Your NGO Needs AI More Than Another Fundraiser

I remember sitting in the big conference room/board room at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste . We were brainstorming plans for the next few years. At the top of the whiteboard was? “something something by 2030”. Now this was a few years back, so that probably gave us 8 or 9 years of runway. One of the metrics we were always looking at was tons of waste removed from the environment by a certain time frame. So date and volume.?

Then the discussion shifted to how we might increase the volume collected.? At some point along the way I asked the question - “Why 2030? Why not 2028, why not 2025? What could we do create speed instead of volume?”

(Now, my exit NDA doesn’t let me spill the T on the rest of the discussion, but I will say I am still a supporter of the work AEPW is doing.)?

Just stop your crying, It'll be alright. They told me that the end is near. We gotta get away from here. - Harry Styles “Sign of the Times”

Why Time Matters in Impact Work.

In my line of work, time has always been the enemy. There's never enough of it – to explore, to understand, to make a difference. Now, imagine compressing time. Not in some sci-fi way, but in a very real, "holy shit, we might actually pull this off" kind of way.

Think about taking a decade-long project and potentially wrapping it up in six years. That's four years of additional impact. Four years where that saved forest is actually sequestering carbon instead of being turned into toothpicks. Four years where an income equality program, or an ocean revitalisation program, or, well, any type of program, might be accelerate into action and results. All for the price of a mediocre burger in Singapore.?

Yes, this is an over simplification, but it serves a purpose. I believe that every NGO and Impact org should dive head first into the GenAI game. Not to find answers, they won’t be there, but to increase the speed of work, create higher levels of efficiency and novel ways of thinking about problems that needed to be addressed yesterday.?

You have most likely already read the studies about how GenAI is creating higher levels of efficiency in workflows. I work with clients to implement GenAI into their ways of working for exactly that purpose. Faster, deeper, wider, thinking about whatever challenge they are trying to solve, augmented by the machine.?

Imagine off tasking to an AI some of the things that take a lot of time. I try and look at brain intensive tasks vs repetitive (and often time intensive) tasks. By understanding how an AI can act in admin, thought partner or analyst roles can dynamically change the time required for certain things. Augment the repetitive low brain tasks so you? and your GenAI partner can have more time to work on the big brain things. Isn’t that why we do what do anyway?

Some might say that sunshine follows thunder - Oasis “Some Might Say”

The Big Idea Bonanza

Saving the world isn't a spreadsheet game. It's a big idea game. It's about looking at the clusterfuck of problems we've created and coming up with solutions so wild, so out there, that they just might work.?

And that, my friends, is where GenAI shines like a Supernova. It's not just about regurgitating facts (though it can do that too). It's about connecting dots that most of us didn't even know existed. It's about generating ideas that are so crazy they loop back around to brilliant. It’s about finding that insight, that action, that combination of what ifs, that move us into territories that may just change the world a bit.?

You want to tackle climate change? Great. How about a solution that combines vertical farming, blockchain, and behavioural psychology? Sounds insane, right? But that's the kind of left-field thinking we need. (I am still working on that one)

How long before I get in? Before it starts, before I begin? How long before you decide? - Coldplay “Speed of Sound”

From Fence Sitting to Fence Jumping

The world's burning, flooding, and generally going to hell in a hand basket. You've been fighting the good fight. But GenAI is offering to give you a superpower. I am not saying that all the previous work by much smarter and more committed people than I, never made progress. It did, and still does. But I see a way to move the needle forward, faster. And that way is via GenAI rapid adoption.?

If you have already begun this in your org, “thank you”. But for the fence sitters, It's time to stop tiptoeing around technology. Sure it isn’t perfect. Sure it hallucinates (which is a good thing), and yes it can be scary but It's time to dive in headfirst. Because while you're hesitating, debating, and forming committees to discuss the potential of AI, the problems you're trying to solve are getting worse.

I would love to hear about the NGOs that are doing this.

Partly for my own curiosity, but also to help others see that it works. So instead of blowing up this article about where I might be wrong, tell others about where you were right in jumping into the AI game.?

The tools are here, and they are offering to help. All you need to do is say yes. Hire me to help. Hire someone else. Support that one person in your organisation that has been “playing around” with GenAI.?

Curiosity about how GenAI won’t kill the cat. It might just turn it into a lion of innovation.