The first ebook I ever wrote for nonprofits was called 5 Keys to Nonprofit Success. It was based on a set of New Year's resolutions.
At the time, I wanted to create something practical for nonprofit leaders who were trying to answer the big questions that sit underneath almost every strategic plan, fundraising strategy, grant application, board meeting, and program decision.
Who do we help?
How much can we help?
In what ways can we do the most good?
How do we do the most good possible with the resources we have?
And how do we increase those resources so we can do even more?
Those questions were important then. They are even more urgent now.
Over the past year, I have also written and taught extensively for nonprofits navigating federal funding uncertainty, delayed grant competitions, shifting funder priorities, administrative bottlenecks, and staff burnout that have forced many organizations to rethink strategies they once assumed were stable. Nonprofit Survival 2025 felt like a necessary response to a dramatically changing landscape.
But we can’t just live in survival mode. It’s time for a lasting approach and to permanently rethink my core advice for nonprofit leaders.
Real Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence = Nonprofit Success brings together two of the best resources I have ever written: my original 5 Keys to Nonprofit Success framework and the lasting lessons from Nonprofit Survival 2025.
But this is not simply a combined edition.
It is an updated framework for the moment nonprofit leaders are actually operating in now and for the foreseeable future.
The five keys are still the same: Think Strategically, Aim for the Target, Communicate with Purpose, Mobilize the Village, and Strive for Excellence.
Those fundamentals have not changed. Nonprofits still need clear strategy. They still need sustainable funding. They still need strong communication. They still need engaged boards, staff, volunteers, and supporters. They still need a commitment to excellence that goes beyond simply getting through the day.
But the tools available to strengthen those five keys have changed dramatically.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept or a tech trend for other industries. It is already reshaping how nonprofit professionals plan, write, communicate, analyze, organize, and lead.
But AI alone is not the answer.
That is why the heart of this ebook is the formula:
RI + AI = Nonprofit Success
RI stands for Real Intelligence.
Real Intelligence is the human part of the work. It is your mission knowledge, your judgment, your values, your relationships, your lived experience, your understanding of your community, and your ability to make wise decisions in complicated circumstances.
AI stands for Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence is the tool that can help you move faster, organize more clearly, and scale your capacity.
The magic is not in choosing one over the other.
The magic is in using them together.
This distinction matters because nonprofit work cannot be automated at the deepest level. AI cannot replace compassion. It cannot build trust with a donor. It cannot sit with a family in crisis. It cannot understand the full history of your organization, your community, or the people you serve unless you provide the real, grounded truth behind the work.
AI should articulate your organization’s truth, not invent it.
That is one of the ethical principles I come back to throughout the ebook. AI can refine, synthesize, summarize, and structure. It can help you say what you already know more clearly. But it should never be used to fabricate programs, invent data, exaggerate outcomes, or create a version of your organization that does not actually exist.
In other words, AI can provide momentum.
Real Intelligence must provide the direction.
That is the balance nonprofit leaders need right now.
That is why this ebook is not really about technology. It is about capacity. It is about helping nonprofit leaders reclaim time, reduce burnout, strengthen systems, and make better decisions.
Most nonprofit professionals are not short on passion. They are not short on commitment. They are not short on ideas. They are short on time. They are short on staff capacity. They are short on breathing room.
They are trying to write grants, manage programs, support teams, track outcomes, steward donors, prepare for board meetings, communicate impact, and respond to emergencies, often all in the same week, sometimes the same day.
If AI can help reduce some of the administrative drag on that work, we should learn how to use it.
But we should learn how to use it wisely.
If you downloaded 5 Keys to Nonprofit Success years ago, this ebook will feel familiar, but sharper, more current, and more actionable for the moment we are in now.
If you read Nonprofit Survival 2025, this ebook will help you move from crisis response into a more grounded, long-term framework for sustainability.
And if you are new to our resources, this is a great place to start.
Download Real Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence = Nonprofit Success today, read it with your team, and use it as a conversation starter.
Where are your five keys already strong?
Where are they under pressure?
Where could AI help your team work more efficiently?
Where do you still need the wisdom, discernment, ethics, and Real Intelligence that only people can bring?
These are the questions nonprofit leaders need to be asking now.
Because the organizations that thrive in the next chapter will not be the ones that chase every trend. They will be the ones that combine strong fundamentals with smart adaptation. They will know who they are. They will know where they are going. They will use the tools available to them without letting those tools make them sloppy or lazy. And they will keep doing what nonprofits have always done at their best:
Seeing the need.
Building the plan.
Mobilizing the people.
Improving the work.
And doing more, better.
Download Real Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence = Nonprofit Success today.
Over the next few months, we are going to be rolling out a refresh of our entire professional development line. First, we’re tackling what we know and do best, grant writing. We’re wrapping up development of a master class in leveraging the power of AI, ethically, to streamline grant writing. Then, we’re going to circle back to our grant writing fundamentals course and give it a long overdue refresh. Along the way, we’ll be giving each of our Quick Start Guides an update to incorporate each area where AI can make planning processes more efficient and effective without sacrificing quality.
Let’s strengthen the fundamentals.
Let’s use the tools wisely.
Let’s do more, better.