global Nonprofit Leaders Summit, using the code VIRTUAL. Below is my fully human-generated reflection.

Highlights from Microsoft’s Nonprofit Sector Research on AI

Devi kicked off by sharing a sentiment analysis from a recent survey of nonprofit leaders that fall into one of two different perceptions: comfort and concern.  On the concern side;

• 60% of the nonprofit leaders say they don’t trust the decisions that AI is making instead of them making them. 
• 63% are worried about the security risks posed by AI
• 58% are worried about this really steep learning curve that their entire team has to go through to understand how to use generative AI

The last point highlights a perceived challenge that, in practice, becomes less daunting once users engage with tools like Copilot. The worry about a steep learning curve is more of a mindset change, from letting go of doing the work from zero to 100% and shifting to focusing on the 80-100%. 

On the comfort side: 

• 63% of the nonprofit leaders say that AI is trustworthy in their workplace
• 64% believe that it will enhance their creativity
• 25% of nonprofit leaders believe that the most important skill they can teach their teams and learn is the skill of when to use AI, and when to use the human skills

In digging deeper into how nonprofits are using generative AI like Copilot in the workplace, 69% use it to edit their work. 65% are using it to clean-up their Monday morning inboxes. (I have personally found this use case extremely helpful to have a one-click summary of really long threads transformed into actionable steps w/ links to source email.)  These examples of micro productivity examples can applied easily to working.

Use Cases

We discussed different use cases beyond productivity for writing tasks and processing email. Devi shared some inspiring examples of how the technology can serve missions and stakeholders, including disaster response organizations leveraging AI to predict and respond to crises more efficiently, and educational nonprofits using AI for tailored learning experiences. Another example includes using AI to optimize volunteer engagement by aligning opportunities with individual skills and interests. She pointed out there was a wide range of use cases for staff as well as volunteers. In our book, The Smart Nonprofit, we present many examples of nonprofit use cases as well as Microsoft’s many nonprofit examples.

Devi’s advice: understand the best use case for your organization and how you and your staff work best with the AI. Create small low risk experiments to answer the question: does this use case make sense for our organization?  Then move onto learning and improving, but organizations should to start small.  I would add that it is also okay not to feel pressured to go fast, with AI is good to move slowly.

Devi also emphasized the concept of “copilot” where the human is the pilot and always in charge. One metaphor is to think of the AI as an intern that you need to clearly communicate instructions to and then check their work and revise. 

Responsible Use

In terms of responsible and ethical AI, especially projects where AI is interacting with external stakeholders, Devi walked through Microsoft’s Six Principles which include accountability, inclusiveness,  reliability & safety, fairness, transparency, privacy and security of personal data contextualizing it in a nonprofit environment. She also used the term “Red Teaming” where you test the technology to try to break it so you feel confident that it will do no harm.

When it comes to using generative AI tools such as Copilot for drafts of written materials, a human must always check it for accuracy because it can make mistakes. You need to ask for citations, read the source material, triangulate statements with other sources, look for exaggerations, or misleading statements, etc. In other words, use all your critical thinking skills. Researchers have a term for when someone skips this important step of auditing the output, “asleep at the wheel.” (For more advice on getting started responsibly, see 8 Steps Nonprofits Can Take for Responsible AI Adoption and advice on drafting an acceptable use policy.)

Adoption Strategy

Devi mentioned that small nonprofits have been more motivated to get in front of generative AI tools because it shifts them out of time scarcity to time abundance. No matter the organization’s size, it’s critical to have leadership at the executive director level deeply invested. Devi emphasized that the important step in adoption is shifting to a growth mindset. And to create buy-in with staff and volunteers, an area where nonprofit adoption of Copilot tools is growing.

I curated a number of excellent links to adoption of AI materials to help guide nonprofit strategy, including:

• AI Compass for Nonprofits | by Microsoft and AI4SP.org 
• Co-Pilot Adoption – Adoption Manager 
• Microsoft Future of Work Report 2023 
• Rapid Adoption KIT  – Prompt Basics 

To prepare for the Q&A, I used Copilot and asked what questions might come up and develop personas based on the event description and attendees. And, the very questions asked by an audience member was exactly what Copilot predicted!

The Q&A was robust, but I was struck by a question about how to pivot a nonprofit’s culture of learning, especially if you have staff who are not technology savvy. Devi emphasized that generative AI tools like copilot are new to everyone.  And because they use natural language processing, it makes it easier to use because you can have a conversation versus navigating menus. Also, she noted, “It’s unbelievable to have a tool like this that allows everyone to be a techie and create our own personal copilots to do some of the boring, repetitive work or help us learn new things.”   

Reflecting on Devi’s comment, I do believe that AI is a learning opportunity for everyone, but it is important to create psychological safety where people can ask questions and make it okay to experiment.   I think we need to use a beginner’s mind and be open to learning. 

Our conversation underscored AI’s transformative potential for the nonprofit sector, alongside the importance of navigating its ethical implications. Embracing a culture of learning, ensuring leadership engagement, and approaching AI as a tool to enhance human creativity and strategy are pivotal. AI presents an opportunity to redefine nonprofit impact, making our efforts more effective and far-reaching.

Where is your nonprofit in adoption AI? How are you addressing concerns? What use cases have you explored? How are you experimenting and learning?

Join me for a LinkedIn Live for a conversation with Devi Thomas from Microsoft Philanthropies to learn how your nonprofit can get AI ready in 2024.

The technology is moving fast, but we are slowing down to have a conversation to get you started using the generative AI tools for productivity and creativity.

Understand AI benefits and limitations for nonprofits.

Engage with experts on how to get started without being overwhelmed

Glean some practical tips on using AI to get stuff done or co-create on many nonprofit work tasks

Ask your questions live Q&A session

Get an insider sneak preview of the upcoming Global Nonprofit Leadership Conference (You can reserve your FREE ticket  https://msft.it/6045iW3K7 with code VIRTUAL)

If you want to get started with AI to boost your nonprofit’s productivity and creativity, join us for this special LinkedIn Live:

Date: Wed, January 24^th

Time: 10:00 am PT/ 1 pm ET

Click to RSVP

See you there!

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions because they don’t offer an opportunity for reflection. And, if I’m being honest,  I don’t stick to them.  For over thirty years, I have integrated “reflection rituals” in my professional work on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually basis.  For example, I have a daily reflection ritual of walking a few miles a day to think away from screens.

Rituals can boost our personal productivity because they allow us to focus and reach our goals without distraction. Rituals can also be used by teams in the workplace to improve effectiveness.  (There is a whole book devoted to the topic, “Rituals at Work.”)

My New Year’s Reflection Rituals

• Review the Year:  I use a tool called the “Year Compass, a free downloadable booklet that provides a set of structured reflection questions that help you look back and ahead.  Since I do this every year, I also look at what I wrote the previous year.
• Start A New Professional Journal(s): For as long as I can remember, I have kept an annual professional journal(s), using a variation of bullet journal technique. I call it my “To Do, To Done, Don’t Do, Reflection List.“ I use it for annual planning and goal setting.I also use it as a reflection as the year progresses. I have weekly and monthly look ahead rituals, but not just tasks. I reflect on my themes for the year and habits to improve. 
• Update & Review My Work-Life Harmony Plan:  In my workshops on personal and organizational wellbeing, I help nonprofits improve their personal resilience.  This year I will continue my commitment to creative activities including “Journal as Altar,” and calligraphy with fountain pens. I will also continue my focus on my physical health, particularly my daily walking ritual with a step goal of 15K.
• Identify “My Three Themes”: I do a combination of Peter Bregman’s  theme for the year, and Chris Brogan’s “My Three Words.”  Chris Brogan’s technique is to select three words, but I modify it by articulating key themes. I use the themes to guide my professional work and writing. I’ve used Chris Brogan’s technique for over a decade and found it very helpful in keeping me focused.
• Write A FutureMe Email:  I use a site called “FutureMe” to write an email to myself post-dated a year from now, a practice I’ve been doing for a few years now.  I just received my 2023 email.

2023 Year in Review

Here’s what I learned from looking over my 2023  professional accomplishments:

Generative AI for Nonprofits:  Allison Fine and I published and launched our second book together, The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in Age of Automation in 2022.  In 2023, I continued to present keynotes, deliver practical workshops using generative AI for nonprofit productivity, and write articles. Our article, “8 Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Adopt AI Responsibly,” published in the Stanford Innovation Review was listed as the ten top most popular articles of 2023.   

Training & Facilitation:  I have maintained an active schedule of leading workshops, facilitating retreats, and presenting. While the majority of work was done virtually, I did venture back into in-person events.  I facilitated several peer learning groups, including Teaching Tuesdays for trainers with John Kenyon for the Parents Center staff, and numerous workshops for the Resilience Initiative on leading with empathy, using generative AI for personal and team productivity, and ethical and responsible AI use. 

Workplace Wellbeing:  I published “The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout,” with co-author Aliza Sherman a few years ago. The book was well received and was #1 on Amazon’s Nonprofit Books many times.  Through my work with the Resilience Initiative as a coach, workshop leader and facilitator, I’ve continued to deliver capacity building to nonprofits on these topics, with a focus of how generative artificial intelligence can help improve productivity and work experience. 

Remote and Hybrid Facilitation Workshops: I have continued to reach workshops on virtual and hybrid facilitation approaches, including asynchronous and flexible facilitation.  I also have been training facilitators on how to incorporate the use of generative AI tools for meeting design and facilitation to support their work. 

Board Service:  I continue to serve on the advisory boards of Leadership Learning Community and Wake.

Giving Circle:  I helped co-found and am co-leading the San Jose Business Women for Good Giving Circle.  I learned a lot about Giving Circles from Philanthropy Together and am presently serving on the advisory committee for the WeGive Summit and my current work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Greater Giving Summit team.

Writing:  I’ve been writing Beth’s blog since 2004.  That is twenty years!  The past few years I have not published as much as I have in the early years but I continue to curate content and share ideas via my LinkedIn profile and occasionally LinkedIn Lives. I am hoping on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of my blog, I can return to regular publishing here. 

My Three Themes:

This year I’ve selected the following three words or themes to guide me into 2024:  

Generative AI:  I have been researching, writing, and leading workshops on nonprofits and AI since 2017, but this is the year for Generative AI and incorporating it into nonprofit work effectively and ethically. Building on the nonprofit capacity building work on AI I completed in 2023, I will continue to teach nonprofit staff and leaders the practical skills on getting started with generative AI for personal and team productivity – meetings, collaboration, and getting stuff done. In 2024, I’m also delivering workshops on the responsible and ethical use of generative AI for fundraising and marketing as well as how facilitators can integrate into their practice.   

Iterative:  One of the things that I have learned this past year of using generative AI tools is the need to experiment and inch your way into incorporating into your workflow. I hope to share some of these experiments in future blog posts – much in the same spirit as when I started my blog to share social media practices in the early days. 

Space: I am trying to keep my life and work simple and not overthink or over complicate. I’m trying to create more space by not overscheduling and trying to do too much.

The best part of these rituals is that looking back shows you what you have accomplished and helps you begin a new year with renewed commitment to personal and professional growth.   

What are you making a new or renewed commitment to do?

By Beth Kanter & Joan Garry

Leading with empathy is one of the most effective ways to avoid burnout at your nonprofit. Joan Garry and I had the joy of collaborating on this article together based on a conversation we had recently. [Click here to learn more about Joan’s Nonprofit Leadership Lab or check out my book, The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Impact without Burnout]

Over our years as thought leaders in the field of nonprofit leadership and well-being, and as a nonprofit leadership coach, blogger, and founder of an online training and community platform created for leaders of small to mid-sized nonprofits, we’ve spent countless hours considering the unique challenges that nonprofit leaders face. 

Recently, we have been exploring a fascinating topic that is not only  close to our hearts, but very timely due to burnout in the nonprofit sector – empathetic leadership. 

From our previous conversations, we’ve realized that empathy is not just a warm and fuzzy “soft skill,” but an essential leadership skill to ensure that your nonprofit’s work survives and thrives in the future. 

Empathetic leadership, to us, is about seeing through the eyes of others. It’s in the genuine “How are you doing?” We ask our staff and team , aimed at strengthening connections and boosting performance. In simple terms, it’s about being a decent human being, not an “asshole,”” as Joan so eloquently puts it! (You’re laughing, but we mean it.)

One crucial aspect of empathetic leadership is willingness – a willingness to help employees through their personal issues, recognizing that work and personal lives are becoming more and more intertwined. Of course, we are not suggesting that you become your staff member’s therapist (if they need one your employee should be able to access your organization’s EAP), it is more about understanding that our team members are dynamic individuals, balancing personal hurdles while also fulfilling their professional duties.

And if you show that you really care, it helps with their motivation.The intertwining of work and personal lives has become increasingly evident, especially post-pandemic. Therefore, we need to recognize and respect this dynamic as we lead and support our teams.

Empathy is contagious and influences and shapes a work culture of caring. As leaders, we have a responsibility to model this behavior, demonstrating an authentic interest in our people as humans. Now, you might be wondering, “how do we practice empathy in our leadership styles?”

Practicing Empathetic Leadership in the Nonprofit Workplace

Empathy isn’t always a hardwired skill, but the good news is that with practice we can develop itHere are a few examples of what this looks like in practice in the nonprofit workplace.:

• Build Real Connections At Work

Now here’s a fact: Real connections and friendships at work matter because they can help us get stuff done! Empathetic leadership isn’t just about being nice; it’s about forging deep bonds  with our teams. As leaders, we must show compassion when team members face personal losses. We may not fully relate to someone’s specific loss, but we can still act empathetically and provide support.

• Avoid “Stressification”

One other thing empathetic leaders should address is what Beth calls “stressification” or inflicting our internalized workaholic tendencies on others . It’s the counterproductive practice of sending after-hour emails or direct messages, causing unnecessary panic, or scheduling meetings during universal time off. We need to steer clear of these practices if we want to prevent employee burnout (and our own burnout) and cultivate wellbeing at work in the process.

• Provide Stretch Opportunities for Staff Professional Growth

Don’t treat your staff like robots who should be performing the same mechanical tasks over and over again. You need to provide opportunities for their continuous learning on the job and mentoring. You want to inspire curiosity beyond formal professional development activities.  

• Model and Celebrate Well-being Practices

Creating a robust work culture that incorporates well-being is fundamental. Leaders should also model work-life harmony, recognizing that work and life is never balanced.  Leaders need to set an example and hold themselves accountable. Accountability includes getting upwards anonymous feedback from staff. 

• Incorporate Wellbeing Metrics into Your Performance Reviews

The good news is some organizations are already taking it a step further. They are embedding mental health support into leaders’ performance reviews, based on anonymous feedback from their teams. Some are even considering tying incentives to well-being objectives. That’s a huge leap in the right direction!

• Evaluate Empathy Skills

We should also evaluate empathy skills as part of job performance appraisals. These skills include self-awareness, adaptiveness, active listening, coaching with powerful questions, observing signs of burnout, giving and receiving feedback, facilitating inclusive meetings, and engaging in difficult conversations. By evaluating these skills, we can ensure empathetic leadership becomes an essential criterion for success.

• Use Empathy in 1:1 Check-Ins

To build a caring work culture, leaders need to ask empathetic questions during regular check-ins. Rather than focusing solely on tasks, we should genuinely inquire about our team members’ well-being. Creating norms and processes that promote psychological safety is critical for a caring work environment.

• Hiring for Empathy

Here’s an interesting thought — if Zappos can hire for happiness, why can’t nonprofits hire for empathy? Selecting candidates for their empathetic behavior and cultural fit can significantly boost our ability to build a compassionate and caring workforce. The alignment between an individual’s values and the organization’s mission is essential for success in the nonprofit sector. By hiring for empathy, organizations can ensure their employees truly understand and embrace the importance of empathy in driving social change.

The Road Ahead

As the nonprofit sector navigates evolving challenges, it’s crucial for us, as leaders, to embrace empathetic leadership as a guiding principle. Only then can we truly empower our teams to make a meaningful difference in the world.

Remember this: the future of our organizations isn’t just about the work we do, but also the way we do it. 

So, let’s strive to lead with empathy, compassion, and care.

In the nonprofit sector, cultivating a fair and supportive work environment is essential to ensuring the well-being of employees and fostering the success of the organization. I had a wonderful conversation with nonprofit expert and founder of the Nonprofit Leadership Lab, Joan Garry, to discuss the importance of fairness, mental health, and wellness in the workplace.

Read on as we explore the concept of an environment of fairness, the impact of the pandemic on workplace culture, and the need for good management and accountability. We also discuss the implementation of anonymous upward feedback surveys and pulse checks to create a safe and productive work environment.

This is Part 2 of a 3-part series delving into essential topics for nonprofit champions. Join us as we continue to explore the future of the nonprofit sector. (Here’s part 1 in case you missed it)

Beth Kanter: Joan, fairness in the workplace has become an increasingly important issue, particularly in light of the pandemic. I’ve come across a study that shows only 18% of employees feel they work in a high fairness environment, with people of color and women disproportionately affected. Can you share your thoughts on creating a culture of well-being in the nonprofit sector?

Joan Garry: Absolutely, Beth. The US Surgeon General has released a framework for workplace mental health and wellness that I believe is an excellent starting point. The pillars of this framework include protection from harm, connection and community, work-life harmony, mattering at work, wellness, and opportunities for personal and professional growth, all centered on worker’s voices and equity. By adopting these principles, nonprofit organizations can create a more supportive and inclusive work environment.

Beth: I couldn’t agree more. It’s crucial for leaders to be held accountable for creating such an environment. One way to achieve this is through anonymous upward feedback surveys, which can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of management, as long as leaders take action on the feedback they receive. Can you share your experience with this approach?

Joan: Yes, Beth. On my own team, we’ve implemented anonymous upward feedback surveys, and they have been incredibly useful in helping leaders understand how they can improve. The key, however, is for leaders to acknowledge the feedback, address the concerns, and take tangible steps towards improvement. This ensures that employees feel heard and valued.

Beth: I love that idea. Another strategy I’ve found effective is integrating pulse checks into meetings, provided that an environment of safety and active listening is established. This allows employees to voice their concerns and provide real-time feedback on the organization’s culture and practices. How have you found this approach to work in your experience?

Joan: Pulse checks can be a valuable tool for gauging employee sentiment and identifying areas for improvement. By fostering an environment of trust and open communication, nonprofits can better understand the needs of their employees and make adjustments accordingly. This helps create a more inclusive and supportive work culture that ultimately benefits the entire organization.

As we continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape of the nonprofit sector, it’s essential to prioritize fairness, mental health, and wellness in our workplaces. By adopting the principles of the US Surgeon General’s framework and implementing strategies such as anonymous upward feedback surveys and pulse checks, we can create more supportive and inclusive environments for our employees.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic, so please join the discussion in the comments below.

How are you fostering a fair and supportive work environment in your organization? What strategies have you found effective in promoting workplace well-being? Leave your comments!

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our series with Joan Garry, where we’ll explore additional critical issues for nonprofit leaders and be sure to check out Joan’s Nonprofit Leadership Lab.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently published an opinion piece, “AI Can Help Nonprofits Reach More Donors But Fundraisers Can’t Ignore Potential Pitfalls,” a topic that Allison Fine and I have been researching and writing about since 2017.   In 2019, we did a deep dive on AI & Giving to look at the landscape of fundraising tools & platforms using AI and the implications. Our next project was the research and writing of the “The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in an Age of Automation,” a broader look at the implications on all aspects of nonprofits and philanthropy. 

The article reinforces the message we’ve shared for years that these tools can benefit nonprofits in many ways, especially small nonprofits. This is especially true with the advancing sophistication of recently released “creator tools,” (AI-infused tools that generate images, text, or videos). The article warns as we do in our book that the danger is that nonprofits will grab the software off the shelf before its limitations are understood. That is why we make a big case in our book for nonprofits to take a human-centered approach and offer a practical set of readiness steps. 

When we first started publishing and presenting on Smart Tech and AI tools to audiences of fundraisers, nonprofits, and funders in the social sector field, the media narrative around AI was presented as binary. On the one hand, was the “Evil Robots Overlords” view that we will never control AI and it will control us and take over all our jobs through automation. The opposite, more utopian view was that AI was magic fairy dust and could wave a wand and solve all our problems.  In reality, both of these are false narratives.

Technologists classify AI into three categories. Narrow AI (focuses on a specific task); General AI (as capable as a human); and SuperAI (more capable).  For the most part, Narrow AI is what is in use today and getting better.  General AI is still a laboratory experiment.  And SuperAI is mostly alive and well in the plots of science fiction books and biased documentaries. 

In the past six years since we started researching AI and nonprofits, we’ve seen the technology evolve and the price come down  In the last few months, this new generation of “creator tools” such as GPTChat (text/writing) and Dalle-E for images have been available more broadly for public review and testing. And while the outputs may appear to be smarter than humans, they won’t replace humans. (And never should)  

According to Creator Feed Podcast, we will likely see many more creator apps and more and more creators adopt these tools.They also predict an increase in regulations and policies aimed at addressing ethical concerns – specifically around copyright and commercial use.  Already, we are seeing artists protest about stolen creative property and school systems ban tools because of cheating concerns.

As people begin to use these creator tools in different fields and jobs, including fundraising as the example in the Chronicle piece illustrates, there are some benefits. As with any technology moving from emerging to mainstream phases, it takes time to become fluent and this might lead to new job requirements, skills  or even jobs. It should not lead to replacing people or their jobs with the technology because to be effective these tools require human oversight. 

Creator tools can redesign fundraiser and nonprofit staff jobs and reengineer workflows to enable people to focus on the parts of work that humans are particularly well-suited for, such as relationship building, intuitive decision making, empathy, creativity  and problem solving.  Something we call this human-centered approach “co-botting” in our book.  

What if the fundraiser is fully prepared and knowledgeable about the implications of smart tech creator tools and uses the tool to generate a first draft letter to a donor.  Then uses their human skills – empathy and knowledge – to revise the draft. The creative tool saves them time by writing the first draft and also allows the fundraiser to repurpose that saved time in building a deeper and better relationship with other donors in their portfolio.  Or maybe not have to work overtime and embrace some work-life balance. 

We call this the dividend of time in our book. If nonprofits don’t look at creator and other smart tool adoptions holistically and use it as departure for improving relationships and work experience, it is a lost opportunity.

If 2023 is the year that smart tech creator tools have more widespread adoption in the nonprofit and social sector, it can make work and workplaces more fulfilling, effective, and less exhausting.  But as we’ve been advocating for years, it requires nonprofit leaders to dig into the implications of automation and make smart, ethical choices about using tech that enhance our humanity and builds better relationships with donors and stakeholders. 

Rituals are intentional small, tangible acts done routinely and carry meaning.  Our family has several New Year’s rituals, including a nature hike. Unfortunately, the atmospheric river dumping a lot of much needed rain prevented us from enjoying a hike.

Rituals can also be used by professionals to boost personal productivity because rituals capitalize on our brains’ ability to direct our behavior on autopilot, allowing us to reach our goals even when we are distracted or preoccupied with other things. (In fact, there is a lab at Stanford that studies workplace rituals and a book, “Rituals at Work,” devoted to the topic)

For over twenty-five years, I have implemented a number of rituals that help me prepare for the year ahead. :

Rituals

• Review the Year:  I use a tool called the “Year Compass, a free downloadable booklet that provides a set of structured reflection questions that help you look back and ahead.  Since I do this every year, I also look at what I wrote the previous year.
• Start A New Professional Journal: For as long as I can remember, I have kept an annual professional journal, using a variation of bullet journal technique. I call it my “To Do, To Done, Don’t Do, Reflection List.“ I use it for annual planning and goal setting.I also use it as a reflection as the year progresses. I have weekly and monthly look ahead rituals, but not just tasks. I reflect on my themes for the year and habits to improve.
• Update & Review My Work-Life Harmony Plan:  In my workshops on personal and organizational wellbeing, I help nonprofits improve their personal resilience.  This year I will continue my commitment to creative activities including “Journal as Altar,” and calligraphy with fountain pens. I will also continue my focus on my physical health, particularly my daily step goal of 15K.
• Identify “My Three Themes”: I do a combination of Peter Bregman’s  theme for the year, and Chris Brogan’s “My Three Words.”  Chris Brogan’s technique is to select three words, but I modify it by articulating key themes. I use the themes to guide my professional work and writing. I’ve used Chris Brogan’s technique for over a decade and found it very helpful in keeping me focused.
• Write A FutureMe Email:  I use a site called “FutureMe” to write an email to myself post-dated a year from now, a practice I’ve been doing for a few years now.  I just received my 2022 email which begins with “As you read this, I hope that I am still a COVID virgin, healthy, and happy.”  (3 out of 3!)

Year in Review

Here’s what I learned from looking over my 2022  professional accomplishments:

The Smart Nonprofit:  Allison Fine and I published and launched our second book together, The Smart Nonprofit: Staying Human-Centered in Age of Automation.  We gave over 50 book talks, fireside chats, webinars, and workshops both in-person and online.  We also published a second article in the Harvard Business Review about keeping work human-centered.

Board Service:  I’ve been part of the NTEN community since its inception and the last six as a board member.  I finished my last board meeting in early 2022. In 2021, I was honored and very surprised to be awarded the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Lifetime Achievement Award.  I continue to serve on the advisory board of Leadership Learning Community and Wake.

Giving Circle:  I helped co-found and am co-leading the San Jose Business Women for Good Giving Circle.  I learned a lot about Giving Circles from Philanthropy Together and am presently serving on the advisory committee for the WeGive Summit in May.

Workplace Wellbeing:   I published “The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout,” with co-author Aliza Sherman a few years ago. The book was well received and was #1 on Amazon’s Nonprofit Books many times. The stress of the pandemic prompted the biggest demand for workshops and speaking engagements, even though these engagements were online. I shifted a lot of my content and advice to focus on creating a life-work balance when you work remotely and how to create a more connected virtual team as well as digital wellness.

Remote and Hybrid Facilitation Workshops: During the past few years, interest soared in learning how to facilitate better virtual meetings has soared.  I have continued to teach facilitation and meeting design workshops and coaching for online and hybrid meetings

Training & Facilitation:  I have maintained an active schedule of leading workshops, facilitating retreats, and presenting. While the majority of work was done virtually, I did venture back into in-person events.  For facilitation projects, I am working on projects with the Gates Foundation Greater Giving Summit and Google.Org. I also facilitated several peer learning groups, including Teaching Tuesdays for trainers with John Kenyon for the Parents Center staff, and a peer learning group on workplace wellbeing for the Resilience Initiative. I have continued my work as senior advisor to Lightful, a social media management tool for charities based in London.  

Writing:  I’ve been writing Beth’s blog since 2004.  The past few years I have not published as much as I have in the early years.  Now that I have left Twitter (highlighted in this Wall Street Journal article), I really want to get back to maintaining a personal blog.  

My Three Themes:

This year I’ve selected the following three words to guide me into 2023:  

Learning:  I’ve been working in nonprofits for many decades and the thing that keeps me going is always learning something new.  I started my blog almost 20 years ago because it was a learning journal – writing helps me process.  I hope to get back to regularly blogging. 

Simplicity:  I am trying to keep my life and work simple and not overthink or over complicate. A big area of simplicity is avoiding overscheduling and trying to do too much.
 

Joyfulness: This was my theme in 2022, but I’m repeating it.  Joyful means experiencing or causing happiness for yourself or others. Fun doesn’t mean goofing off or not working hard, but laughing and enjoyment that can be energizing. Adam Grant said it well, “Having fun isn’t an enemy of efficiency. It’s fuel for finding flow. Play isn’t a reward for finally making it through your to-do list. It *belongs* on your to-do list.”  

The best part of these rituals is that looking back shows you what you have accomplished and helps you begin a new year with renewed commitment to personal and professional growth.   What are you making a new or renewed commitment to do?