Never be satisfied with AI's first answer. Instead, iterate. This post on Medium (which may be paywalled) provides some great examples of second prompts one can use to get a better answer from ChatGPT. Some of the best include: "Can you give a simpler solution?" "Make the response less than X sentences." "When I tried your solution above, I got this error: [INSERT ERROR]." And "More examples." These are simple tools that make the machine reflect and modify its responses. Do you have any...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hello, Reader! My blog posts and LinkedIn feed have described a tough time for nonprofits. Nonprofit leaders are going to have to make challenging decisions in times of profound uncertainty. In that light, this article in the Harvard Business Review entitled Using AI to Make You a More Compassionate Reader resonated strongly. While the article itself does not provide actual prompts, I have crafted a few prompts you can use to test the idea for your nonprofit. You will also see that I have...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello, Reader! Everybody, at every level of experience, needs mentors. It's especially important for people as they become more senior. Many of us feel that we have aged out of our prior mentors. That's where AI can come in. The following prompt is based closely on an idea I found on the internet. IT IS NOT ORIGINAL TO ME (although I have modified the original prompt for clarity and additional insight), and as soon as I find out who originally posted it, I will give credit where credit is...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello, Reader! Finding your donors can be hard. Tailoring your messages to those donors can be even harder. That's why marketers suggest that you create donor "personas" -- characteristics of the people most likely to give to your organization. Here are six prompts you can use to get ChatGPT to help perform this analysis: Act as an expert marketer, using best practices from that discipline. Create three ideal personas for donors to a $2 million nonprofit in Arlington, Virginia, that works on...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello, Reader! Let me give you a look under the hood at how I try to help nonprofits. I will do that by sharing one of my regular prompts and the actual results I got when I ran it for the first time, back when ChatGPT was just beginning. The basic idea is to describe your role and ask ChatGPT for areas to explore. This is similar to the "how can you help me" prompts I shared in Issue #1. Here's the prompt (in bold) and ChatGPT's answer (in italics): I am a consultant who provides risk...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hello, Reader! One of the most challenging roles for a CEO or executive director to address is dealing with a significant challenge to the organization while avoiding micromanagement by a board chair. The dynamic is commonplace. The board chair is worried and wants to help and constructively engage the board. The executive director wants assistance, but on her terms, since the board hired her to execute the nonprofit’s strategy and run its daily operations. Almost any attempt to intervene in...
2 months ago • 2 min read