AI and Mission Engagement
Nonprofit use of AI has come under increasing scrutiny, and not just by those concerned with the impact of data centers on the health and environment of surrounding communities. (1) There is, rather, a subtler consequence of AI that impacts the core of every nonprofit: employee and stakeholder detachment from mission.
Consider this likely scenario: a nonprofit uses AI to generate their monthly donor newsletter. The use of this technology greatly optimizes composition speed and frees employees from a perennial burden. At first, the usage appears to have little, if any, downside. Yet AI can (and often does) make mistakes, even basic grammatical ones. A changed name, an incorrect dollar amount, or a lexical blunder can damage months, even years, of relationship building. In a field so reliant upon social, as much as fiscal, capital, tears in the fabric of trust can run longer than anticipated.
Beyond mechanical mishaps, however, are AI’s corrosive consequences concerning employee and donor detachment from mission consciousness that inevitably arise from increased reliance upon AI for newsletters and other media. Feeding ChatGPT or Gemini your organization's materials for a newsletter means that employees do not have to do the mental work of studying and understanding the information themselves. Teams rely upon communication and shared knowledge, and a lack of understanding in one area gradually blunts the entire organization's knowledge of what they are and where they are going, resulting in a lackluster ability to communicate these ideals to donors and prospects.(2)
What began as a means of saving time and effort results in a creeping, ubiquitous inability of staff to speak authoritatively and energetically about the organization’s mission. The furnace driving passion and interest gradually cools, and the organization’s gears grind to a halt. And in reality, written materials are only the start. The pitch garners interest, but staff must tailor materials to whomever is in front of them by drawing upon reservoirs of experience and knowledge. Why shortchange these critical abilities by removing the training ground?
This is not to say that AI cannot benefit nonprofits. Rather, organizations should consider the tradeoffs and long-term consequences of certain types of use. Rising skepticism over AI’s ability to embody an organization’s tone or accurately summarize its novel services and developments may even open opportunities for nonprofits to emphasize the human-centered work they do and the minds and hands communicating their stories. Nothing should be a greater advocate of your organization’s mission than yourself. Why outsource your passion?
1. For examples of environmental and social impact concerns, see https://www.apha.org/publications/public-health-newswire/public-health-newswire/articles/addressing-the-growing-environmental-harms-of-ai-data-centers and https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/RPT2_2602_DataCenterMoratorium.pdf
2. For a discussion of AI’s impact on metacognitive degradation, see Beware of metacognitive laziness: Effects of generative artificial intelligence on learning motivation, processes, and performance - Fan - 2025 - British Journal of Educational Technology - Wiley Online Library.