AI Fluency for nonprofits

What you'll learn

Estimated time: 20 minutes

By the end of this lesson you'll be able to:

• Define what AI Fluency means
• Articulate your values and constraints for more effective AI collaboration
• Identify your objectives for integrating AI tools and capability in your work

Welcome to AI Fluency for nonprofits

(3 minutes)

This video introduces our AI Fluency for nonprofits course. It acknowledges the gap between AI enthusiasm and meaningful implementation in the sector, and introduces AI Fluency as the ability to work with AI systems in ways that are effective, efficient, ethical, and safe. The video presents the 4D Framework (Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence) as the foundation of the course and emphasizes that mission-centered thinking should guide all nonprofit AI use.

Key takeaways

• AI Fluency is the ability to use AI in ways that are efficient, effective, ethical, and safe. It's a combination of practical skills, knowledge, insights, and values that help you adapt to evolving AI technologies while staying true to your nonprofit's mission
• The 4D Framework consists of four interconnected competencies: Delegation, Description, Discernment, and Diligence
• The Delegation-Diligence loop supports thoughtful, responsible choices about when and how to use AI
• The Description-Discernment loop helps you get more out of your AI interactions through back-and-forth collaboration
• For nonprofits, every AI efficiency gain should ultimately translate to greater impact for the communities you serve

Exercise

Defining your organizational values, mission, and objectives for using AI

This exercise will help you shape your purpose behind collaborating with AI for your work. This foundation will help you evaluate AI opportunities through your mission lens.

Part I: Self-Reflection (on your own)

Answer the following questions:

• What is the mission and vision of your organization?
• Describe your workplace situation and your specific role - constraints, strengths, opportunities, etc.
• What are the core values and philosophy that shape your work?
• 'If AI could help me _______, I would be able to spend more time _______.' Focus on how AI efficiency could free you up for higher-impact, human-centered activities.

Part II: Collaboration (with AI)

Start a conversation with Claude (or any other AI assistant you choose):

Opening the conversation:

• Explain that you're a nonprofit professional who wants to build a reusable summary of their organization and work
• Let the AI know this document will help establish shared understanding for future collaborations
• Indicate you'd like the AI to help you think through all relevant aspects of your work
• You can ask the AI to interview you about your work, OR
• You can just start sharing information and ask the AI what else would be helpful to know
• Take your time. The goal is a back-and-forth conversation that surfaces important context.

Key areas to cover (the AI should help you explore these):

• Your organization's mission, vision, and values
• The typical scope of work that you do in your role
• Typical challenges faced by your organization
• Institutional context and constraints
• Opportunities for improvement
• Common pain points in your work
• Goals for integrating AI into your work
• Any unique aspects of your role or organization

Make it conversational:

• Don't feel you need to share everything at once
• Encourage the AI to ask follow-up questions
• Share specific examples when they help illustrate your context (be aware of privacy and sensitive data)
• It's okay to think out loud and refine your thoughts as you go

Creating a reusable document:

• Ask the AI to synthesize the conversation into a structured context document you can share in future AI conversations
• Review it together and add anything missing and/or make corrections
• Request a format that's easy to copy and reuse

Lesson reflection

• How did your answers to the self-reflection questions shape your conversation with AI? Did any new priorities or concerns emerge?
• Looking at your context document, what aspects of your nonprofit work do you think will benefit most from AI collaboration?

What's next

In the next lesson, we'll dive deeper into the 4D Framework to establish a foundation for the remainder of this course.

Feedback

As you progress through the course, we'd love to hear from you about how you are using concepts from the course in your work, plus any feedback you may have. Share your feedback here.

Acknowledgments and license

Copyright 2025 Anthropic and Giving Tuesday. Based on the AI Fluency Framework developed by Prof. Rick Dakan (Ringling College of Art and Design) and Prof. Joseph Feller (University College Cork). Released under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.