Background
My use of Generative AI began in December 2025 when I was given the responsibility to manage the social media aspects of the BigGive Christmas Challenge at FareShare Yorkshire. I was nervous because the fundraising target was the largest that FareShare Yorkshire had set to date.
At this time, I was building campaigns manually (planning and structure, audience setting and messaging), having just learnt about them from my apprenticeship mentor.
Two recent conversations came to mind:
- An informal chat with a FareShare Yorkshire Trustee demonstrated how she used Microsoft Copilot to generate ideas and help structure a fundraiser.
- A 1:1 discussion with my Apprenticeship Mentor highlighted how Generative AI could be useful when used responsibly.
Giving this the time felt right to give Generative AI a chance and also help solidify my recent learnings.
Learnings
AI is an excellent tool to help. It can suggest ideas, improve structure, and support planning, but it does not replace the person leading the work.
That was certainly true for the BigGive Challenge. AI helped with structure, but I was still the one reading through everything carefully, organising it, deciding what was useful, and shaping it into something practical for the team. I shared with colleagues how everyone could get involved in the campaign and feel part of it. AI may have suggested ideas, but ultimately, the team made the decisions about what we wanted to do.
On my side, I was still responsible for the real content work. I recorded videos, took pictures, edited them, and posted them at key points during the campaign, while also continuing my wider responsibilities as Volunteer Strategy and Development Manager. It was a demanding period, but also an exciting one. It pushed me to explore my own capabilities and showed me that
AI can support creativity, but it cannot replace ownership, judgment, or effort.
Used well, AI can save time, generate suggestions, and make the planning stage less overwhelming. That is one of its real strengths, and it is one reason more people are using it in content creation. But it also has limits. It can produce ideas that feel generic, miss emotional nuance, or present something in a way that sounds polished without necessarily being right. The article “AI and the new age of content creation” made a similar point: AI can improve efficiency and support creativity, but human oversight is still essential to ensure accuracy, originality, and alignment with a brand’s values.
Conclusion
That is why I see AI as a powerful assistant, not a substitute for human thinking.
This feels especially important in charity communications. When you are speaking to volunteers, supporters, donors, or community partners, the message needs to feel human. It needs to reflect real understanding, real care, and real purpose. That kind of communication cannot come from a tool alone.
Using AI feels more like adding new tools to your toolbox. At the same time, we should not become dependent on it. Creativity, empathy, and judgment still come from within us.
For me, the best approach is simple: use AI to support the work, but never let it replace the thinking behind it.