How Non-profits FINALLY WIN with this AI Mindset

$300 billion. That's how much money is sitting in donor advised funds right now, just waiting to make a difference. Meanwhile, nonprofits doing great work are struggling to get the funding they need. And between them, a big evaluation bottleneck that keeps money from reaching the people who need it most. If you're new here, hey, I'm Jim Carter, and welcome back to the Prompt. Today I want to talk about something that helps nonprofits actually win. My good friend Mike saw this problem up close. And after helping raise billions through Classy, he kept hearing the same frustration from both sides. Funders said evaluations took too long and cost too much. Nonprofits said they spent more time proving their worth than actually doing their work. Something had to change. So Mike and his team built Altruist. And this is where AI enters the story in a way that really matters. Imagine this. You're a foundation program officer. You need to evaluate 50 nonprofits by next week's board meeting. The old way. Months of work if you're lucky. With Altruist, you get thorough independent evaluations in seconds. The platform pulls from everywhere that matters. Third party data, Nonprofit reports, validation signals. It looks at outcomes, not just activities. It checks how fresh the data is and gives you a confidence score so you know exactly how much weight to give each finding. But here's what I think is really cool. Every evaluation goes through human review. Real experts who understand the sector, check the work, question assumptions, and add the context that matters. While AI is great at processing information, it takes human judgment to understand what a community actually needs. Mike asked me about my focus on AI for good when we sat down at my home to record a podcast recently. I told him about my experience working with the Pineapple Fund, an anonymous bitcoiner who sent Pencils of Promise a million dollars in crypto. We closed 10% of their entire year's fundraising in a single day. Just because we had the technology ready to accept crypto when others didn't. That's the kind of opportunity Altruist creates. But for evaluation and impact discovery, when funders can instantly understand which programs actually work, which organizations are ready to scale, and where their dollars will create the most change, everything speeds up. I've developed this three question framework that I use with all my nonprofit clients, and it's baked into how Altruist approaches AI integration. First question, what takes too long? Second, what costs too much? Third, what good work could you do? More of simple questions, but they cut right to where AI can amplify impact. Think about what nonprofits spend their time on. Grant Applications, impact reports, donor communications. All important. But what if AI could handle the heavy lifting? What if program officers could focus on building relationships instead of reading hundreds of pages of proposals? What if organizations could spend more time serving their communities instead of proving they deserve support? That's exactly what's happening here. The platform goes way beyond simple cost per outcome metrics. It's looking at depth, duration and quality of impact. It's considering cultural context and community needs. And it's doing all this while maintaining human oversight. AI handles data analysis and initial evaluation, but experts provide context and ensure nothing important gets missed. What strikes me most about this approach is how it serves both sides of the equation. Nonprofits get story driven reports that attract funders focused on work depth and quality evaluation. Professionals can boost their reputation and generate additional revenue. Everyone wins when the system works better. I've been building digital clone experiences too. AI powered replicas that can engage thousands of supporters simultaneously. Imagine a nonprofit executive director who can have personalized conversations with every single donor volunteer and partner at the same time. Not, not pre recorded videos or chatbots, but dynamic contextual interactions powered by AI. Here's what really gets me excited, though. This isn't just about making things faster or cheaper. It's about fundamentally changing who gets funded and why. When evaluation takes seconds instead of months, smaller organizations without grant writing teams can compete. When impact data is transparent and accessible, programs that actually work rise to the top, regardless of who has the best marketing budget. Mike said something during our conversation that stuck with me. The organizations that lean into these technologies experiment a little, learn from them and integrate them into their operations are the ones that will not only survive, but thrive. And he's absolutely right. This isn't optional anymore. It's a moral imperative. If you've got the means to make an impact through technology, you owe it to yourself and to the causes you care about to take full advantage of it. What? Whether you're running a nonprofit, sitting on a foundation board, or just someone who wants their charitable dollars to go further, this is the moment to pay attention. The platform launched in September 2023, so it's still early days. But they're already evaluating programs, engaging with customers, and building something that could fundamentally shift how philanthropy works. It's not about replacing human judgment. It amplifies it, making it faster, more accurate, and more accessible to everyone. You know, I've been in tech for years, and I've seen a lot of promises about how AI will change everything. But this. This is different. When you combine someone like Mike's deep understanding of the social sector with cutting edge AI capabilities. You get something special. You get a tool that doesn't just optimize existing systems, it creates entirely new possibilities. If you're working in the nonprofit space or thinking about how AI can support mission driven teams, I'd love to continue this conversation. Come join me and other leaders and builders in my Slack community Control Alt Build. We're constantly exploring how AI can amplify the work that matters most, sharing real examples and practical strategies. It's where I share everything I'm learning about AI's role in creating positive change and I'd love to have you be part of it. I'll drop the link in the show notes. Thanks for being here today. Keep in mind the future of Impact isn't just about having good intentions, it's about having the right tools to turn those intentions into reality. Let's keep pushing forward with one innovation at a time. I'll catch you in the next episode.