Ekspert: Harness the power of AI

Atiklen er en udvidelse af Kaz McGraths bidrag til ISOBRO Fundraising Indsigt 2024 publiceret januar 2024.

Here are my ten predictions for 2024 and some tips to take to keep you ahead of the curve.

1. Nonprofits that learn to use AI effectively will outperform those who don’t… by a lot!

In 2023 the effectiveness and quality of AI tools increased dramatically. AI now is able to support nonprofit professionals and teams across nearly every task and project area. To name a few… marketing, social media, content creation, automation, communications, predictive analysis, data insights, decision making, resource allocation, program innovation, personalisation, grant writing… the list goes on… and on… and on.

Teams and individuals that use AI effectively across a multitude of industries and job roles have documented and proven better performance, increased productivity and better decision making. Teams supported by AI can craft deeply personalised donor experiences at scale, have thousands of conversations without manual intervention, make better predictions, allocate resources more effectively, automate repetitive processes, enhance their creativity… the list goes on.

Need proof?

• The largest study yet conducted on the impact of AI showed that on average a team using AI tools increases productivity by 300%.
• The United Nations Volunteers program has been using an AI-powered chatbot, Voli, which engaged in over 150,000 conversations from the beginning of 2020, with less than 3% of enquiries requiring intervention from a human service team, saving the team hundreds of thousands of hours of staff time as well as significant budget.
• On average, a non profit professional saves 7 hours per week when using basic AI tools such as ChatGPT to support their everyday work.

Tip: Take the first step in your team’s AI journey by running an ‘AI Opportunities Workshop’ that analyses where AI can drive huge value for individuals, teams and across your organisation. Support your staff to drive performance and productivity with a starter AI training program.

2. AI will keep getting better, faster than we had ever imagined. 

In 2023 our company had to make a policy to no longer provide our training slide decks to clients. Why? Because in less than one month most of the content was already redundant. That’s how fast AI is changing and it's only getting faster.

A new paper about the future of AI surveyed more than 3000 AI researchers and asked them when they thought AI could beat humans at every possible task. 12 months ago, the average date was 2060 - at the end of 2023, it was 2047 - a decrease of 13 years! This same group of leading global researchers said there was a 10% chance it would happen by 2027.

But what does this mean for nonprofits and fundraisers? Your experience with AI is only going to get better and better.

ChatGPT-5 will be released in late 2024 and with it, the best AI experience yet. Alongside OpenAI’s developments, there are now multiple tech giants releasing new AI models and tools every single week. The release of OpenAI's ChatGPT-5 alone and the features it is predicted to have will revolutionise AI applications, offering AI tools that are far more advanced, nuanced, customised and highly trained than ever before. It will show us a taste of the advanced AI to come… AGI soon? ChatGPT-5 will be the closest thing yet.

ChatGPT 3 was like a budget Swiss Army knife with only a small knife and a pair of scissors. GPT5 will be like the best Swiss Army knife on the market, able to perform a wide array of tasks ranging from social media, data analytics, content creation, grant writing, automation, personalisation and more, seamlessly switching between them all.

Tip: Keep abreast of the latest AI developments. When creating strategic plans or discussing the future of your nonprofit, make sure you are making decisions based on the advancements that are ‘confidently predicted’ to happen soon, rather than making decisions on what is currently available and will likely soon be redundant in a fast paced AI world.

3. Nonprofit job roles will be reimagined with AI as a Catalyst

AI will redefine everyday roles in our sector, especially knowledge worker roles and single task specialised roles i.e. copywriter, augmenting capabilities and creating new opportunities in the nonprofit sector.

AI tools will provide everyone with newfound skills. For example, everyone on the Marketing team will now be able to create complex data visualisations using AI, with this skill previously only done by highly specialised digital/data roles and as long as a team can adequately brief and collaborate with an AI agent, they will no longer need a specialised copywriter to write a fundraising appeal.

Data analysts will spend more time deriving insights because AI will handle the bulk of data processing, fundraising teams will spend more time on empathy, audience understanding and creative story prompts because AI will handle the bulk of content creation and personalisation of supporter journeys.

Tip: Evaluate your workforce and team structure and roles. Invest in training programs across the team so that everyone has AI capabilities and build skills that complement AI advancements and tools such as creativity, empathy and design.

4. Beyond Chatbots we will see highly customised Multifunctional AI Agents

2024 will witness the emergence of AI agents capable of multifaceted tasks, becoming essential tools for nonprofit efficiency. We will also see AI agents, platforms and tools start to be more customised for the nonprofit sector and more fit for purpose whereas in 2023 a lot of the tools had a business only focus and lacked the training needed to excel at nonprofit tasks.

Think beyond ChatGPT and instead about having an AI driven colleague that specialises in driving better conversion on landing pages or supports you in all the steps in developing a high performing supporter journeys.

Tip: Identify areas where multifunctional AI agents can streamline your operations, from donor management to program delivery. Ensure you approach the use of AI as a design challenge, avoiding the temptation of one tool for every task and instead finding tools that can be used across all your team’s different roles and organisational operations.

5. AI will bridge the nonprofit Skills Gaps more than ever before

AI will be instrumental in closing skills gaps in nonprofits. If used properly, AI can support skill development, personalised learning and drive significant increases to knowledge and skills across every single role.

In practice, at the click of a button, AI can provide high level marketing training to a young woman in a refugee camp in Ethiopia to help her start a business. It can support a new intern to understand how to do a complex digital task or support a team through a design process. AI puts knowledge, learning and training in the hands of everyone and even better it can be personalised to the learner, making it more relevant and effective than ever before.

Tip: Conduct an organisational skills audit and leverage AI tools to address identified gaps. Encourage team members to use AI alongside their everyday tasks, asking lots of questions and building better competence throughout their normal work.

6. People who use AI effectively will start to excel far beyond those who don’t.

I don’t see AI replacing people anytime soon - but people who learn to use AI effectively have already started outperforming those who don’t as well as managing to get a lot more done. This is the same with teams - with AI increasing productivity by an average of 300% when used on everyday projects.

Human traits and skills complimentary to AI including creativity, nuanced decision making, empathy and cognitive reasoning will become even more valuable and important. People who are able to learn to use AI alongside these skills and can direct their time and energy towards creativity and innovation will thrive the most. People who don’t use even the most basic of AI tools will struggle to keep up as AI continues to advance.

Tip: See AI training as vital for your whole team, not just a select few roles. Prioritise AI training right now and develop a longer-term strategy for how to build both human and AI capabilities. Focus on developing uniquely human skills in your team, using AI to enhance, not replace, human touch.

7. The quantity and quality of data will set apart good from great performance.

Well-organised data and digital systems will be crucial in leveraging AI effectively, and disorganised data will be a significant setback. Poorly organised data can cause mistakes to be scaled or a lack of good data systems may prevent teams from being able to use highly effective AI tools.

Tip: Prioritise data management and cleanliness to fully harness AI's potential. Be honest about the quality of your data and get quick wins by utilising simple AI tools that don’t need to rely on your internal data.

8. AI will provoke existential reflections and create division

The advancement of AI will lead us to ponder on deep questions about purpose, values, beliefs, and technology's role in society. Perspectives are set to be extremely diverse and may lead to heated debates and division within teams, organisations and the wider sector.

I predict that the nonprofit sector will witness a stark polarisation in attitudes towards AI – some leaders will embrace it wholeheartedly, others will resist due to ethical concerns or fear of change, creating a divide in the sector. We are already seeing this around the world with some NFPs banning AI altogether and others diving into its possibilities.

Tip: Start talking, involve everyone and be open to healthy discussion. Initiate discussions on AI's broader impact and risks as well as its value. Foster open discussions within your organisation and the wider sector about AI's benefits and challenges, encouraging a balanced and informed approach, always encouraging diverse perspectives.

9. Ethical AI Use Will Become a Core Nonprofit Mandate

Balancing AI's value and potential with ethical considerations will be pivotal for maintaining donor trust and the integrity of our sector. Creating an AI Ethics framework that is flexible and can grow and change alongside the fast-paced AI landscape will be essential for nonprofits to uphold their values.

Organisations and teams will be measured not on their policy or framework but on how well their teams understand and can apply this approach. Organisations will be called to make their frameworks highly practical and provide staff training alongside their written policies to ensure they are living out and not just stating their values.

Tip: Develop a ‘minimum viable product’ AI Ethics Framework as soon as possible that supports your team to understand what they should and shouldn’t do in regard to AI. Visit this framework every quarter to make updates and ensure your approach is keeping up to speed with advancements in AI. Don’t try and develop the perfect policy - by the time you have finished, AI advancements will already mean you have to rewrite it.

10. AI will introduce a whole suite of new threats to navigate in 2024. Leaders will be measured on their ability to be human-led and agile.

The rise of AI will introduce new challenges, including threats to job security, high levels of uncertainty and change, increased misinformation and deepfake technology and ethical dilemmas.

Intellectual humility will be sought after and leaders will need to get used to being wrong, staying agile and embracing change in what will be a fast moving AI environment. They will need to lean on the wisdom and collaborative power of their teams to thrive.

Tip: See AI as a continuous learning initiative, not as a time bound project. Create routines and ongoing training programs to learn, discuss and apply AI tools. Come together often as a team to solve complex challenges and work collaboratively to update your frameworks and AI toolkits.

Conclusion

2024 will see giant leaps into a future where AI can drive value in every aspect of nonprofit operations. I predict that this year will see a huge split in our sector - between the individuals and organisations who are able to wisely and ethically unlock the value of AI and those who ignore this chance.

The choice is clear: harness the potential of AI and influence the development of ethical AI approaches, or remain stagnant, repeating a historical slowness in the adoption of innovation, with inaction proving to be a disservice to the communities we aim to support.

Let's not just ride the wave of change; let's be the ones steering it.

Om forfatteren

Kaz McGrath er stifter og CEO i virksomheden Plai - Purpose Led AI. Med base i Australien rejser Kaz verden rundt og hjælper organisationer med at udnytte mulighederne i AI. Hun er en AI begejstret praktiker, der prøver alle de nye værktøjer af, analyserer muligheder i en fundraising-sammenhæng og bringer videre til organisationer.

Kaz var også taleren bag en af de mest populære workshops på den internationale fundraising konference, IFC, i Holland i efteråret 2023.