AI for Nonprofits

8 AI Leaders and Communicators

AI Innovators

Sam Altman: Altman is widely considered one of the most preeminent figures in AI. He is CEO of OpenAI, the company behind AI models like ChatGPT and DALL-E. Visit Sam’s blog.

Yann LeCun: Chief AI Scientist at Meta and Turing Award winner, LeCun is known for explaining AI concepts in a humorous and approachable manner. Visit Yann’s website.

Demis Hassabis: Hassabis is a researcher and neuroscientist best known as the Co-Founder and CEO of DeepMind, the developer behind Google Gemini. Visit Demis’ Wikipedia page.

Cultural and Ethical Advocates

Fei-Fei Li: Li is the former Chief Scientist of AI at Google Cloud and Co-Director of the Human-Centered AI Institute at Stanford. She is a leading advocate for diversity and inclusion in STEM. Visit Fei-Fei’s Wikipedia page.

Timnit Gebru: Gebru is the founder of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and a leading AI ethicist and advocate for addressing bias in AI systems. Visit Timnit’s Wikipedia page.

Influencers

Balaji Srinivasan: Former CTO of Coinbase, Srinivasan is a technology “influencer” known for his thought-provoking commentary on AI and its implications for the future. Visit Balaji’s website.

Lex Friedman: Host of the Lex Friedman Podcast, he engages in deep conversations with AI experts, making complex ideas accessible to a broad audience. Visit Lex’s YouTube page.

Elon Musk: CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk’s views on AI are often controversial, but he undeniably sparks widespread discussion and interest in the topic. You know where to find him…

Pioneering the Future: AI Research Labs

Research Labs are the foundational layer of AI.

OpenAI & DeepMind are the two organizations leading the charge in AI research and development. Most of the applications we’ll be discussing today have their roots in these research labs.

These labs lay the groundwork for the exciting applications of GenAI we’ll be exploring next.

GenAI: The Engine Powering Creative Applications

GenAI stands for Generative Artificial Intelligence. It is a type of AI used to create new, original content (not just analyze or process existing data). It’s one of the most widely recognized and utilized forms of AI by the general public, particularly through applications like chatbots and image generators.

GenAI is already transforming how we create:

Text: Writing, editing, translation
Images: Creation and editing
Video: Storyboarding and animation
Music: Composition & performance
Narration: Virtual hosts, voiceovers  AI Models (like GPT-4): The powerful engines that process and generate content.

AI Apps (like ChatGPT and Gemini): User-friendly tools built upon these engines, designed for a wide range of tasks.

Downstream AI Apps (like SnapChat’s “My AI” which is powered by ChatGPT): these are apps powered by Gemini or ChatGPT, but which are more purpose driven for a particular use case such as customer service chatbots, personalized learning tools and mental health support.

GenAI in Action: Chatbots and Image Generators

Chatbots like ChatGPT & Gemini are your AI conversation partners, providing information generating creative content.

Image Generators like Midjourney & DALL-E turn your words into visuals.

Today, we’ll be focusing primarily on the Chatbots. These days image creation can also be done inside of these tools without the need to go to another outside application with often satisfactory results. So for many of you, Gemini or ChatGPT may be the only AI app you’ll need for the foreseeable future… but with Apple Intelligence right around the corner, the AI landscape is sure to keep evolving!

AI: Your Everyday Work Companion

Keep AI top of mind and by your side when it comes to your daily routine.  

The Chatbot AI can be your:

Personal assistant
Proofreader & Editor
Technical consultant
Research assistant
Brainstorming partner
Creative collaborator
Proposal and grant writing assistant
Devil’s advocate

AI can wear many hats in your daily work life!

AI: Your Co-Pilot, Not Autopilot

AI-Adjacent Collaboration: Working with AI, not just having it work for you.

Teamwork makes the dream work: Combining human ingenuity with AI capabilities will yield the most optimal results.

AI’s Role:

Enhancing your skills and productivity
Providing insights and support
Streamlining tasks and processes
Fueling creativity and innovation

The Human Touch: AI is a powerful tool, but it still relies on the human elements of: passion, soul, judgement and cultural awareness, to maximize success.

AI for Good: Empowering Nonprofits with Artificial Intelligence

Donor Management & Fundraising:

Fundraising AI: Uses AI to predict donor behavior, personalize outreach, and optimize fundraising campaigns.
Gravyty: AI-powered platform for personalized donor engagement and fundraising automation.

Volunteer Management & Engagement:

VolunteerMatch: AI-powered platform to match volunteers with opportunities based on skills and interests.
Catchafire: Connects skilled volunteers with nonprofits for pro bono projects, leveraging AI for matching and project management.

Marketing & Communications:

Beautiful.ai: AI-powered presentation software for creating visually stunning and impactful presentations.
Writesonic: AI writing tool for generating engaging content for social media, emails, and websites.

Operations & Program Management:

Asana: AI-powered project management tool to streamline workflows, track progress, and improve team collaboration.
Trello: Another great AI-powered project management tool, known for its visual and flexible approach.

Data Analysis & Insights:

Tableau: Powerful data visualization and analytics platform to gain valuable insights from donor and program data.
DonorSearch: AI-powered prospect research tool to identify potential major donors and optimize fundraising strategies.