How to Leverage ChatGPT at Your Nonprofit

ChaptGPT has a billion site visitors a day. It is dominating tech, breaking usage records, and growing at an unprecedented rate. ChatGPT is also spectacularly failing exams, getting students wrongfully accused of cheating, and getting writers unjustifiably accused of plagiarism. 

With its ability to save users time and quickly generate content—from social posts to blogs and emails—it’s no wonder nonprofit teams are considering how ChatGPT can support their work. How can you and your team make ChatGPT support your work, with its limits in mind? 

What is ChatGPT? 

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence model that operates conversationally. The chat format makes it so that ChatGPT can answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and more when developing content. It was developed by OpenAI. 

Contrary to popular sci-fi belief, ChatGPT does not independently think. It was developed by harvesting information from across the web to deliver answers, messages, and content. As a result, nothing is original, facts may need checking and are dated, and bias is likely. Nothing replaces the empathy and relatability a human brings but there are some ways ChatGPT can assist in your day-to-day. 

What Can ChatGPT Do for Your Organization? 

ChatGPT is a tool to help your team save time. It can provide ideas and knowledge, boost productivity, and act as a sort-of assistant for organizations.  

Users turn to ChatGPT for creating emails, subject lines, social media posts, scripting, and more. It certainly helps with writer’s block and decision fatigue, eliminating the intimidating blank screen and helping create a starting point for things that can be tough to start writing, like annual appeals. For those regularly working remotely, ChatGPT may be a good brainstorming partner. 

Brainstorming Prompts to Ask ChatGPT 

• Creative auction item ideas, event ideas or themes for nonprofits 
• Indoor and outdoor event ideas for nonprofits 

• Ideas for segmented donor lists for targeting 
• Write a [thank you email/ donation page content/or social media posts] for an appeal 
• Generate a report or gather data to support [cause] 
• Grant application question answers 
• Write a meta description for [organization name]’s webpage or blog 

ChaptGPT is a great tool to use as a starting point, but it’s still very necessary to fact-check and adjust messaging for your tone and brand. Data points are frequently out-of-date and will likely need updating.  

If you turn to ChatGPT for blogs, remember all AI-generated content is borrowed from elsewhere. As a result, your search engine optimization (SEO) can suffer if you don’t take the time to thoughtfully edit. 

Great storytelling is what makes nonprofit communication mission-purposed, compelling, and engaging. A robot can’t do that. Make sure to insert a human voice and be cognizant that anything you use from AI-generated content doesn’t come across as robotic. Maintain the human touch and your donors will notice. 

Getting the Best Out of ChatGPT 

There are things you and your team can do to ensure that you get content from ChatGPT that best aligns with your goals and needs.  

Use it as a Starting Point 

ChatGPT is great for generating ideas for fundraisers, blog titles, social posts, email subject lines, and more. You may not copy and paste exactly what you are given. But certain words and ideas might become the framework for you to build upon. 

Be Specific  

Don’t be vague and avoid wordy, confusing language with your prompts. If you are direct and provide clarity and context, you are more likely to get useful, accurate output from ChatGPT. 

Ask for Revisions  

ChatGPT is set up as a conversation. To some degree, it knows its limitations. For example, if you ask for a recommendation, it might say, “As an AI language model, I don’t have real-time information or personal opinions.”  So, talk to it. Use the same tone as you do when writing or speaking to get a similar tone match.  

After an initial response, ask for revisions such as, “Now, write this at a 5^th–grade level,” “Write this more like a lawyer,” “Write this in three paragraphs or less,” or “Summarize this in two sentences for an email.” 

Review, Review, Review 

ChatGPT is making headlines for inaccuracy, but the human being caught in the middle should have known better. For example, a lawyer recently used ChatGPT to prepare a court filing, and the cases the AI language model used were completely invented. 

If you are using ChatGPT for data, quotes, or sources make sure you verify. If you find inaccuracies, provide that feedback to ChatGPT. The AI will learn and be able to provide better responses for future prompts. 

It cannot be understated that ChatGPT borrows from across the internet to provide its output. So, it is copying and summarizing. Don’t get caught plagiarizing because you put too much trust into ChatGPT. 

It’s imperative to review and refine its responses and don’t forget to add a human touch to anything it writes for you. Never rely on it to deliver a complete, accurate, unrevised piece of content.  

Using ChatGPT with GiveSmart 

There are more than a few ways you and your team can use ChatGPT to make your experience with GiveSmart’s fundraising and event management software even more efficient. You can use it to brainstorm or draft: 

• A text message series encouraging peer-to-peer donors to upgrade their recent gift and increase their impact with a recurring gift 
• An emotionally charged impact statement for use on an event or campaign homepage 
• An engaging auction item description 
• An event description that creates excitement and outlines your impact and mission  
• Social media posts to share with peer-to-peer team captains for sharing with their social networks 
• Different messages that cater to specific demographics, age groups, communication preferences, giving levels, etc., to create more effective donor segmentation 

ChatGPT is already having a significant impact across industries, but not always for the better. Undeniably, it is an increasingly popular place people are turning to for support at work.  

Your nonprofit can rely on ChatGPT as a tool to help you improve efficiency, understand data, and brainstorm. The core of what you do at your organization Is to better your community, and this AI language tool can help you in the day-to-day so you can best engage your donors and volunteers.