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Free worksheet · Nonprofits

The AI Integration and Control Matrix

Use AI to save staff time, and keep a person in charge of everything donors see. About 10 minutes.

3 questions1 worksheetAbout 10 minutesFor executive directors and boards

A free 2-page PDF to print and fill in.

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What’s inside

  1. Two ways to use AI
  2. The three-question test
  3. Four rules to keep a person in charge
  4. How to read your answers
  5. Your worksheet
AI can write a donor thank-you note in seconds. It can also tell a donor that a gift is tax-deductible when it isn’t, in your organization’s name. This worksheet helps you decide where AI can help and where a person must check its work.

Two ways to use AI

AI as an assistant

AI writes a draft. A person decides.

  • Staff review everything before it goes out
  • Nothing reaches a donor until someone reads it and chooses to send it
  • Examples: drafting thank-you letters, summarizing grant reports
AI on its own

AI acts. A person checks later, maybe.

  • Staff check after the fact, if at all
  • The chatbot replies, the email sends or the record changes with no one reviewing it first
  • Example: a website chatbot answering donors’ questions live
Watch out for this: when a tool is right most of the time, busy people check it less, and then stop checking. Experts call this automation complacency. It happens slowly, and no one decides it.

The three-question test

Ask these about every AI tool before it touches anything donors, funders or the public will see.

1 Who has the final say?

Can the tool publish, send or change records by itself? Or does a named person approve everything it produces?

2 How fast does it act?

If it acts before anyone has time to read it, like a live chat reply or an automatic email, treat it as AI on its own.

3 What if it gets something wrong?

Think of the worst likely mistake. Who would see it? Could it cause a legal, money or reputation problem?

Four rules to keep a person in charge

Name one person per tool

One named person is responsible for what each AI tool produces.

Check regularly

Keep checking, even when a tool has been right for months.

Keep sensitive questions human

Questions about money, taxes, eligibility or safety always go to a person.

Review every year

Go over this worksheet with your board each year, and when a vendor adds a new AI feature.

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What to do next

Fill in one row today

Start with the AI tool closest to your donors. That’s usually email or a website chat.

Book a complimentary 15-minute call

Go to digivino.com/book and bring this worksheet. We build AI tools for nonprofits with a person’s review built in.

Run the free AI Visibility Check

Go to digivino.com/ai-visibility-check. See what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity tell donors and funders about you.

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