Beyond the Binary: Why Nonprofits Should Shape AI, Not Fear It

Too often, conversations about AI in the nonprofit sector fall into extremes. On one side, breathless enthusiasm about efficiency and transformation. On the other, deep skepticism about ethics, bias, and harm. Both perspectives miss something crucial: nonprofits don't have to choose between embracing or rejecting AI. Instead, you have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to shape how it gets used.

The Problem with Sitting This One Out

Here's an uncomfortable truth: AI is already embedded in much of the software nonprofits use every day. It's in your Google Workspace, your Microsoft products, your CRM, your social media platforms. Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple already have access to your drives, your emails, your data. The question isn't whether AI touches your work—it's who gets to decide how.

When nonprofits stay on the sidelines, they end up on the receiving end of technological change without having any say in how it unfolds. We've seen this pattern before with social media, with data analytics, with cloud computing. Tech companies build products based on corporate needs and priorities, then nonprofits adapt as best they can. Sometimes the tools work. Often, they don't quite fit. Occasionally, they create new problems we didn't anticipate.

AI doesn't have to follow this script.

A Third Way Forward

My perspective is neither that AI is an inevitable good nor that it poses an existential threat. Rather, I believe nonprofits should be intentional and deliberate in exploring it. Not because technology is neutral—it's not—but because engagement now means you can help shape the conversation about how AI should be developed and deployed in mission-driven contexts.

This isn't about blind adoption. It's about informed participation.

When nonprofits build AI practices now, you ensure that your staff can help shape how these tools are used in ways consistent with your mission, instead of letting outside forces dictate their role in the technology you deploy to serve your communities.

Think of it this way: would you rather have a seat at the table when decisions about AI ethics, privacy, and implementation are being made? Or would you rather wait until the decisions have been made for you, then try to work around whatever limitations or harms result?

What Intentional Engagement Looks Like

Engaging with AI deliberately means approaching it the same way you approach any significant organizational decision—with your values leading the way.

It means asking questions like:

• How does this align with our mission and the people we serve?

• What safeguards do we need to protect dignity, privacy, and equity?

• Who benefits from this implementation, and who might be harmed?

• What are we trying to accomplish, and is this the right tool for that goal?

• How do we measure success beyond efficiency metrics?

It means creating clear policies about what information can and cannot be entered into AI systems. It means training staff not just in how to use tools, but in how to think critically about when and why to use them. It means building evaluation frameworks that center the communities you serve, not the technology vendors trying to sell you solutions.

Most importantly, it means recognizing that exploring AI isn't the same as endorsing every application of it. You can experiment with AI for grant writing while taking a firm stance against surveillance technology. You can use it to reduce administrative burden while advocating loudly for more sustainable computing practices. You can test tools for program evaluation while maintaining strict privacy protocols that protect client data.

The Collective Voice Advantage

Here's where nonprofits have real power: you represent values that many people share but that market forces alone won't protect. When mission-driven organizations engage with AI collectively, you create pressure for more ethical development, more sustainable practices, and more equitable outcomes.

Environmental advocates didn't eliminate cars—they pushed for catalytic converters, fuel efficiency standards, and electric alternatives. Labor organizers didn't eliminate factories—they won safety regulations, fair wages, and reasonable hours. Nonprofits engaging with AI can follow this model: participate actively while demanding accountability, sustainability, and justice.

But this only works if you're in the conversation. If nonprofits collectively decide that AI is too problematic to engage with, the technology will still develop and spread—it just won't reflect your values or serve your communities well.

Starting Where You Are

You don't need to become an AI expert to engage meaningfully with these questions. You need to start with what you know: your mission, your values, your communities, and your constraints.

Begin by identifying one repetitive, time-consuming task that takes staff away from mission-critical work. Not because automation is the goal, but because freeing up staff time is. Then explore whether AI tools could help—and what safeguards would be necessary to use them ethically.

Test on a small scale. Evaluate honestly. Adjust based on what you learn. Share your findings with other nonprofits so the sector learns collectively rather than everyone making the same mistakes in isolation.

Most importantly, remember that you're not making a once-and-for-all decision. Engaging with AI thoughtfully means ongoing evaluation, adjustment, and willingness to walk back implementations that don't serve your mission.

The Stakes Are Real

The reason this matters isn't abstract. Nonprofits work with vulnerable populations, sensitive information, and limited resources. The decisions you make about technology—including whether to engage with AI at all—have real consequences for real people.

If AI can help you serve more people with the same resources, that's worth exploring. If it can reduce the administrative burden that leads to burnout and turnover, that matters for sustainability. If it can help surface insights from your data that improve program outcomes, that serves your mission.

But only if it's implemented with genuine care for the values that drive your work in the first place.

The question isn't whether AI is perfect. It's not. The question is whether nonprofits can shape its use so that it strengthens your ability to serve the people who depend on you. If adopted thoughtfully, AI can support your mission. If ignored, it will still reshape the landscape you operate in—you just won't have had any say in how.

What Comes Next

This isn't a call to rush into AI adoption. It's a call to engage deliberately, collectively, and with your values leading the way. To build practices that work for your mission, not just your bottom line. To demand accountability from vendors and developers. To share what you learn with other organizations.

To refuse the binary choice between uncritical adoption and complete rejection.

Because the future of AI in the nonprofit sector isn't determined yet. But it will be shaped by who shows up to the conversation and what they demand when they get there.

Ready to explore AI in a way that aligns with your mission? Our approach starts with your values, not the technology. Let's talk about what intentional AI adoption could look like for your organization.