Cheryl Contee doesn’t need to convince you AI is coming. That argument ended in November 2022, when ChatGPT reached 100 million users in two months, the fastest tech adoption in recorded history. What she wants to talk about is what comes next, and why nonprofits are better positioned than they think.
Contee joined Rare for a recent conversation in our ongoing Rare Conversations series. She’s a technology entrepreneur and co-author of AI for Nonprofits, and she came prepared with the kind of practical clarity we don’t always get from AI talks.
The difference AI brings: access
When asked what made ChatGPT different from every AI wave before it, Contee’s answer wasn’t about capability. It was about access. For the first time, the most powerful AI tools on the planet didn’t require a computer science degree or a line of code. They required a question. That shift, from technical barrier to natural language, changed who gets to participate in the AI revolution. The answer, for the first time, is everyone.
Culture eats AI strategy for breakfast
Contee was direct on what determines whether AI adoption succeeds inside an organization: it’s culture, not tools. Guardrails matter. Leadership visibility matters. Ethical frameworks matter. But none of it works in an organization that punishes curiosity. “Innovation dies in cultures that punish curiosity,” she said.
The environmental question deserves a real answer
Contee didn’t sidestep the tension that comes up in every room when AI and climate organizations share the same conversation: what about AI’s own footprint? Her answer was honest and useful: Energy and water use are legitimate concerns, but they’re also not disqualifying ones. Every tool involves trade-offs, and for mission-driven organizations the operative question isn’t whether AI is clean. It’s whether AI advances impact faster than it accumulates cost. That’s a harder question, and it’s the right one.
Start with what your team hates
When polled, most of the audience landed in the middle of the adoption spectrum, curious but not yet committed. Contee’s advice wasn’t to overhaul systems or chase the latest model. It was simpler: find the thing your team pushes to 4pm on a Friday and never finishes. Start there. Test AI improving that one workflow. Build from evidence, not enthusiasm.
Her fundraising guidance followed the same logic. AI can draft a thank-you note. It can segment your donor base. It can personalize at a scale no development team could manage manually. What it cannot do is feel the relationship that makes the ask land. The relational work, trust, authenticity, genuine connection, stays human. “AI can draft the thank-you note,” she said, “but it can’t feel it.”
The leadership opportunity nonprofits keep missing
Nonprofits are being watched, not just for what they do with AI, but for how they do it. Across sectors, organizations are looking for models of responsible, values-driven AI use. Contee explained that mission-driven organizations, by definition, have something most AI adopters don’t: a reason to care about the outcome beyond the efficiency gain.
That’s the opportunity: the organizations that demonstrate what ethical, high-impact AI use looks like won’t just be doing good — they’ll be setting the standard others follow.
Resources
- AI for Nonprofits links and resources public Google Doc.
- Purchase AI for Nonprofits co-authored by Cheryl Contee (Amazon; org).
- Article: Will AI widen the gap—or help close it? (Link)
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