AI isn't a side project. It's a leadership question.

If you're running a nonprofit right now, AI is probably showing up in your life whether you planned for it or not. Staff are using it. Funders are asking about it. And the organizations figuring it out are gaining real advantages — writing grant narratives in half the time, spotting donor lapse patterns before they lose revenue, getting a week's worth of board prep done in an afternoon.

The question isn't whether your organization will deal with AI. It's whether you'll deal with it on your terms — with a plan, with guardrails, and with your mission driving the decisions — or whether it just happens to you.

I've spent the last two years helping nonprofit leaders think through exactly this. Not the hype. Not the fear. The practical reality of what AI can do for an organization that's already stretched thin.

A note on the archive below: In early 2025, I published a dedicated newsletter called Nonprofit Resilience and AI — 22 issues of practical AI guidance for nonprofit leaders. I've since folded that coverage into Nonprofit Good News Premium, where AI tools and insights appear alongside fundraising, governance, operations, and strategy content every week. The archive below is still one of the best starting points I know of for nonprofit leaders getting oriented on AI.

Where to start

These are the pieces I'd hand to a nonprofit leader who came to me and said, "I know I need to get smart on AI, but I don't know where to begin." Start with whichever one matches where you are right now.

• Why Nonprofit Leaders Must Become Aware of AI — The foundational case.
• Embracing AI in Nonprofits: Crafting a Conscious Path Forward — A framework for adopting AI ethically.
• Nonprofit Resilience and AI — Issue #1: Join the Brave New World — First issue of the dedicated AI newsletter.
• Find Your Points of Greatest Leverage (Issue #5) — Where to focus first.
• A Prompt on Burnout for AI Reasoning Models (Issue #9) — A practical, copy-and-use prompt.
• Get AI Help with Federal Policy Changes (Issue #13) — Using AI for policy countermeasures.
• Should Nonprofits Avoid AI Because of Its Environmental Costs? (Issue #18) — The ethical question.
• Full Archive: All 22 Issues — The complete series.

I also published an AI policy for Risk Alternatives that you're welcome to use as a starting point for your own organization's AI governance.