GivingTuesday 2026

Today, the topic of AI seems to be everywhere, but alongside the enthusiasm come real questions for nonprofits. What happens to human work and value when we hand parts of it to a machine? What about the environmental cost of these tools, or the human creativity that trained them and the labor they might displace? These questions deserve serious answers.

At the same time, the nonprofit sector keeps hearing that AI can augment its work and amplify its impact. That part is true, too. Small teams are drafting donor communications faster, making sense of messy data, and taking on projects that used to require a budget line they didn’t have.

Wherever your organization is on your AI journey, a GivingTuesday campaign is a good moment to make room for the conversation. It’s a bounded project with clear deliverables and a firm deadline, an ideal opportunity to try something and find out whether it genuinely helps you and your team. That’s what this series is for. In the coming weeks we’ll share practical ways to use AI in your GivingTuesday planning, along with the questions worth asking before you do. We hope it encourages exploration and education that amplifies your work. A great place to start is developing an AI use policy at your organization, and we’ve included some solid resources below.

If you’ve tried an AI tool and found the results lacking, frequently it isn’t the tool that’s the problem. Ask an LLM to “write a GivingTuesday appeal” and you’ll get a perfectly competent appeal for a nonprofit in the abstract, but not for your nonprofit. 

One fix is a context document, a “campaign brief,” that will take you about 45 minutes to complete. In a blank document, write a brief about your organization: your mission in plain language, who you actually serve, who gives and why, what you tried last GivingTuesday and what you learned, this year’s goal and the constraints you’re working under, and any other relevant information. This is an opportune time to review GivingTuesday’s goal-setting post.  

Now put the brief to work with your AI assistant. Use whatever tool you’re comfortable with: Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini as examples. Or take this as a chance to try a new tool (but stick to tools your organization has approved for work tasks). Paste in your brief, then your draft goals, and ask for scrutiny instead of output: Which of these is unrealistic for our size? What am I assuming that I haven’t checked? What haven’t I told you that you’d need to know? The questions it asks back are often the useful part. 

Update and save the brief somewhere you can easily access; later entries in this series build on it. Most tools can store this permanently, improving output throughout your GivingTuesday campaign planning. 

And two important cautions: Context makes output more relevant, not more true, so read anything the AI delivers thoroughly before you share it. And providing more information doesn’t mean sharing everything: Follow your organization’s AI use policy and always keep confidential information, personally identifiable donor information, and other sensitive data out of any tool that isn’t approved to handle it.

Ten Years of Persistence: Hazel McLean’s Volunteer Story

Hazel McLean has been a long-standing volunteer with Volunteer Now, giving her time to projects that champion the rights of older people and help them stay connected to their local community.

For years, she kept coming back to one idea: Belfast City Centre needed a safe space for older people — somewhere they could drop in, spend time with others and find some company in a place where they might otherwise feel isolated or alone.

For ten years, Hazel made the case. She spoke with policy makers and organizations that support older people, without a budget behind the idea and without any guarantee that someone would eventually say yes. But she kept at it.

In 2024, a small pot of funding from the Belfast Health Development Unit made a pilot possible. Working with Age Friendly Belfast, Volunteer Now and the Healthy Ageing Strategic Partnership, Hazel helped shape and design the drop-in center she had been describing for so long.

The center opens every Tuesday, from 11am to 1pm, at 2 Royal Avenue. Two older volunteers give their time at each session. There is tea and coffee for everyone who comes through the door, a place to sit and rest, people to talk to, and information about services and projects for older people.

It took ten years for Hazel’s idea to become a reality. Today, older people in Belfast City Centre have a welcoming place where they can drop in, meet others and find a little company. And the center continues to rely on that same spirit of generosity through volunteering: people giving a couple of hours of their time each week so that anyone who walks through the door has someone there to welcome them.

“When you’re a bit older volunteering helps your mind and body stay active.” — Hazel McLean

Finding a New Voice: Gladys Leung’s Volunteer Story

Following a diagnosis of tongue cancer and surgery that significantly affected her ability to speak, Gladys Leung found a “new voice” through creative crafts, including candle making and floral design.

Today, as a dedicated volunteer with Eli Care, part of the Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS) Elite Volunteer Network, Gladys uses expressive arts to bring warmth, comfort and companionship to seniors, patients and caregivers. Through her workshops, she shares more than creative skills. She creates opportunities for people to connect, express themselves and feel supported during difficult moments.

Having experienced the fear and vulnerability that can come with a cancer diagnosis firsthand, Gladys understands what it means to need encouragement and companionship. Her own journey has shaped the way she volunteers, allowing her to meet others with empathy and understanding.

Her commitment to helping others was recognized when Gladys was named a winner of the Outstanding Volunteer Award at the Hong Kong Volunteer Award 2025, co-organized by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau and the Agency for Volunteer Service.

But for Gladys, volunteering is not simply about recognition. It is a way of expressing gratitude for the second chance at life she has been given, and a way to pay forward the kindness she received during her own journey.

Through her creativity, time and kindness, Gladys continues to turn a difficult personal experience into an opportunity to bring comfort, connection and hope to others.