Artificial intelligence (AI) can be intimidating. But for association volunteer leaders, it doesn’t need to be complicated or even highly technical. You don’t need a big strategy, budget, or special training to benefit from AI. Used thoughtfully, AI can help you write clearer member communications, improve information flow, and spend less time on administrative tasks.
The key is to keep AI practical, low-risk, and human-led as outlined in the tips below.
Introduce Yourself To AI. Seriously.
The more you use AI such as Chat GPT, the more it gets to know you and your preferences and even your writing style as you provide examples. You need to give AI direction, as well.
For example, when providing raw meeting notes, the simple ask can be “create a short, concise recap of the following meeting notes from the following committee meeting focused on X and Y. Ensure it is professional yet easy to read with clear call to action items at the bottom of the recap. Remove any extra adjectives to make it less wordy and to the point. Ensure the tone is positive and engaging.
Over time, your AI tool will learn your preferences (Not scary! Helpful! to become an effective tool and AI assistant to help you streamline your communications and let you focus on bigger picture items where necessary.
AI can also help if you are ‘stuck’ with communication and looking for new ways to converse and conduct outreach with your members and other target groups.
Where to Start? Start With Real Challenges
Ever heard the saying – use all the tools in your toolbox to do your job smarter or more efficiently? Well, that’s where AI comes into play. Don’t approach AI as just technology. Approach it as a valuable resource to help streamline your day-to-day efforts as an association volunteer leader.
As a first step, look at where you are spending the bulk of your time as a volunteer. Is it writing or rewriting emails or updates to various groups within the association? See where you can streamline your communications to ensure they are concise and easy to understand – especially when there is a member ‘ask’ in them. Determine where you have overlap in Board, committee, or member communications, and where this can be avoided and how.
For many associations, the biggest pain points are emails, meeting notes, updates, and member questions. These are ideal places to use AI as a drafting and summarizing tool, not a decision-maker.
For Example:
AI can turn long meeting notes into a short member update. A volunteer leader then reviews, edits, and adds context before sending – saving time while keeping the message human and accurate.
Use AI for Low-Risk, High-Impact Tasks
AI works best when used for simple, well-defined tasks that are easy to review. Think of it as a first-draft assistant.
Great volunteer-friendly uses include:
- • Drafting or tightening member emails and newsletters. Remember, you need to personalize your experience with AI – not have it do the work for you, but to enhance what you are already doing and streamline it.
- • Summarizing committee meetings or reports
- Creating FAQs or responses to common member questions
- • Turning discussions into clear action items
- • Drafting event descriptions or agendas
AI should always be reviewed by a person, but it can dramatically reduce the time from “blank page” to “ready to send.”
AI Supports Volunteers. It Doesn’t Replace Them
AI cannot replace judgment, experience, or relationships. Volunteers and leaders are still essential to:
- • Make final decisions.
- • Apply context and nuance.
- • Maintain trust with members.
- • Represent the association’s values and voice.
Framing AI as a support tool helps volunteers feel empowered. Not threatened and makes roles more sustainable over time.
Try This Week: AI Checklist for Volunteers
If you are not already using AI and are ready to start, start small. Pick one task this week and try AI as a helper.
- ☐ Paste meeting notes into AI and ask for a 5-bullet member summary
- ☐ Draft a short member update or email, then edit it in your own voice
- ☐ Ask AI to shorten a long message while keeping the key points
- ☐ Create 3–5 FAQ responses from recent member questions
- ☐ Turn a committee discussion into clear action items and next steps
AI won’t replace association volunteer leaders or association staff. But it can reduce busy work, improve communication, and make volunteer leadership more manageable. Small, thoughtful use of AI can lead to clearer messages, better engagement, and a stronger association.