Book Review: The Smart Non-Profit

This week's review is on The Smart Non-Profit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine.

With about 10 percent of the workforce employed in non-profit organizations, Beth Kanter and Allison Fine provide a valuable service in publishing their guide, The Smart Non-Profit, with a lens focused on this segment. As a former school leader in private institutions, I hoped to see applicable strategies and considerations for the "front office" and I was not disappointed.

Decent cover.

Kanter and Fine divide their book into two large sections: "Understanding and Leading Non-Profits" in the first six chapters and "Use-Case Examples and Management" in the second half. Each section is footnoted at the end of the chapter - making it an easy reference and guide to share in a small office environment.

The authors use the phrase "smart tech" repeatedly to indicate "technologies that make decisions for people, instead of people. It includes artificial intelligence (AI) and its subsets and cousins such as machine learning, natural language processing, smart forms, chatbots, robots, and drones... Smart tech is not the same as digitizing a process...Automation takes the power of decision-making and turns it over to machines." (7)

In their approach, they are aware of the dangers of tech and address them in a quick, head-on manner not dwelling on them as AI Snake Oil does, nor ignoring them as Khan and Hoffman do. Their approach is one that is "careful" and "strategic": human-centered, prepared, knowledge and reflective. They see benefits being more time clients, crisis prevention, and deeper relationships with donors (10-11). With AI freeing up staff to focus on people rather than administrative tasks.

Given their background working with organizations focused on the margins of society - their awareness of bias in algorithms is key. They work through what and how AI is built in a quick overview that is understandable - perfect for leaders in the nonprofit space. This background provides enough information to understand the issues with AI, without being doomers or optimists. Their provision of guides in chapter 4 is a great resource.

Chapter 5 focuses on Data and provides another helpful data planning guide for non-profits - moving the nonprofit through four steps. First, the organization should audit and review its data. Second, staff should be trained in being good stewards - both on the collecting and using end. Third, the organization should come up with a data strategy - ensuring goals, uses, and third-party applications and data are aligned with the mission. Finally, there should be ongoing review of ethical stewardship and communication with stakeholders.

AI Generated

Chapter six focuses on those ethical considerations before introducing the case studies that make up the second half of the book. Each of these five chapters looks at different aspects of AI implementation: getting started (Chapter 7), automating program delivery (8), fundraising (9), back-office functions (10), and philanthropy (11). Most of these are focused on the charity world, rather than education, but some ideas are certainly helpful.

This book is a quick read (why is the font so big?) but helpful for leaders in the nonprofit space to begin a smart look and integrative approach with Artificial Intelligence.

The Smart Non-Profit: Staying Human-Centered in an Automated World by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Good For: Those looking for thoughtful commentary and ideas in the non-profit space or school office space around implementing and using AI.

Best nugget: Donor retention is key and AI can help! Only a 25% of donors renew their gift a second time, until after five years just 10% of donors are left and it costs 7 times more money to acquire a new donor than renew an existing one. AI-powered companies can automate research, donor retention tasks, and donor analysis for stronger connections.

Please note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. However, I am not paid to provide reviews or use content.