The Smart Nonprofit

CHAPTER 7Ready, Set, Go

INTRODUCTION

Leila Toplic, head of Emerging Technologies Initiative at NetHope, emphasizes the importance of being intentional in developing adequate expertise to guide responsible design and use of AI/ML. She says, “The nonprofit sector has a responsibility to the people and the communities they support to evaluate suitability of artificial intelligence for the problems they face and to know how to guide impactful, sustainable, and ethical development and use of AI systems in humanitarian contexts.”¹

This chapter outlines a process for honing in on a specific use of smart tech, choosing your partners and tools well, and creating a thoughtful implementation process that ensures that far more good than harm will happen. It is vital that you and your organization be proactive in thinking through the specific use of smart tech, consider the benefits and potential for harm, and stay human-centered at every step.

We recommend an implementation process that includes the steps and activities shown in Table 7.1.

In this chapter, we'll explore each of these three steps.

Table 7.1 Ready, Set, Go

Ready

Create a smart tech team of stakeholders to advise on a clear problem statement and other activities. Define a strategic, mission-driven purpose by identifying an important pain point or problem to be solved. Involve end users through interviews or observations to define the problem from their point of view. Create a use case and user journey map to ensure ...