Make every minute count—how nonprofits can use AI to simplify daily tasks

Running a nonprofit isn’t easy. Between tight budgets, limited resources, and the constant pressure to maximize impact, nonprofit teams are often spread thin. That’s why many organizations have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) tools to automate repetitive tasks and free up time to focus on their mission. A recent study found that as many as 82% of nonprofits use AI to streamline operations and boost productivity. 

Anytime there’s a major technological shift, it’s imperative to consider how it could affect your organization, for better or for worse. So, let’s explore how AI can be a safe, easy, and cost-effective way for nonprofit teams to reduce mundane administrative work and get back to helping communities and agencies in need.

Nonprofits are often operating with small teams and limited resources, which means every minute counts. But if you’re consumed with drafting meeting minutes and sending calendar invites rather than focusing on the work that matters, it’s easy to feel unproductive at the end of the day.

More than 60 percent of nonprofits with annual budgets under $1 million are exploring AI for tasks like grant writing, donor outreach, and administrative automation.* AI tools can help you work smarter by automating tasks such as note-taking, drafting emails, and organizing meeting agendas. By reducing the time spent on administrative work, you can free up time for the core activities that make the biggest difference.

Let’s take a look at how AI tools can help nonprofits run more efficiently.

Take your time back while AI sweats the small stuff

We’ve all been there: sitting in a meeting, feverishly taking notes, and trying to capture key details while still engaging in conversation. This can make it hard to remember the next steps and important follow-ups for your team.

But with an AI-first work platform like Zoom Workplace, you can use AI to automate meeting summaries, dictate key discussion points, and track important follow-ups, helping your team stay on track without needing to do the heavy lifting. It’s almost as if you have your own assistant or a second set of hands.

Accessible via a convenient side panel in Zoom Workplace, Zoom AI Companion knows and operates with your guidance, using information across the Zoom platform. This can help you save hours each week—time that can be better spent advancing your mission. It’s also included at no additional cost with eligible paid plans.^†

Check out AI Companion in action:

Enhancing communication and collaboration

Clear and effective communication is key in just about every environment. But with small teams, it’s even more important that everyone is on the same page, as you’re often working remotely or across multiple locations.

AI tools can help streamline communication within your team, jumpstart idea generation, or even draft emails for you. Zoom AI Companion can provide extra help without adding to your headcount by assisting in creating content for newsletters, organizing donor communications, and drafting clear and consistent messages. By automating some of these routine tasks, your team can plan and prepare for more strategic efforts, like building relationships with donors or planning impactful events.

Let AI Companion help carry the load

Because nonprofits often manage multiple projects with overlapping deadlines and numerous stakeholders, it’s helpful to use an AI agent to keep track of tasks, deadlines, and next steps.

Zoom Tasks is our AI-first task management solution that helps you identify action items from your meeting summaries and chat conversations, so you can focus on getting work done. Your list of next steps is clearly spelled out within its own tab in Zoom Workplace, so there’s no need for calendar reminders or cluttering your desk with sticky notes.

Before you implement a particular AI solution, it’s important to know that company’s stance on AI safety and security.

Zoom takes a federated approach to AI, which means we apply the best large-language models for a specific task, including third-party AI models that you may already be familiar with. We’re also committed to responsible AI and don’t use any customer audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or other communications like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train our (or third-party) artificial intelligence models.

For up-to-date security and privacy features, check out our AI Companion Security whitepaper.

Now that we’ve outlined some of the benefits of AI, you may wonder what’s involved when implementing an AI solution or be curious about how to use it. We know not everyone is an IT pro, so we created a few different resources to help you:

1. Our AI Companion onboarding center contains guides, demos, best practices, and training materials that you can download and share with your team.
2. Check out our guide to getting started with AI Companion.
3. This use case guide will walk you through how to deploy AI Companion in your nonprofit.
4. When you’re ready to try it out, here are some tips to help you write generative AI prompts.
5. Zoom Docs templates like these provide additional opportunities to stay organized and track everything in one place.
6. Videos like the one below show you how to use AI Companion during a meeting.

As nonprofits continue to navigate their unique challenges, AI can be a powerful ally. Whether it’s automating meetings, improving communication, or streamlining project management, it’s important to choose an AI-first solution that can be tailored to your nonprofit’s needs.

To get started with Zoom Workplace and unlock all the benefits of our agentic AI features for nonprofits, visit our Zoom Cares page. We offer a 50% discount on select products to make it easier for you to connect with your constituents, volunteers, and staff. On top of that, AI Companion is included at no additional cost for eligible paid plans.^†

Over the next few months, be on the lookout for deep dives on Zoom products that can be used to further your nonprofit’s impact.

*According to the 2025 AI Benchmark Report on Adoption, Impact, and Trends by TechSoup and Tapp Network.

^†AI Companion is included at no additional cost with the paid services in Zoom accounts. AI Companion may not be available for all regions and industry verticals. Actual AI Companion results and response speed may vary depending on prompt, product settings, and available data.