AI and Social Impact—Better Together
You know how fast technology changes, right? Back in 2008, I was deep in Twitter, Facebook, and email marketing to promote causes, share messages, and support clients. I even picked up a few awards for social media innovation. Now? I don’t even have a Twitter or Facebook account. Wild, right? This is a reminder of how quickly things shift and how we’ve gotta keep up.
Today, we’re standing at the edge of a new frontier—Artificial Intelligence (AI). Let me pull back the curtain a bit and share this: at BSP, we’re already using tools like ChatGPT to enhance our work. Honestly, it takes me back to my early days in social media and email marketing, when I was figuring out how these platforms could amplify good causes and drive real change in my professional life. I’m feeling that same excitement now as I explore the landscape of AI, except this time, there’s even more potential to serve our clients and support the causes that matter. What began as my personal curiosity about a new technology has evolved into a deeper understanding of how we can all use AI to benefit the people and missions we care about.
To show how AI can make a difference, we’ve created a fictional nonprofit, Civic Alliance.
1. Analyzing Data:
At BSP, we handle a ton of data—articles, surveys, focus groups—you name it. AI allows us to cross-compare massive data sets, spot trends, and pull valuable insights faster than ever. Think of AI as a constantly evolving database that reveals patterns we might miss otherwise.
Civic Alliance example: Civic Alliance is leading a civic initiative to help companies create more inclusive workplaces. They’ve gathered data from employee surveys, focus groups, and leadership demographics. With AI, they can now quickly analyze this data to find key trends—like identifying which groups of employees feel the most excluded or which departments have the least diversity in leadership.
2. Impact Measurement:
Measuring impact can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack—or, you know, proof that your cat does love you after all. (Spoiler: your cat definitely loves you.) But with AI, you can say goodbye to guesswork and hello to real-time, accurate reports that show exactly how your projects are making a difference.
Civic Alliance example: After implementing their civic program, AI can track changes in employee satisfaction and diversity in leadership. After six months, AI can analyze new survey data to show improvements in employee sentiment or increased representation of diverse groups in leadership. This data offers a clear, measurable way to demonstrate the impact of their civic efforts to stakeholders—making it easier to secure additional funding or partnerships.
3. Volunteer Matching:
Forget the Chaos—AI’s Got Your Back AI can automatically match volunteers to tasks based on their skills, preferences, and availability. Volunteers get notified about perfect-fit opportunities, and you can finally take a deep breath and relax. Build a list of skills/needs inventory, create a google form, and ask AI to do the rest.
Civic Alliance example: As their civic initiative grows, they’ll need volunteers to run workshops and offer mentorship. AI can help by matching the right volunteers to the right companies based on skills and expertise. This way, each company gets the tailored support they need, and Civic Alliance can focus on the bigger picture instead of spending hours manually pairing volunteers with opportunities.
