Why human support matters for small non-profits
AI is a great tool and is rapidly improving as it learns a a rate most of us find mind-boggling.
We love it, as long as it is used ethically and to support the right tasks.
But more and more we are getting enquiries from prospective clients who have used AI to help them with complex governance or strategy questions and ended up in a bit of a mess.
AI is great as a way of avoiding that perennial moment of staring at a blank piece of paper when you’re about to start work on a new document. But it is usually only any good at providing a starting point for adaptation, refinement or simply to get the thinking process started.
AI is also very helpful for note-taking and summarising documents or meetings. But it’s never 100% accurate and it often misses detail or nuance. And some documents should never be summarised, such as an organisation’s governing document (constitution, articles of association etc) or legal agreements: that’s sure fire way of missing the detail and getting the wrong answer.
AI can be helpful for research. But it often draws conclusions for sources that lack authority and rigour. It’s essential to check sources are authoritative and trustworthy and burrow into the originals rather than accepting summaries. So often on technical points (for example in charity law) an AI will conclude the exact opposite to the correct answer because it picks up the endless mythology that exists in cyberspace. Specialist research AIs are better at this but by no means infallible.
Of course, small charities and non-profits are cash strapped and struggle to find the resources to pay for professionals, like us, to help them discern what they need. But our experience also shows that a huge amount can be achieved from a small human-being provided support package of even just a few hours or a couple of days consultancy.
This the whole basis of the Community Catalyst programme under which we are contracted to deliver small consultancy support packages for small charities and non-profits. Independent evaluations of the predecessor programmes have repeatedly shown that this approach makes a huge impact on the effectiveness of small charities and non-profits and hence a huge improvement in the impact they make in society.
It turns out that we’re not alone in thinking that short, practical and human-led support is vital for small charities to thrive in challenging times. New research from Cranfield Trust, delivered with pro bono support from nfpResearch, highlights the pressures facing small charities and the types of specialist and targeted support that will have the biggest impact in supporting them.
The research finds that, while financial pressure remains the most pressing challenge for small charities, that is far from the whole story. Charities point to succession planning, leadership wellbeing, governance and long‑term strategy as areas of growing concern and highlighted the following as the most important training needs after income generation:
Organisational resilience and risk management
Strategy and planning
Digital capability
Leadership development and succession planning
Impact measurement and evaluation
Critically, the research concludes that “charities want short, practical training and human connections” and that “one‑to‑one consultancy and mentoring remain highly impactful”.
Unsurprisingly, we agree wholeheartedly and we are here to help. Funding alone has never been enough and AI is unlikely to be enough for the foreseeable future.
If you think our practical, values-led consultancy and hands-on support can help your organisation please drop us a line. Whatever your need, we can usually find someone who can support your charity or non-profit to thrive.
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Want to find out more? Contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to discuss your organisation’s needs.
