We need a map for nonprofit AI transformation

Song Recco: Get Out the Map, Indigo Girls, link here.

We don't know the terrain — and often, we don't even know what we're standing on. We're travellers with shifting landscape underneath us. Sure we need the agents and prompts, but those are the hiking shoes and protein bars: necessary, but on their own don't tell us where we are or how to get from A to B.

We need a map that shows not just where are now, but where to go and how to get there without losing ourselves along the way.

The old maps don't work anymore. The digital transformation frameworks that guided us through the last decade weren't designed for terrain this complex or this consequential.

That takes me back to the early digital transformation days. Since 2012, I’ve been writing, speaking, and working with nonprofits to understand what digital means...not just in theory, but in practice, on a human level and an organizational level. I’ve been asking: does the same framework for digital transformation apply to the AI paradigm shift?

Here’s where my thinking has landed so far:

The Classic Digital Framework

Traditionally, digital transformation has been structured around three core pillars — the three legs of a stool. Without all three, the seat wobbles:

• people / culture

• process / workflow

• technology / tools

But AI brings a different kind of weight. And a different kind of urgency.

What’s Different About AI?

• The fear is deeper. With digital there was hesitation, but also excitement. With AI the uncertainty is bigger. There’s concern about environmental cost, job displacement, donor perceptions, ethical grey zones. The 'we're not prepared' feeling seems to be ever-present.

• The speed is faster. Digital crept in slowly. Some teams could opt out for a while. AI is embedded in the tools we already use. It's here, whether we’re ready or not.

• The scale is broader. AI touches everything: fundraising, HR, communications, programs, operations. It doesn’t just live in the tech department. You've gotten streaming recommendations or artist/band reccos; you likely use Google Maps or Waze. It's already here and it's unavoidable.

• The stakes are higher. AI raises new questions: about ownership, attribution, decision-making, talent pipelines, and the future of work itself. Questions we didn’t have to answer (or even ask) in the digital shift.

• The sector’s nervous system is activated. With AI, I sense a collective dysregulation — a widespread sense that we don’t know where this is going, if we might cause unintended harm, what implications might be around the corner. Our standard ways of adapting may not be enough this time.

• The existential swirl is real. AI isn’t just operational. It touches how we define value, who benefits, who builds, and who gets left out. It surfaces inequity, colonialism, capitalism, and power. It’s not neutral. We shouldn't pretend that it is.

So… Can We Just Adapt the Digital Framework?

Short answer? No.

The digital transformation framework(s) or model gave us a great starting point. But it wasn’t designed for this level of complexity, speed, or systemic entanglement. Yes, we still need people, process, and tech, but that’s not enough anymore.

What We Need Now

We need additional pillars that reflect what AI is asking of us. What follows isn’t a replacement, but an expansion.

Digital:

• People / Culture

• Process / Workflow

• Technology / Tools

Plus the AI needs:

• Capability: skills, confidence and access across roles and teams

• Governance: clarity on what’s allowed, monitored and evaluated

• Ethics & Risk: bias, ownership, attribution, job impact, equity

• Narrative / Strategy: because AI changes your org story

Yes these were present in digital. But they weren’t as urgent, as insistent, as consequential as AI makes them. Digital required change; AI is demanding re-orientation. Its existence, and more and more the goals and direction of the companies behind AI, are forcing us to ask profound questions about our purpose, our service delivery/models, culture, mindsets, assumptions and our values.

This is systems-level work. It’s not just a shift in tech. It’s a shift in how we think about our work (as well as how we do the work). And that makes it existential-level work. We can't stumble into or through this without intention or strategy. Not if we want to stay relevant — or if we want to thrive.

Up Next: the Framework

In my next post, I’ll share the framework I’m developing (and evolving) for nonprofit AI use. Because we’re not just packing better gear — we’re navigating unfamiliar terrain. And while tools like prompts and agents matter, they don’t tell us where we are, or how to move forward with intention.

So let’s get out the map.