How Can Your Nonprofit Stay Green While Using AI?

Nonprofits are adopting AI at a rapid pace. According to The Status of Fundraising in the AI Era from the Blackbaud Institute, more than 80% of fundraising organizations are using AI tools for everything from generating content to wealth prospecting. This brings up important considerations: How can your organization adopt AI in ways that align with your environmental commitments? And how can you confidently show supporters that you’re taking responsible steps to connect your values and your use of technology?

While AI offers tremendous potential benefits for nonprofits, it’s important to understand its environmental impact so every organization can make informed, responsible choices.

Defining the Green Dilemma

Like any technology, AI has an environmental footprint, primarily related to energy and water use.

Energy consumption is the main environmental concern about AI. Training large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot, demands considerable computational power. That means tapping into the electric grid, bringing fossil fuels and carbon emissions into the conversation. Then there is concern about the physical infrastructure for AI operations: the data center, a temperature-controlled building that houses servers, drives, and network equipment. There are currently more than 4,000 data centers in the United States alone, but this is not a new concept; data centers have been around as long as computers. What’s driving the environmental concern is the density of the power needed in these data centers for AI computation and generative AI training. MIT researchers found AI data centers could require eight times more energy than a typical computing workload. 

The second concern is water usage. Why water? Chilled water absorbs the heat from the equipment, keeping the data centers cool and the machines operational. 

For nonprofits dedicated to sustainable practices, especially those with environmental missions, it’s important to understand AI’s resource impact and incorporate strategies to support their commitment to staying green. Organizations must determine if the potential benefits of AI, such as staff efficiency, improved donor experience, better reporting, and finding solutions to mission challenges, outweigh the environmental impacts.

How Nonprofit Organizations Are Using AI 

The Blackbaud Institute found that the majority of nonprofit organizations are already leveraging AI in at least two functions: to draft content for emails, newsletters, and social media; to take notes in meetings; to A/B test their communications; or for prospecting and screening.

The applications of AI in the social good sector are innovative and diverse: 

• Analysis of large datasets for more accurate decision-making
• Demographic and prospect research
• Predictive analytics to personalize donor outreach
• AI-assisted grant writing
• Enriched workflows
• Chatbots and agentic AI systems to improve response times, handle complex campaigns, draft personalized impact reports, identify untapped donors, and reduce manual tasks for staffers

Beyond the operational efficiencies AI provides in the back office, many nonprofit organizations are also using AI to inform the work of their missions and to advance solutions for many social, climate, and ecological challenges. For instance: 

• AI for environmental applications: Combining AI with satellite imagery helps nonprofit organizations quickly and remotely assess and respond to deforestation, glacier melt, weather shifts, fire events, or coral reef health. 
• AI tools to improve human services: AI helps food banks and disaster relief organizations optimize delivery routes, reducing waste and vehicle emissions. 

Organizations already working on critical AI-powered projects like these have concluded that augmenting human intelligence with systems that learn, reason, and self-correct could have benefits to humanity and ecology that far outweigh conceivable environmental impacts. 

5 Steps to Stay Green While Using AI 

If, like many organizations already using AI, you see that your goals align with responsible AI adoption, you can still take steps to keep your operations as green and sustainable as possible. Develop a basic eco-friendly, energy-wise plan that includes minimizing waste, reducing energy consumption, promoting sustainability across operations and programs, and making a public commitment to environmental stewardship, everything from going paperless to hosting a zero-waste event. 

Of course, many organizations will want to do even more. If yours is one of them, here are five take-action steps to keep your AI-powered organization green:

1. Choose responsible AI providers. When selecting a vendor, ask about their sustainability practices and prioritize those that invest in green energy, carbon neutrality, transparent reporting, and an energy-efficient infrastructure.
2. Monitor, report, and mitigate environmental impact. Track the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with your AI activities, perhaps conducting an environmental impact assessment before adopting new AI tools so you can evaluate energy use over time. Where impacts are unavoidable, invest in credible carbon and water offset programs to mitigate your footprint. Share this data in your annual report to demonstrate your commitment to improvement and demand the same of your vendors. 
3. Optimize your AI model size and usage. The bigger the LLM, the bigger the energy and water expenditure. Instead of training AI from scratch, use smaller models, APIs, and tools pre-trained for your specific fundraising and social-impact needs. 
4. Educate staff and stakeholders. Build awareness about the environmental implications of AI and the steps your organization is taking to mitigate them. Your teams can learn more about ethical AI in the upcoming free AI for Social Impact Certification course.
5. Keep your tech stack in good company. You should expect ongoing collaboration, accountability, and transparency from your AI vendors. Regularly review their progress toward sustainability goals and work only with providers that are leaders in environmental stewardship.For instance, Microsoft requires suppliers to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030and has committed to doing the same; AWS has created a $2 billion fund to invest in clean tech startups. Blackbaud has achieved multiple honors for meeting its climate targets, including being named among America’s Greenest Companies 2026 by Newsweek and being ranked 4th out of 450 companies in USA Today America’s Climate Leaders. 

Finding Harmony Between AI Technology and Your Principles

It is possible to embrace AI without turning your back on your green values. The key lies in balancing mission impact with environmental stewardship and ensuring the AI tools you use do not inadvertently cause harm while helping you do good. 

When you partner with ethical vendors, ask tough questions, make informed choices, and advocate for sustainable technology, your organization can provide evidence that green and AI are not in conflict but are working in collaboration to help you meet your most important goals.Every effort makes a difference for your mission and the planet. 

Want to learn more about how Blackbaud is advancing responsible AI and environmental stewardship? Explore the Blackbaud Impact Report for detailed insights.