The Nonprofit Website Insider

Nonprofit case studies using AI for content: How to create your AI doppelganger, photography by AI, and human + AI workflow 

Welcome to Issue 11 of The Nonprofit Website Insider! I’m Laura S. Quinn, a consultant with 25+ years of helping nonprofits with websites. I help staff as a Website Coach + Guide, and to define Website Strategies.


Happy spring, website champions!

There’s so much talk and hype around AI, but what's actually working in the real world? While AI isn't quite ready to be the sole author for your nonprofit's site (if it ever will be), it can be an incredibly helpful partner. AI is saving organizations time by brainstorming topics, simplifying the text on their site, polishing impact stories, creating compelling fundraising narratives, and even creating realistic images for marketing.

So this week, here is a roundup of some practical examples of how nonprofits and businesses are effectively utilizing AI tools. I’m curious to hear your thoughts! How do you envision AI helping your organization's content creation efforts?

Cheers from the human behind this newsletter ;)

Laura

Articles

Can AI replace human content designers? | Andrew Tipp
The Suffolk County Council designed an experiment to find out! Andrew Tipp created a custom GPT to simplify complex government information, and found it greatly improved readability metrics. However, the AI sometimes oversimplified, removed crucial details, and used an inappropriate tone. The key takeaway? AI writing tools can significantly boost productivity for plain language editing, but still require human oversight to maintain accuracy and proper voice.

How to create an AI style guide: Write with ChatGPT in your own voice | Forte Labs

You can use ChatGPT to analyze multiple samples of your writing and create a comprehensive style guide. These guidelines for your voice, tone, sentence structure, metaphor usage, and more can then be uploaded as "knowledge" to inform your personalized AI's output. Like a mini-me, AI edition!

Understanding AI-Generated photography for nonprofits | BDI Agency

Photographer Jhovany Quiroz showcases the impressive potential of AI-generated imagery for nonprofits' marketing needs. The stunningly realistic photos include people in various scenarios, from homelessness to disaster relief to "before and after'' transformations. Generating authentic-looking AI visuals requires nuanced prompting and experimentation, so non-experts may face a learning curve. While light on specific technical details about the tools and prompts to use, the examples illustrate how AI could help fill photography gaps for nonprofits when paired with proper guidelines and transparency.

Will AI replace writers for websites? | Waitrose & Partners Digital

In case all these articles have you worried that AI writing tools seem poised to automate website copy, this piece argues the "death knell" for writers hasn't sounded yet. AI will struggle to replicate the originality, wit, and empathy that underpins thoughtful brand voices and allows companies to emotionally connect with customers. More than anything, AI is a useful aid when paired with human oversight – providing ideas and phrases while writers apply crucial elements like persona understanding and unique voice and emotion. AI 🤝 humans FTW.

A team effort: pair writing the new Skilled Worker visa guidance with Home Office policy experts | Gov.UK

And one more example of why human writers aren’t going away anytime soon: When the UK government needed to revamp guidance for its new Skilled Worker visa, they paired writers with policy experts to "pair write" the new content together in real-time. From analyzing traffic patterns to optimizing content structure, to embedding relevant tools – the level of nuanced thinking and collaboration required illustrates why AI alone can't recreate the full editorial experience. (And the case study also shows the detailed thought they put into the whole user journey surrounding the article.)

Your AI Doppelganger