Generative AI promised to make content creation faster and easier, but the nonprofit communicators I know are finding that the results create more work, not less. AI-generated drafts often miss your organization’s voice, overlook audience nuance, and produce generic copy that takes too much time to fix.
Are you looking for a better approach to writing — without AI? My old-school copywriting kick-start worksheet for nonprofits offers a simple way to move past the blank page while keeping your thinking, strategy, and creativity at the centre of the process.
Why AI-generated content is falling short for nonprofit communicators
A recurring theme I’m hearing from clients and nonprofit communicators in my network is that the AI content generation honeymoon is over. The promise of efficiency has given way to frustration with the content these tools produce:
- AI-generated content doesn’t capture your nonprofit’s unique voice or personality.
- It tends to be overly long while saying little of substance.
- It can’t account for the nuances of your organization or your audiences.
- You spend so much time revising clunky drafts, you would have been better off starting from scratch.
All of this raises a bigger question…
Do we want to generate? Or do we want to think and create?
Using AI for writing can rob us of the benefits of the creative act. Yes, AI can help us get past the intimidating blank page quickly, but that stage is often where the real magic happens.
Pushing through resistance is where we, as nonprofit communicators, strategize, generate new ideas, identify connections across our organization’s work, and immerse ourselves in the topics we need to understand. Those early steps in the writing process are where we do the thinking that gives our content real meaning.
So, if you’re longing for a return to the creative spark, I’d like to offer an old-school solution: an exercise and worksheet I developed back in 2016.
Copywriting kick-start formula + worksheet
I created the copywriting kick-start formula and worksheet as a simple process for getting past the blank page and into the flow of writing. One friend of mine — also a past client and a long-term subscriber — has told me he has never stopped using it.
And because a return to 2016-style content generation feels like exactly what many of us need, I’m resharing the worksheet again. If you try it, let me know if it helps you recenter thinking, strategy, and creativity in your content development process.
