How Nonprofit Love INC Expanded Its Capacity to Serve with Microsoft Copilot
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Glenn Key, the executive director of Love Inc., a faith-based nonprofit serving Cedar Valley, describes his organization's journey from utilizing outdated 2000s technology to adopting modern cloud-based case management and customer relationship tools over the past three years. This technological evolution culminated in the strategic integration of Microsoft Copilot, which was initially explored through a TechSoup grant opportunity. By leveraging this artificial intelligence tool, Love Inc. significantly streamlined its grant application process; Glenn could now upload historical data, impact reports, and specific questions to generate draft responses that previously took hours to complete manually.
The efficiency gains extended beyond grant writing to financial reporting, where the organization faced the challenge of condensing complex financial data from QuickBooks into clear, concise summaries for review. Tasks that once consumed four to six hours of a workday were reduced to under an hour by using Copilot to extract key bullet points and insights, allowing Glenn to focus on verification rather than data compilation. To address initial concerns regarding data accuracy, particularly with complex datasets, the team adopted a rigorous methodology involving prompt refinement and consistency checks. Once a reliable prompt was established, it was saved as a standard operating procedure, ensuring that the AI outputs remained trustworthy while drastically cutting down processing time.
Looking ahead, Glenn estimates that these advancements could save the organization two to three days of work per month, totaling approximately 16 to 24 hours reclaimed each month. This reclaimed time is crucial for an executive director whose primary role involves engaging with donors, pastors, and community organizations rather than sitting at a desk managing administrative burdens. The ability to automate routine tasks allows leadership to be more present in the field, fostering stronger relationships and better serving the community without being bogged down by manual data entry or report generation.
Ultimately, Glenn encourages other nonprofits to overcome fears surrounding AI by educating themselves on prompt engineering and simply jumping in to try the technology. He emphasizes that since many organizations operate with limited personnel and time, utilizing available resources like Microsoft Copilot is not just an option but a necessity for becoming a more effective entity. By embracing these tools, nonprofits can streamline their internal processes, reduce burnout, and ultimately dedicate more energy to their core mission of transforming lives and communities in the name of Christ.
Read the full video transcript
My name's Glenn Key. I'm the executive
director of Love Inc. Love in the name
of Christ of the Cedar Valley. We are a
faith-based nonprofit that works with 45
local churches
to transform lives and communities in
the name of Christ.
So, I came on board
about 3 years ago. We were using
technology, but we were using more of
that 2000s technology. And so, over the
course of the past 3 years, we moved to
a more tech-friendly cloud-based case
management system. We moved to
customer relations management tool to
help manage our donors and our
volunteers. The next natural step was
this AI. So, I started playing around
with Copilot. And then when I saw this
grant through TechSoup, I was like, "Oh,
this might be a great opportunity to
start using this more in depth." Started
expanding it to grant applications. So,
the ability to like actually like upload
previous completed grant applications or
import data that we already have
existing, you know, from impact reports
and stuff of that nature. And then just
uploading the questions and then having
it, you know, at least start drafting
some responses. That basically saves me
hours.
Then that expanded to some other things.
Like, and so we wanted to provide a
simplified, clear, concise picture of
where we stood financially as an
organization, where I would review the
financials and pull out bullet points
and pull out information. And that would
take me
anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of a work
day. I can now pull my financials from
QuickBooks and put it into uh Copilot
and write a couple of prompts and then
from that it gives me the information
and then I review it and double-check
it, but we're still talking less than an
hour's worth I had a few fears uh
initially using AI. One of them is will
the output be accurate? Particularly
with the complexity of the data I was
reviewing, can I trust the data? The way
we work through that working with Matt
at Tech Impact was to continue to refine
the prompt and to see if I'm getting the
same output each time. And then if there
was an issue with the accuracy of the
data,
continue to refine that prompt. And then
once we got a really solid prompt, I
save that and now it's the same
methodology when I want to pull that
data.
Maybe in a month we might be saving uh
two to three days of hours. So we're
talking probably 16 to 24 hours in a
month. My role as executive director is
to be out there meeting with donors,
meeting with pastors, meeting with
organizations
and not sitting at my desk.
I'd say don't be afraid. Educate
yourself to how to write prompts and
just jump in and try it out. It could
save you a lot of time and it can help
you streamline processes within your
organization. And as a nonprofit, I
mean, we are all short-handed uh in
personnel and in time. If we can use
these resources at hand to to
to be a better organization, let's do
it.