For small North Louisiana nonprofits, every hour spent writing grants, updating websites or drafting donor emails is time not spent serving rural families.
AI could change that. The West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber, alongside the West Monroe-based nonprofit Living Well Foundation, is hosting an event on June 4 to help nonprofits in the region use AI tools to better carry out their missions.
The chamber covers 14 parishes in Northern Louisiana. More efficiency for nonprofits in the Monroe region means more aid for rural communities, according to executive director Kristopher Kelley.
That includes services for literacy, financial education, emergency food services, “and on and on and on,” Kelley said.
With inflation and other factors causing people to give less, Kelley said, nonprofits are in acute need of relief so that limited funds continue to go toward the charitable cause, not administrative costs like fees for things like website-building consultation.
“How many [regional nonprofits] are really using modern AI and other digital toolkits to the best of their abilities? That’s what the impetus behind this drive is,” Kelley said.
The specifics of the nonprofit world — like fundraising and outreach efforts, and the administrative burdens therein — require a specific approach to AI.
With some upskilling, already popular sites can be programmed to meet those needs. AI tools can help a nonprofit rethink its website or build an outreach campaign, “which can take a tremendous amount of time and resources,” Kelley said.
AI tools in action
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, June 4, at the West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber’s location on Professional Drive, those in attendance will learn how to begin integrating AI to increase efficiency and better serve their mission.
No technical expertise is needed.
Discussion and instruction will cover topics like the role of AI in nonprofits, AI tools for record-keeping and organizational systems, streamlining operations, online and marketing engagement tools, grant research writing tools, and more.
The workshop will have a general review of models like ChatGPT and Canva AI.
Hosting such workshops is nothing new to the West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber, and it’s seen results, like for the nonprofit Share the Light Foundation of West Monroe.
The organization provides food for families dealing with food insecurity by stocking small pantries around the Monroe area. The West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber showed Share the Light AI tools to put together a social media campaign that was able to reach more people for donations, but also enlist more volunteers to drive by pantries and make sure they are stocked.
“Through the grassroots engagement, they are getting other people involved,” Kelley said, and they are able to use the money they have to buy food, not pay for billable hours for someone to put together a direct messaging toolkit.
The workshop features speaker Quentin Durr, cofounder of High Tide Rise LLC, a marketing firm in Ruston with a specialty in AI automation. The day will conclude with a question-and-answer session and an open discussion.
The workshop costs $15, which includes lunch. Reservations are required.
The West Monroe-West Ouachita Chamber focuses on “very” small businesses, Kelley said, but also engages with regional nonprofits so the people of northern, rural Louisiana have a chance, and that the cycle of poverty can be broken for the region’s young people maturing into the workforce.
“By small business, I mean five employees, not 500,” Kelley said. “We’re making sure they have the toolkits to weather more uncertain economic times in a way that’s practical, engageable — that’s our mission.”
