TechSoup Microsoft Copilot Nonprofit Use Cases and Live Demo - 2025.06.25.pdf

June 25, 2025
Nonprofit Use
Cases and Live
Demonstrations
Kim Snyder
3DPO
Destiny Bowers
vCIO/vCISO
Korrin Wheeler
Marketing Coordinator

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Nice to meet you!
Kim Snyder
3DPO
kim@roundtabletechnology.com
Destiny Bowers
vCIO/vCISO
destiny@roundtabletechnology.com
Korrin Wheeler
Marketing Coordinator
kwheeler@roundtabletechnology.com

Today’s Agenda
Welcome and Recap
Introduction to Prompt Writing
Nonprofit Use Cases of Copilot
Best Practices for Implementing Copilot in
an Organization
Live Demonstration and Hands-on Activity
Q&A
Closing

Introducing:
The Jargon Buster!
If we lapse into jargon, put #jargon in the chat
and we’ll stop and explain.

Why is AI growth moving so fast?

How did it all start moving so fast?

Leaps of improvement!
FEBRUARY 2025

What are the generative AI systems?
GPT 4o Microsoft
Copilot Web
Chat
Google
ChatGPT 4o, Team Workspace,
o1, o1-mini, o3-mini
Free Paid ($20-26 user/month)
CLAUDE
Claude 3.7
Google Gemini Advanced
Claude 3.7
Microsoft Copilot Pro
Microsoft 365 Copilot Work (Add-on)
Free with
Subscription
Microsoft
Copilot Chat

Fundamental Components
Machine Learning (ML)
Natural Language
Processing (NLP)
Data
Input
System
output
Reinforcement learning from
human feedback or RLHF

What are some of the risks?
Privacy
Prompts can expose
sensitive or personal
information
Hallucination/Confabulation
AI can confidently make
things up
Bias
AI reflects real-world
biases in the data it’s
trained on
Copyright
AI may generate or rely on
content with unclear rights
Existential Risks
Includes misuse by bad
actors, environmental costs
and widening inequity

Introduction to Prompt Writing

It’s prompt writing. Not prompt “engineering”.

General tips for getting started
Talk to AI like you would to a person
It’s fine to ask AI what it needs to provide you with
better answers
It doesn’t hurt to be polite (though it does NOT have
feelings)

Why learn about prompt techniques?
Better Prompts = Better Results
The quality of your input will always shape the quality of AI’s output
— clear prompts lead to more useful, accurate responses.
You Stay in Control
Understanding prompt structure lets you guide tone, style, and
purpose.
You Become a Creative Partner
Prompt writing helps you think more clearly about your message and
audience.

Prompt writing with IMPACT

Initial Prompt
Write a LinkedIn post
asking for volunteer
mentors for our youth
mentorship program.

IMPACT Prompt
Write a LinkedIn post (max 200
words) encouraging people to
volunteer as mentors for our
new youth mentorship program.
The purpose is to generate
excitement and early sign-ups.
Emphasize that enrollment
opens September 10 and closes
October 1. Mention that we’re
seeking both youth participants
and volunteer mentors. Include
last year’s success stat: 85% of
participants improved academic
performance. The tone should
be upbeat and encouraging.

Anatomy of an IMPACT Prompt

IMPACT Prompt Writing
TechSoup & Microsoft: How to Write Effective Prompts with IMPACT

What if my prompt isn’t
giving me what I want?

Revisit the Basics
✓ Have I clearly told the AI what I want it to do (task)?
✓ Did I include enough background or context (who it’s for,
what it’s about)?
✓ Would an example help clarify the request?
✓ Have I set a clear role for the AI (e.g., “Act as a community
engagement manager”)?
✓ Did I tell it what format I want the output in (e.g., table,
email, script)?

Try Giving the AI Examples
Zero Shot Few Shot
Writing a prompt without
any examples, relying
solely on the AI's base
knowledge and
understanding of the task
at hand
Including several
examples to
demonstrate the pattern
or format desired, in
order to generate more
creative and relevant
responses
One Shot
Providing a single example to
set a clear precedent for the
type of answer expected

Always be iterating
Prompting is a dialog, not a
command.
Prompt
Evaluate
Reﬁne
Repeat

Get yourself an AI coach
If you get stuck, you can ask the AI
— Copilot comes with a Prompt
Gallery

Prompt Engineering
Skill Building
• Best Only way to learn is to
experiment

Nonprofit Use Cases with Copilot

Suncoast Humane Society
• Personalized storytelling: Used generative
AI to create a donor campaign following shelter
animals Max and Whiskers, tailored to lapsed
donors and past adopters
• Quick content creation: AI helped draft
emails, blog posts, and social media updates
for a summer fundraising campaign
• Above-goal results: Re-engaged long-lapsed
donors and raised nearly $37,000, surpassing
the $25,000 goal
Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy

How are nonprofits using generative AI
to help with grant writing?
Source: Instrumentl

Furniture Bank
• Ethical storytelling: Use AI to depict
furniture poverty without photographing
or exploiting real clients
• Cost-effective: Created compelling
campaign images for under
$900—faster and cheaper than
traditional photo shoots
• Boost fundraising: AI-generated
images raised awareness and empathy
through visual storytelling

Agape Source
• Research: Volunteers use Copilot to
learn about clients’ home countries,
cultures
• Breaking language barriers:
AI-powered translation helps volunteers
communicate during everyday
interactions
• Faster support: Locate resources and
respond to urgent needs—enabling a
small team to serve more people, faster

Leading an intentional AI rollout

Urgent Need for AI Strategy and Policy
TechSoup & Tapp Network: The State of AI in Nonprofits: Benchmark Report on Adoption, Impact and Trends - 2025

Mitigating risk and optimizing benefit
Assumption: People are using AI now
Establishing an organizational AI strategy
and policy can:
● Provide guidelines for the use of AI
● Align the use of AI with organizational
goals
● Reduce risks associated with AI use
TechSoup & Microsoft: AI Usage Policy

AI Policy Implementation and Training
Policy Development
Engage
stakeholders
Align with
organizational
culture
Policy Training
Introduce policy
Brief training on policy
purpose and elements
AI Training
Survey
What are staff
already using?
Identify
organization-aligned AI
training options for staff

Microsoft 365 Copilot and Organizational Data
File Access Governance
Ensure staff only have access to the documents and data they need
— Microsoft 365 Copilot is permission-based
Data Classification & Storage
Store sensitive information in secure, well-labeled locations (e.g., HR
files in protected SharePoint folders)
Permission Reviews & Audits
Regularly review and update permissions, especially for shared files
and Teams channels

Access and Governance

AI Live Demo — Your Use Cases

3 Modes of Copilot
Free & No Account
Required
Copilot with Account
Comes with eligible Microsoft 365
and Office 365 subscription
Web-grounded Copilot
Some agent capabilities
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Additional cost with subscription
Web and work-grounded Copilot
Agent capabilities

What is a Copilot Agent?
A pre-packaged set of multi-step prompts, tone rules, and
guard-rails you can launch with a single click.
Boost productivity – off-load repetitive drafting,
summarizing, and formatting.
Build consistency – every user gets the same voice and
structure.
Reduce “prompt fatigue” – one click replaces multi-line
instructions.

Pre-made vs Custom Copilot Agents
Pre-Made Agents Custom Agents
Ready-to-use assistants Microsoft
ships with Copilot (e.g., Writing
Coach, Brainstorm Buddy)
Chat → Agents › dropdown list or
All agents › Add / Open
Zero. Click and go.
Assistants you create by wrapping
multi-step prompts, tone rules, and
guard-rails into a reusable agent.
Chat → Agents → Create agent (no
coding needed)
3 quick steps: describe → name &
icon → create
What are they?
Where do I find
them?
Setup effort

Practice!
• Try out some of the prompts that we
covered — example templates in the
community
• Adjust the prompts for your
organization’s needs
• Test out new ideas

10 hours…
The easiest way to get started with AI is to use it for tasks you do every day. If you are
writing an email, ask the AI to do it, and then use conversational approaches to ask it
to improve its performance. If you are generating ideas, ask the AI. If you are trying
to make a decision, give the data to the AI and ask for an opinion. Don’t take any of
this too seriously, especially as you are ﬁrst learning about its capabilities, but, after
10 or so hours, you will start to really understand what AI can do.
Ethan Mollick, from Working with AI: Two paths to prompting
Don't overcomplicate things

Why spend time learning about AI?
Why spend time
learning about
technology?

What we are finding with AI

Our AI assistants have the
potential to allow us to
transform the way we work.

Thank You!
Brought to you by:
Kim Snyder
kim@roundtabletechnology.com
Destiny Bowers
destiny@roundtabletechnology.com
Korrin Wheeler
kwheeler@roundtabletechnology.com

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