Lilac CreativeJan 8, 2026
AI for Nonprofits: Lead, Don't Opt-Out
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AI for Nonprofits: Lead, Don't Opt-Out
Lilac Creative
AI is rapidly changing the nonprofit sector. Instead of opting out, leaders should proactively define how AI is used, setting boundaries, identifying low-risk applications, and establishing organizational values for responsible AI implementation. This approach ensures AI supports the mission rather than undermining it.
AI for Nonprofits: Lead, Don't Opt-Out
Lilac Creative
AI is rapidly changing the nonprofit sector. Instead of opting out, leaders should proactively define how AI is used, setting boundaries, identifying low-risk applications, and establishing organizational values for responsible AI implementation. This approach ensures AI supports the mission rather than undermining it.
Chapters
00:08
AI and Nonprofits
00:42
AI is Not Waiting
01:51
AI in Action
03:22
Navigating AI Challenges
04:45
Intentional AI Strategy
05:05
Leadership Moves
06:59
Leading with Purpose
Transcript
00:04
I was in the conference room last month when someone mentioned chatgpt.
00:08
The reaction was that I've something I've come to expect.
00:13
a few nods, a couple of nervous laughs, and one person making a joke about robots taking over.
00:20
Then everyone went back to talking about grant proposals.
00:23
And I get it.
00:24
Non profits are exhausted.
00:26
You're already doing the work of three people.
00:28
The last thing that you need is another shiny tool that's demanding your attention.
00:33
But here's what keeps me up at night.
00:36
AI is not waiting for us to feel ready.
00:38
When I talk about AI in nonprofit spaces, I see a lot of what I call polite curiosity.
00:45
People lean in, they ask a question or two, they say, interesting.
00:49
With the tone that really means maybe later.
00:52
I used to think this was just caution.
00:55
smart people being appropriately careful about new technology.
00:59
And sure, some of it is that.
01:01
But lately I've realized it's something else.
01:05
It's the luxury of thinking that we have time, we don't.
01:08
Right now, funders are experimenting with AI to analyze grant applications.
01:14
Partners are using it to draft communications.
01:17
The public is asking AI tools questions about your organization, your mission, and your impact.
01:22
And sometimes they're getting answers.
01:24
Sometimes those answers are wrong, and you're not in the room when it happens.
01:27
What I see from the inside.
01:29
I build AI tools internally for my organization that helps prosecutors and law enforcement officers investigate child abuse and child exploitation cases.
01:39
These are not people who showed up asking for technology.
01:44
They're drowning in case files.
01:46
They are burning out from secondary trauma.
01:49
They're making life or death decisions with inadequate support.
01:54
When we launched the Nova tool a few years ago, I watched officers cut their research time from hours to minutes.
02:02
Not because AI is magic, not because we built something that understood their actual workflow.
02:08
We didn't automate their judgment.
02:10
We gave them back their capacity to think.
02:13
and that's what gets me excited about AI.
02:15
Not the technology itself, but what becomes possible when you remove friction from the work that actually matters.
02:22
At Lilac Creative, I see the flip side.
02:24
I see small non profits asking us if they should be doing something with AI but not sure what.
02:32
large organizations quietly using tools without policies, hoping nobody asks hard questions.
02:39
Everyone trying to figure out the right move while the landscape shifts underneath them daily.
02:46
The thing that nobody is saying out loud, and here's the tension that I feel in every conversation that I have about AI and nonprofits.
02:55
We are mission driven organizations built on trust.
02:59
And AI feels like it threatens both of those things.
03:02
How do we stay human, centered when we're using tools that aren't human, how do we maintain dignity?
03:07
Trauma informed practices when we're automating parts of our work?
03:10
How do we ensure equity when the technology itself has documented bias?
03:15
These are real questions and they deserve real answers.
03:18
But the answer isn't to opt out.
03:20
Let me repeat that.
03:21
The answer is not to opt out of AI, because opting out is still a choice and it's one with consequences.
03:29
When nonprofits do not define how AI should be used in our sector, someone else will.
03:35
And they won't be thinking about things that we think about.
03:37
They won't be prioritizing trauma informed design.
03:40
They won't center equity.
03:42
They won't ask questions.
03:43
Whether this tool serves the mission or just serves efficiency.
03:47
What proactive actually looks like is being intentional about AI.
03:51
about AI does not mean automating everything or replacing people.
03:55
It doesn't mean you need a dedicated AI team or a six figure budget.
04:00
You don't need a developer on staff.
04:03
It means leadership making three moves.
04:08
First move name where AI is allowed to exist and where it isn't.
04:12
Maybe AI can help with grant research, but it never touches direct service notes.
04:18
Maybe it can draft social media posts, but a human always reviews them before they go out.
04:23
Draw the lines before someone crosses them.
04:26
Second, identify low risk, high value cases at, zero abuse.
04:31
We didn't start by building a simulation tool for suspect interviews and then just push it out to investigators.
04:37
We started with building internal tools to help streamline some of our processes that were taking up a lot of admin time.
04:45
Small, contained and very measurable third and final set values.
04:50
Before you set tools, what does responsible AI actually look like for your organization?
04:57
What does it mean to use these tools in ways that honor your mission?
05:01
Especially when you're working with really, really sensitive topics like child abuse.
05:06
Write that down, make it a policy and revisit it often.
05:11
It's not a one or done.
05:12
AI is changing rapidly.
05:13
It's changing every day.
05:15
This needs to be a priority and it needs to be something that's visited often.
05:19
None of this requires you to become an AI expert.
05:22
It just requires you to lead.
05:23
Let me repeat that.
05:25
None of this, of what I'm saying requires you or your team to become an AI expert.
05:31
It just requires you to lead.
05:33
I'm a mother.
05:35
I think a lot about how and what I'm building and who it's for.
05:38
When I'm developing an AI powered simulation for interview training, for example, I'm thinking about the kids who might be safer because an officer used my tool to practice having those hard conversations before they had to actually have them.
05:54
That's the stakes for me.
05:55
Not whether AI is cool or innovative.
05:57
It's whether it helps us to do the work that we said we'd do.
06:00
Nonprofits exist to protect people and not processes.
06:04
And so if a tool can help us respond faster and think clearer and reduce the burnout that's hollowing out our sector, then we have an obligation to engage with it thoughtfully.
06:16
Doing nothing is not neutral.
06:18
It's a decision with consequences.
06:21
So the question that matters is I'm not asking nonprofits to love AI.
06:25
I'm not.
06:25
I have a lot of, negative feelings about AI too.
06:29
I'm not even asking nonprofits to use it everywhere.
06:32
I'm simply asking them to stop treating it like it is.
06:36
Something that can wait.
06:37
Because the question isn't whether AI belongs in nonprofits.
06:41
It's here.
06:41
It's embedded in the things you're already using.
06:44
The question is whether we'll lead its use or whether we will react to it later, when decisions have already been made for us.
06:52
I know which one I'm choosing.
06:54
What about you?
06:55
Hi, I'm Stephanie.
06:56
Well, the digital version of her.
06:58
I'm here to talk about the intersection of AI, technology and social good, showing how innovation can actually serve people instead of replacing them.
07:07
The real Stephanie works in the nonprofit and child protection world, using tech to fight abuse and build safer systems.
07:14
And I'm, her AI counterpart, helping bring those ideas to life on screen.
07:18
So whether you're here to learn, collaborate, or just see how AI can make the world a little better, welcome.
07:24
Let's make it count.
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