Commentary, resources & discussion re: nonprofits/ngos, communications, community engagement, volunteerism, effective humanitarian aid & development, ethics, women's empowerment & management ethics. Posts at least twice a month, usually on Tuesdays.
My start on the Internet was not web sites or social media. It was online communities. Back in the 1990s, online communities and online conversations were the heart of the Internet.
I still participate in an online communities, primarily via Reddit. These are some that I’m facilitating and/or moderating and I would really like to have more participants on from colleagues – you all have so much expertise in at least one of these subjects, and so much to offer on these topics:
Volunteerism. Discuss & debate how volunteer engagement is community engagement & public relations, volunteerism philosophies, ethics & all aspects of supporting & managing volunteers.
Philanthropy. Discussions & articles about philanthropy (the giving of money or time to contribute to the welfare of others). Includes non-profit development/fundraising, donor cultivation, donor relations, giving campaigns, donor ethics, restricted donations, and all related topics, including volunteering.
ICT4D. ICT4D stands for Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development. ICT4D refers to the application of ICT to economic development, humanitarian aid & development, & to causes that help empower a particular demographic or all people to address challenges, have greater access to education, protect their environment, etc. It is a term popularized by various United Nations initiatives. ICTs include artificial intelligence (AI).
Tech4Good. Tech4Impact (social, human), ICT4D. ICT Tech Ethics. Discuss examples resources & ideas for computers, applying apps & online tools to activities supporting causes that help humans & the environment. Discuss hackathons / hacks4good, apps4good, community tech centers, ethics regarding such, etc. Discuss how a nonprofit, NGO or community program you work or volunteer with is leveraging ICT – computers, smart phones, online communities, apps, special software, AI – in its work.
UNV. United Nations Volunteers (UNV) is a part of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This subreddit is for posts from people who have served or are serving as UNVs, people who want to serve, people who have worked or are working at UNV HQ, people researching UNV, & the latest UNV news. This subreddit is NOT an official United Nations group!
Pro Bono. There are plenty of subreddits to ask for free legal advice – this subreddit is NOT one of them. Instead, it is focused on how & why legal pros donate services (pro bono) & the value of such to society. It’s also a place to discuss pro bono ethics & how pro bono engagement can affect law school admissions.
Also see Reddit4Good, a list of subreddits focused on some aspect of volunteerism, community service, philanthropy, or otherwise doing good. It has sections that list subreddits where people can:
ask for/beg for money.
recruit volunteers / ask for help/participation for individuals, offer help to nonprofits or individuals, to participate in something “good”, etc.
learn about voluntourism (paying to volunteer somewhere that’s not where you live)
learn about specific, established programs, that “do good”.
learn about specific topics that could be leveraged for those looking to “do good”, like marine biology, public health, refugees, urban planning, etc.
post surveys and ask for participants.
view and participate in discussions about nonprofit philanthropy and about philanthropic approaches (these are NOT places to fundraise / NOT places to ask for money).
I update it at least twice a year.
Note: AI agents are using Reddit content as a source for its results (among other sources). This is because Reddit has been, for many years, providing human-written opinions by people who are not formally-affiliated with whatever they are talking about and real-world experiences. The text on Reddit often has the authentic feel that polished marketing text lacks. How long this will last, however, remains to be seen.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
The first results of a search on most web search engines now is from Artificial Intelligent agents – AI. And many younger people, when they want to ask a question about a nonprofit, don’t look at the nonprofit’s web site; instead, they ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity or some other AI agent for the information.
Sometimes a nonprofit or community group ranks well on a search of its name or some other phrase, like volunteer in Louisville, Kentucky, on Google, Bing or Duck Duck Go, but then barely gets mentioned in AI-generated answers, or the info provided by AI is outdated or even completely inaccurate.
Your nonprofit, NGO, or other community program needs to do an AI visibility check on various search engines and AI agents to see what your results are at least twice a year. You may find that you need to engage in some activities to improve the results that come from AI agents.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
The ICT4D subreddit (an online community on Reddit) was started in 2011 by someone – not me. But it was abandoned in 2017. Nothing has been submitted to this posting for posting since 2018 – until now. I stumbled upon it a while back and went through the official process to take it over as moderator.
The ICT4D subreddit is being restarted as of today, June 15, 2026. It’s new description is this:
ICT4D stands for Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development. ICT4D refers to the application of ICT to economic development, humanitarian aid & development, & to causes that help empower a particular demographic or all people to address challenges, have greater access to education, protect their environment, etc. It is a term popularized by various United Nations initiatives.
Examples of ICT4D:
Activities to help build the digital literacy skills of an underserved group (seniors, women living in rural areas, etc.).
A computer lab open to the public at a public library.
An app to help refugees navigate various challenges.
Farmers working with drones and GIS to gather information that can help estimate crop yields with real-time satellite data.
An app that allows people to track and report on birds in people’s yards.
Producing IT materials in local languages.
Smart phones used to organize activists in real time.
Are you applying ICTs to economic development, humanitarian aid & development, &/or to causes that help empower a particular demographic or all people to address challenges, have greater access to education, protect their environment, etc.? This subreddit is a place to talk about that. Please write your testimonial yourself & remember that AI should assist your writing, but not author it here.
Up-to-date statistics about the digital divide and recent information about ICT4D-related initiatives are also welcomed.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
On LinkedIn, a volunteer engagement consultant in British Columbia, Canada, Karen Knight, wrote
AI is impacting volunteer engagement more and more every day, so I’ve finally given up waiting to understand it before writing about it and the challenges we’re all facing with it.
and then linked to her blog, which is a frank, brutally honest narrative about her frustration at not understanding artificial intelligence tools. I was blown away by the excellent questions she asked and how she framed her frustration.
I have been working on a resource for a while now, in preparation for a workshop I’m doing in August, but I was push to finish it early because I was so inspired by her blog.
This new resource is not a list of AI tools for nonprofits. There are plenty of people and companies out there doing that. Instead, it’s a list of things nonprofits, non-government organizations (NGOs), community groups, government agencies and other mission-based initiatives need to consider and policies those organizations need to clarify before staff start using more AI tools than they are already, and that you need to think about regarding the AI tools staff are using now. Otherwise, you won’t be making fully-informed decisions, and you may be replacing authentic, human presentations and interactions at a time when authentic human-to-human connections have never been needed more.
Instead of listing AI tools, I’ve focused on when nonprofits should, and should NOT, use AI in their work, to give them an understanding that they can use to ask more specific questions of those trying to push them into using AI, as well as to guide them in their use of AI no matter what tools they choose. I have no doubt that there is going to be disagreement on what I am proposing.
I’ve been helping nonprofits understand new tech since the 1990s. I am a plain language person (I loathe tech and corporate jargon) and believe in my bones that if users can’t use a tech tool easily and appropriately, it’s poorly designed and they shouldn’t be forced to use it. I also believe that nonprofits should always keep human connection, human rights and the emotional attachment humans have to a mission, to a cause, at the heart of their work. Know those two things as you read this resource.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
The rise of AI-powered search engines is already adversely affecting search results for nonprofits.
Web sites are still critically important to get your message out, just as important as what you do on social media, and your nonprofit needs to make sure your nonprofit’s web site isn’t getting buried in search results: you need to make sure potential volunteers, potential donors, the press, politicians, even critics, can find you easily online when they are using certain keywords, not just your nonprofit’s name.
Things that help a web site to be favored by search engines powered by artificial intelligence:
Clearly written headings that adhere to HTML hierarchies (H1, H2, H3, etc.).
Logical structure of information on a page.
Plain language.
Short paragraphs (but the number doesn’t matter – don’t eliminate essential content in pursuit of shorter pages!).
Clear and comprehensive content.
Bullet points.
Descriptive summaries.
Alt text on photos and images.
Page titles in the HTML.
Words on your home page you want people to use to find you (the name of your city, the name of your state, the word volunteer, words relating to your mission, words like help and impact, etc.).
Nonprofits that have web sites that follow W3C accessibility standards – that remembered that people with disabilities also use the Internet – already have a strong advantage over those that don’t when it comes to being favored by AI searches, as do those organizations that use plain language and words on their home page they want search engines to use to find their organizations.
Go to a variety of search engines, like Google, Duck Duck Go and Brave Search, and use the words you want people to use to find your nonprofit, like volunteer with refugees Louisville. Did you nonprofit come up in the search results for the words you used? Was it first after the sites that paid for placement? If not, you have work to do.
Don’t just take the word of your web site manager that all of this has been done: YOU, as executive director, as board president, as marketing manager, should ask that person to show you examples of this on the nonprofit’s web site, if you don’t know how to look at HTML yourself.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
The hype regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) is out of control, including regarding mission-based organizations. There are blogs, webinars, YouTube videos and more, all singing the praises of AI for nonprofits and NGOs. Various companies, nonprofits and consultants are falling over themselves to say that AI can do ANYTHING a nonprofit or NGO needs done: raise funds, manage volunteers, talk with clients, administer programs, manage all incoming calls, all with little or no human involvement.
Yet, these promoters are rarely specific. “You can use AI to research grants!” Okay, how? Tell me exactly what that looks like and how it’s different than just typing in keywords to an online search engine?
“You can use AI to screen volunteers!” Great. How? Tell me exactly what that looks like and how it’s different than just requiring certain fields in a volunteer application to be filled out or require a certain number of characters in that field? And is the goal to eliminate all human interaction until the volunteer shows up for the scheduled volunteering gig, because it’s that personal, human interaction that often seals the deal for a volunteer to show up at all.
So many of you are breathless about your use of AI, but you aren’t being specific about what that REALLY looks like. Specifics and obvious, real-world benefits are what lead to tech adoption.
Back in the 1990s, when the Internet started going mainstream, I started my own web site as a place to be specific about how the Internet could be used by nonprofit staff, specifically those responsible for outreach and those responsible for recruiting and engaging volunteers. Lots of makers of software and computers were making claims about what these tech tools could do for nonprofits, but they offered no specifics and no detailed guides, probably because they were talking in theory, not actual practice. As a result, a lot of nonprofits were dragging their feet about switching from index cards to track contacts to software that would manage clients and donors – they relished their personal relationships and saw tech eliminating something fundamental to their fundraising, outreach and program management success. A lot of nonprofits balked at the idea of creating a web site when they weren’t using any web site themselves: if a web site wasn’t the primary way they got info, why should they care? Of course, the reluctance of government and corporate donors to fund tech equipment, Internet subscriptions and training for staff also had something to do with many nonprofits not adopting computers and the Internet for so long.
I was one of the first people to start talking online and in workshops, in low-tech PLAIN language, about practical, real-world applications of online and computer tech for nonprofits. I could see the digital divide emerging between nonprofits that were adopting tech, especially online tools, and doing so much more with less, and those that still hoped the Internet was the CB Radio of the 1990s. But those latter nonprofits were providing critical services, and I did not want to see them die due to lack of understanding about emerging tech tools. In my work, I emphasized not only the practical applications and the specifics of tech use, but also that I would never propose the Internet or software as tools to replace humans; I always emphasized the application of tech tools with the goal of increasing meaningful human interactions, to increase support and help for humans, both clients and volunteers, and to free up time for staff so that they could spend more time in real-time work with clients, donors, the press, potential partners, other staff, etc.
In all of this work, I also never stopped emphasizing the human aspect: when I talked about online mentoring, I noted that success was NEVER about the tech tools, but about the HUMANS involved and how well they were trained and supported.
As a result of my approach, via my web site and via workshops, I regularly got comments like, “This is the first time I’ve ever understood why I should care about the Internet at my job” and “I finally know what questions to ask software salespeople.”
To all of you promoting AI for nonprofits: you have to be as specific as I was. For instance, be clear about why using AI would be preferable to just a web search on Google or Duck Duck Go. In fact, in my opnion: it’s not AT ALL preferable, and if you use AI to make suggestions about small-budget fundraising events for an animal shelter, you should still go to the search engine of your choice and look for fundraising events for an animal shelter, because you will find even more ideas. YOU should know the full range out there, and no AI tool provides that.
And also to all of you promoting AI for nonprofits: you need to be clear in warning nonprofits NEVER to take an AI-produced product, whether it’s a graphic, a press release or a social media strategy, and use it as is. AI makes mistakes (link goes to one that was very personal for me and would have been traumatizing). AI hallucinates and FREQUENTLY puts incorrect info into the written text it produces. AI not only claimed Ananda Valenzuela was speaking at an upcoming conference, it doubled-down when she tried to correct it. AI also doesn’t adhere to standards of accessible or even GOOD design: you can use an AI tool like Canva to produce your event flyer, but a HUMAN still has to make sure it adheres to standards of good design (like appropriate color contrast).
One final note to all of you promoting AI to nonprofits: the energy needs of AI are threatening to overwhelm the power grid. They are increasing our need for electricity at a time when we need to be DECREASING that need and RAISING energy prices for regular folks. You had better acknowledge this, full disclosure, when talking to nonprofits, many of whom are trying to adopt greener ways of doing business (and some of whom are focused on addressing global climate change specifically).
Yes, I use AI. One cannot use anything is on a network of any kind, or even a stand alone new computer, without using some form of AI. My spell checker and grammar checker tool is considered an AI tool, because, supposedly, this tool “learns” from me. I use Canva sometimes. I was once charged with writing a poem that might be a part of a fundraising campaign, and after I wrote my poem, I then asked AI to write a poem, giving it the same parameters that I was given, just to see how it compared. The AI poem actually wasn’t horrible. Mine was better, of course, but if all I had had to work with was that AI poem, with some tweaking, it would have been okay. But just okay. But I never trust the AI summary at the top of an online search – I always go looking for the source. WIkipedia remains a far superior resource for explanations and summaries, IMO.
Think of AI-produced material as something that a new employee from the corporate world or volunteer fresh out of high school, someone who might be able to use the latest computer tech to play video games and watch TikTok videos but does not understand that not everyone has the latest tech tools, not everyone has great eyesight, not everyone uses their hands to navigate web pages, not everyone speaks English as a first language, not everyone understands your soon-to-be dated jargon, etc. You are always going to have to correct and refine the material AI produces, just like you would that new employee or volunteer.
Why am I not taking up the challenge myself and researching and compiling real-world, practical examples of specific ways nonprofits and NGOs are using AI?
I do not have the finances to do yet another mostly-unfunded project. I was paid when I managed the Virtual Volunteering Project. I have not been paid for any of the research and resources I’ve produced for my own web site, nor for the Virtual Volunteering Guidebook (when it comes to the book, which I paid to publish, I barely broke even).
I think it should be NOT ME. It’s overdue for someone else to take up this let’s-talk-plain-language-about-tech challenge.
I am much older now and would like to focus on other things.
I really hope someone out there is reading this and will take up the challenge.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
Instead, r/Volunteerism is a place to discuss volunteerism philosophies, ethics &, debates, discuss support for volunteers & all aspects of volunteer engagement/management.
Want to recommend your book or blog on volunteer management? Go for it! Want to promote volunteerism – as in “I think volunteerism is necessary for a prosperous society”? Yes. Want to criticize volunteerism, as in “I think volunteerism is a scam and exists primarily so governments and corporations don’t have to pay people for necessary work and here’s why I think that…”? Yes. Testimonials regarding volunteer experience are also welcomed on r/Volunteerism, but not for the primary purpose of recruiting volunteers for one organization.
NO RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS &
NO “WHERE DO I FIND VOLUNTEERING”.
Reddit4Good is a list I made more than 10 years ago and have updated regularly, of subreddits focused on some aspect of volunteerism, community service, philanthropy or doing good for a cause. It includes a list of places on reddit that allow you to recruit volunteers or to ask “Where can I volunteer?” As you will see when you look at it, there are PLENTY of places to on Reddit to recruit volunteers or ask where to find volunteering.
But there is – or was – no where on Reddit that has a focus like r/Volunteerism. And there needs to be.
You may recall that, for many years, I moderated another subreddit, r/volunteer, and that I rebuilt that subreddit over more than a decade into one of the most popular online communities on Reddit. I noted in this blog all of the effort I undertook to turn the community into something of value, particularly for young people who wanted to volunteer and, no matter how many volunteer matching platforms and apps get launched, still need a great deal of guidance about volunteering. I think that via that online community I’ve finally gotten through in a big way to lots more people regarding why trying to be a volunteer can be so hard (because most organizations have zero volunteer management training, don’t have a person dedicated to volunteer engagement, and can’t get funding for such because foundations and corporations refuse to fund “overhead”). But, sadly, a small, angry, vocal group of new members on that subreddit wanted the community to have minimal rules and minimal rules enforcement – never mind that it was that strict moderation that vastly improved the quality of the content over the years and made the subreddit so popular. I wrote why I decided to walk away as moderator from that subreddit without a fight. And I have no regrets that I quit a project that I had made so, so popular.
But I am still on Reddit. Reddit is MUCH more than one community. After having left the other subreddit for about two months, I went back to have a look at how things were going. And it was so sad: the same “where do I volunteer” posts over and over and over. Unvetted organizations with questionable credentials recruiting international “volunteers.” And worst of all: no more posts or debates about volunteerism ethics, voluntourism ethics, volunteerism trends, volunteer management policies and tools, safety, and on and on. It’s now a subreddit just like the more than 20 others that are focused somehow on volunteering – nothing special about it all, and very little of value.
Well, it’s now just like all those other subreddits except one: a silent group called r/Volunteerism. I had put this subreddit on an early version of Reddit4Good, and had described it as an “anything goes” subreddit, just like most other volunteerism-related groups. And then I didn’t look at it for years. When I did, as 2025 ended, I realized that it hadn’t had a new post in seven years and that it didn’t have a moderator listed. After a week of thinking about it, I followed the steps to claim the subreddit and, voilá, the group is mine. Well, moderation is mine. It belongs to Reddit. But I claimed it for one specific purpose: to restore a place on Reddit to discuss volunteerism beyond the FAQs.
Another reason I wanted there to be a place to discuss volunteerism, not just “Where do I volunteer?”: I have been hired three times as a consultant, twice with a mega large, well known social media company, because of my participation on Reddit, specifically because of how I moderated and facilitated r/volunteer. Not going to lie: I would love for it to happen again.
And so, all of you volunteer management researchers and consultants out there, all you leaders of volunteer management associations, all you program managers at the volunteerism-promoting organizations like Points of Light and the Corporation for National Service, here is your chance at redemption. You ignored r/volunteer, probably the largest community focused on volunteering, for years, and now I’m not sure your posts would be welcomed there, given its new focus. But you could post your press releases and event announcements and conference results to r/Volunteerism. Not much of an audience there now, but give me time… I’m awesome at growing Reddit audiences.
I created those database tips because so many nonprofit staff were being asked to manage data about volunteers, donors, event attendees and clients, but they had zero background in data management, and were regularly asking for help on that online community. My data management background came from hands-on experiences, mostly at nonprofit theaters, which live and die by data about event attendees and donors – and we used index cards before computers. I kept developing new web pages on other tech-related subjects to offer advice in plain language, because I felt like software developers and tech bros were doing a lousy job of doing so. I wanted to present tips for using all this emerging computer and Internet technology in human language so it could be understood by anyone, not just IT folks, and to show what it could do in language that showed it really was a great tool, not just something shiny.
Merely having a web site of my own helped in my landing a few jobs in the 1990s, though I abandoned my web design business after my first client – I knew I was no web designer, although I quickly turned out to be quite a good manager of such, which is also a very important skill to have.
It was 1996, the start of what turned out to be a year of tremendous loss and change for me. I was really excited about launching my own site and, having been online for a couple of years and having a really positive experience from such, I was really optimistic about what the Internet could mean for humanity. I was downright perky. As I ended the year in a new home in Austin, Texas, having completely rebooted my life, I was down about personal things but still optimistic professionally, mostly because I was starting a new job that would allow me to do the oh-so-radical thing of work from home, a job I’d gotten because of my online work up to that date: I began designing the program I would direct for four years, the Virtual Volunteering Project, an initiative that eventually led me to a job, and a career, with the United Nations and a long time association with TechSoup.
I thought that accessibility in web site design would be a widespread priority now. I remain stunned that web site accessibility is still not the industry standard, and that so many web designers, and those that employ them, have either never heard of it or don’t think it’s important.
I thought the US Congress would have designed much better laws to protect the data of citizens and other residents, as well as visitors.
Most of the ideas I hear from tech bros regarding their new tech tools aren’t new ideas.
I have close friends and professional colleagues now that I first met online. Those type of connections don’t happen nearly as much now as they did in the 1990s and 2000s. I met so many of them on YahooGroups. I so miss YahooGroups.
I think those of us who worked in environments without computers and the Internet are better at using tech tools than so-called “digital natives.” My generation knows that we always have to be ready to adapt to change, and knows that most of the time we’re on our own to figure out how to use something – and how to best leverage that tool in our work.
AI slop is insidious and is ruining the Internet.
The algorithms that are supposedly putting information in front of us based on our unique preferences are making it harder to find the information I’m actually looking for. Search engines worked far better even 15 years ago than they do now.
The algorithms that are supposedly putting information in front of us based on our unique preferences are driving misinformation and a startling, horrific extreme right wing agenda. I regularly get things in my social media newsfeeds that I’m not only not interested in, they go against everything I believe at my core – and what I believe at my core is no secret online.
We all need to spend less time looking at computer and phone screens. More time looking at movie screens is acceptable.
I hope my web site is still valuable to someone out there. And I hope my 2026 goes far better than my 1996.
The staff at nonprofits, no matter its size, no matter its focus, need at least one short video that succinctly explains their programs and their impact, or a video that shows how the organization engages volunteers. They may also need a video that helps onboard program participants or explains safety measures.
Your small nonprofit with just a handful of staff – maybe just a few employees, maybe just one employee, maybe all volunteers (unpaid staff) – may think it cannot make such a video, because it can’t afford a professional videographer. In fact, you can, and with just the tech assets you have.
Making a short video for your nonprofit with just the tech you have. This resource on my web site takes you step-by-step in how to identify the hardware and software you have right now, via your smart phones and laptops and operating systems, and how you can leverage that very basic technology, as well as the photos you may already have on hand, to create videos you need, from videos of clients explaining the impact of your programs to short videos for Facebook and Instagram reels, Tik Tok, and whatever else shows up as the fun new social media.
If you want to see the video I made for the Habitat affiliate I work for now, the video I made on the cheap, it’s linked off the aforementioned page, but here’s the link to the video as well.
This is the first tech-focused resources I’ve created on my web site in YEARS. It’s nice to get back to the subject that inspired my web site back in 1996.
If you have benefited from this blog, my other blogs, or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
I love that AI can see or find patterns. The advancements that can mean for everything from space exploration to medical treatment to analysis of ancient art are glorious to think about. I also love that AI can apply grammar and spelling rules to things I’ve written.
AI-powered identification of bird species can enable users to better identify them in the future. The increased ability to identify species can, in turn, improve AI’s performance by directly contributing geolocated observations and uploading labelled sounds and images.
I love all of this.
However…
Have you ever seen a movie that you were assured by a trusted film critic was horrible and, in fact, it turned out you loved it? Or the opposite: he said it was wonderful and you loathed it?
Have you ever been told by a few people that someone you haven’t met yet through work or in your neighborhood was boring and not really worth hanging out with, but you did finally meet them and you thought they were hilarious and fun to be with?
Have you ever read a summary of a long report or a book, but then you read the report and you came to a very different conclusion than the summary?
Those scenarios are why I don’t trust AI for decision-making or for all things related to customer service and most client interactions. Those scenarios are why I want to keep interacting with clients and the community myself.
Whether I’m the director of a project or directing communications for a project, one of the first things I like to do is take some time to answer questions that come in via phone or email. It never turns out quite like it’s been portrayed to me, especially by an over-worked, under-trained administrative assistant or an executive director who has a million other priorities. Nothing teaches me more quickly what’s been working and what has not. Sure, I might come up with canned responses to frequently asked questions, but if that response doesn’t answer the person’s inquiry, I want to know about it.
And then there is the idea of care and support: for clients, for volunteers, for the community. Care is about awareness, concern and looking after something. Providing clear, easy-to-access and easy-to understand information for an audience is a part of caring about that audience, but it’s not all of it, because quality, sincere care – the kind that keeps clients coming back, that keeps volunteers engaged and keeps donors supporting the organization – is emotional and relational. When I listen to certain staff members talk on the phone with the clients of one of the nonprofits where I work, I know that AI is no substitute for those interactions – and that if we stuck those folks on an automated phone system or chatbot, we’d not only let them down, we would lose them.
I also would never trust AI to author most social media posts, nor answer most messages that come in via social media or an online group: I would never cede the incredible knowledge that comes from interacting with people, with actual humans, to AI.
I can’t imagine taking away one of the best ways ever to gather knowledge and build skills: interacting with people MYSELF.
If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.
