Many nonprofit consultants use AI like a search engine, or they open a new chat and explain their business from scratch every time. Some keep one long chat going because it finally knows their business, and they're afraid to lose it. You'll save far more time by giving AI the background on your business once and setting it up to handle the tasks you repeat. Here are five prompts to start with, and how I've built AI employees for my business.
5 AI prompts to start with
These prompts cover the five parts of a consulting business. The more specific you are, the better the result, so tell the AI who you are, what you need, and what a good result looks like.
Offers: "Here's my experience, my services, and the nonprofits I serve. Help me write one sentence that says who I help, what I help them do, and the result they get."
Marketing: "Here's a blog post I wrote. Turn it into three LinkedIn posts and one email for my list, in my voice."
Sales: "Here are my notes from a discovery call. Draft a proposal with an overview, what's included and not included, the timeline, the fee, and next steps. Then ask me about anything that's missing."
Client delivery: "Write a warm but firm email reminding my client of our timeline and the feedback I need from them by Friday."
Operations: "Here are my client commitments, recurring tasks, and personal commitments. Build me a weekly schedule that leaves time for marketing and sales."
For more on what belongs in a proposal, read what to include in a nonprofit consulting contract.
How I built AI employees for my business
Prompts help with one task at a time. The bigger time savings come from setting AI up like a small team that already knows your business. I use Claude for this. ChatGPT and Gemini have similar features, like Projects in ChatGPT and Gems in Gemini.
Build the brain
Start with the documents that explain your business: your offers and pricing, your ideal clients, your brand voice, how you market and sell, how you onboard clients, and the tools you use. I keep mine organized in Google Drive. When AI works from these documents, you stop re-explaining your business, and the results sound more like you.
Create an employee for each part of your business
I set up one for each part of my business: marketing, sales, operations and finance, and client success. Each one has a short description, instructions for how to work, and only the documents it needs.
Teach them skills for the tasks you repeat
A skill is a set of step-by-step instructions for one job, so it's done the same way every time. In my consulting work, the proposal prompt above is now a skill: I give it my discovery call notes, and it drafts a proposal in my format. For marketing, I've given AI transcripts of my own calls and talks, so its drafts sound like me, not a robot. Monthly client reports and follow-up emails are other good tasks to turn into skills.
Ask AI what to hand off next
Once you've used AI for a while, ask it to review your past chats and point out the jobs you ask for again and again, the background you keep giving it, and the requests that take several rounds to get right. Those are your next employees or skills.
Treat AI like a junior employee
AI can save you hours, but it still needs direction and review. I check its work, make the decisions myself, and keep my client relationships in my own hands. The goal is better work in less time, not replacing people.
Protect your clients, too. In your AI tool's settings, turn off the option that lets the company use your chats to train its models. Don't share confidential client or donor information unless your AI plan and your client agreement allow it. For more on choosing tools for your business, read the best software for nonprofit consultants.
About the author
Catalina "Cat" Parker is the founder of Relatable Nonprofit. She has a master's in nonprofit management from Columbia, her business has generated nearly $1 million in revenue, and 100+ nonprofit professionals have joined her Mentorship program. Read her story.
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