When discussing artificial intelligence (AI), you’re likely to get strong reactions. Whether your nonprofit or association team is diving in headfirst or a bit hesitant about this emerging technology, it’s important to know the truth, especially as using AI becomes increasingly more common industry-wide.

To prepare your nonprofit or association for this new AI-driven era, we’re addressing several frequent reactions to AI, from both the excited and more hesitant perspectives. By educating yourself about this topic, you’ll be able to develop a more productive AI strategy for your organization.

Myth 1: AI will steal your job.

This myth has been a frequent, panic-inducing headline in the news lately. And it’s an alarming statement—especially when you’ve spent years of your life gaining experience and invested in education and professional development for your role as an association or nonprofit professional.

However, AI doesn’t negate your expertise and the skills you bring to the table. It’s a tool that, with training and practice, you can leverage to enhance the value you already provide. It can be helpful to frame this as a mindset shift. Instead of fearing AI as a replacement, think about how you can use AI to support your professional goals.

Ultimately, the center of the association and nonprofit sectors is community. AI is a great tool for building donor and member relationships, but it’s not the main ingredient. As Bloomerang’s guide to AI for nonprofits explains, “AI isn’t here to replace your people. It’s here to support them.” You and your team’s passion for your organization’s mission and heart for creating real change are as vital as ever for creating authentic connections.

Myth 2: AI is only suitable for drafting emails.

Another misconception about AI is that it will only work well for one specific use case at your organization, like composing emails. While you can use AI to help draft emails, if you restrict AI to only your inbox, you’re missing out on its true power.

There are two main types of AI your organization can use:

• Generative AI, which uses your inputs to produce new assets like written content or images.
• Predictive AI, which creates models to analyze and forecast data.

Both predictive and generative AI have valuable applications for associations and nonprofits. Here are a few examples of how organizations can use generative AI:

• Creating and enhancing marketing assets. With the supervision of a skilled marketing professional, AI can craft tailored copy and visuals for campaigns.
• Developing member and donor personas. Generative AI can help your team identify common personas to gain a fuller understanding of your members and donors. In compiling demographic data, engagement behavior, preferences, and pain points, you’ll receive a cohesive picture of different segments of your community and be able to steward them better.
• Drafting donor and member communications. Whether it’s a fundraising appeal,  advocacy update, or an email newsletter, generative AI can ensure you deliver the right information to your stakeholders. With AI, you can create multiple segmented messages that will resonate with sectors of your audience in the time it would have taken you to develop one by yourself.

When it comes to predictive AI, there are a few opportunities for nonprofit or association implementation:

• Researching donor prospects. Predictive analytics tools can organize donor prospects and prioritize them based on affinity, wealth markers, and other data. Particularly for major gift fundraisers, automating this process allows more time to focus on building relationships with potential donors who are most likely to give.
• Identifying member engagement trends. By analyzing member activity, predictive analytics can highlight opportunities and risks for your organization. A predictive AI modeling tool may be able to tell your organization which members are at-risk for retention, helping you take action to re-engage them long before the renewal deadline.

• Recommending data-driven strategies. Leverage predictive analytics to forecast appropriate pricing and fundraising ask amounts. Informed by historical data, these models can provide you with the right numbers for sponsorship levels, annual dues, or the requested giving amount for an upcoming campaign.

These are just a few of the many ways your organization can use AI to work smarter, not harder, for your mission.

Myth 3: AI can handle everything for our organization.

This fallacy is the opposite of our previous myth. Instead of only seeing one application for AI, this belief that everything should be funneled through AI can take you too far in the other direction.

Exploring new innovations for AI use cases or even being an enthusiastic AI champion isn’t the issue. The problem occurs when organizations use AI without thinking about the associated strategy or impact.

Thoughtless AI use can produce erroneous results, potentially harming your organization and its stakeholders. The technology continues to be refined, but AI has been found to exhibit biases, leak sensitive data, or even produce flagrantly untrue results. To capture results that align with your organization’s values and voice, your team needs to closely review and intervene if necessary.

Before applying AI to a task, here are a few things to consider:

• Does this use case make sense for the AI tool I’m using?
• Are we keeping stakeholder data safe?
• Can I articulate my goal clearly in the prompt?
• Am I able to provide the necessary oversight to ensure results are correct and unbiased?

Additionally, develop an AI-use policy for your organization. This definitive guide will help your nonprofit or association articulate your overall AI strategy and ensure responsible usage. Being transparent with stakeholders about how you’re using AI and sharing this policy can also build trust among your members, donors, and community.

Myth 4: Any AI use jeopardizes your organization’s data.

While it’s true that some open-source platforms (often the free version of a tool) raise real privacy concerns for user data, it is possible to use AI while keeping your data safe.

To protect your data when using AI, take the following steps:

• Understand the AI platform’s use and storage of your data.
• Invest in paid AI tools that explicitly describe proper security measures.
• Anonymize or encrypt data points whenever possible.

Anytime your staff uses AI, take the necessary precautions to investigate the provider’s privacy and data security policies. Being careful in your tool selection can safeguard against the exposure of private information.

Debunking AI myths ensures you use this technology effectively and ethically. With a comprehensive AI strategy and policy in place, you can take advantage of AI tools to streamline repetitive tasks and spend more time on your mission