Christopher G. Collison

Author: Christopher Collison

  • AI in Writing and Content Creation: What I’ve Learned After Finally Giving In

    AI in Writing and Content Creation: What I’ve Learned After Finally Giving In

    I resisted using artificial intelligence for serious work tasks longer than most. I’ve built much of my career on being a good writer. News reports, technical documents, website content, social media posts, research papers – I’ve been doing it for years! I didn’t need an algorithm in some data center out in middle of the desert to do my job!

    But tech marches forward, and the need to deliver faster started catching up. It became clear that the demands of today’s workplace were rapidly outpacing what we overworked humans could expect to sustainably deliver. In the U.S., 80% of workers report experiencing “productivity anxiety,” and a similar share globally say they don’t have enough time or energy to complete their work. Time spent in meetings, answering emails, and task switching between the ever-multiplying number of productivity apps has skyrocketed over the past few years.

    Consider me a statistic.

    So I finally relented to the efficiency machines – slowly at first. I began using AI cautiously while working for a USAID project, letting it assist occasionally with things like copy editing, condensing long paragraphs, and revising texts written by non-native English speakers. Then I joined a digital agency with an IT team, where experimenting with AI is an established part of daily work life. I had a lot to learn.

    I’ve accepted that AI can indeed be a powerful assistant for generating content – a sounding board when I hit writer’s block, a copy editor when I’m in a rush, or a research partner to help me jump-start a new topic.

    But let me repeat: it’s an assistant – not a replacement for you, dear human.

    AI-generated content is everywhere. Your LinkedIn and Instagram feeds are flooded with it – and much of it is mindless slop. While I’m not the stubborn skeptic I was a year ago, I’ve learned that we humans, despite our penchant for typos and mid-afternoon brain fog, are often still the difference between quality and crap.

    Research pitfalls: always check your (AI’s) sources

    Content is always stronger when it makes smart use of research and real-world examples. AI can be a great help with this, and it’s more than happy to provide you with the perfect statistics and information to make your post more compelling – but beware!

    Chatbots have a tendency to hallucinate, misrepresent data, or make it up entirely. Sometimes, when I ask for a source of the information it just gave me, it admits it can’t find one – or worse, cites something that doesn’t even exist.

    A typical conversation with my merry research assistant.

    Custom instructions can help:

    Only use verified sources…always provide direct links to sources you cite…clearly mark when examples are meant as placeholders or illustrative….

    Still, there seems to be no miracle pill to fully inoculate your chatbot buddy against digital hallucinations or entirely temper its pre-programmed urge to affirm the veracity of your every late-night epiphany.

    Some tools are better for this than others. I’ve found NotebookLM useful for synthesizing research and information because it focuses on the sources you feed it – research papers, essays, news articles, even YouTube videos – rather than scouring the web or its trained memory for answers. When AI is limited to a narrow range of sources, it’s less likely to make up nonsense. Still, every tool requires verification and interpretation. AI can help surface insights, but it can’t quite decide which ones matter.

    Train new content creators to be cautious

    Many organizations now expect staff to work across roles. A project manager in a small IT firm might be asked to draft marketing copy or social media posts. Not everyone is a writer or has a communications background, and this is where AI really can help. It can get a non-writer started by offering structure and refining messy drafts into something more polished.

    But there’s a danger in hitting the “generate” button and calling it done. Teams need to learn to check AI output for accuracy, tone, and relevance. And, crucially, they need to understand the communication goals of their organization or project before typing prompts into their chatbot.

    Better inputs = better outputs.

    That means knowing roughly what you want the end product to look like and providing clear, detailed, and specific instructions to help the AI tool generate what you need.

    AI doesn’t eliminate the need for editorial oversight, but it does change what oversight can look like. When used thoughtfully, it can speed up the content review process. When used carelessly, it can make the process longer than just doing things the old human way, as already-overworked editors disentangle half-true or tone-deaf drafts.

    Beyond text: the promise and peril of AI-generated media

    AI image, video, and audio tools are making it easier for small teams to do more with limited budgets. I was amazed to discover that NotebookLM can turn lengthy articles and essays into commute-friendly podcast episodes with realistic-sounding hosts who “discuss” and explain the materials. At first listen, it’s impressive. There’s even a temptation to publish this miraculous content, until you realize the same AI personalities, the “Deep Dive” duo, can be heard across literally thousands of podcasts on Apple and Spotify.

    Certainly, AI offers a lot of possibilities for speeding up podcast production. Podcasts are a great way to learn about a topic for many people, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with leveraging LLMs to assist with content or using AI tools to enhance someone’s voice – or even produce entirely synthetic voice overs. The challenge is making sure the final product is accurate, interesting, and unique. That requires a workflow. That requires creativity. That still requires us.

    Upgrading my style with Adobe Firefly in Photoshop.

    The race to create can’t be a race to the bottom

    It’s seductive to think we can use AI tools to fill content calendars quickly, but we must resist laziness. Synthetic media can be part of the creative process, but it’s not the end of it. AI can assist with things like coming up with ideas, refining text, or producing and editing visuals. It can even help non-programmers like me with custom code for WordPress (the platform I used to build this website) and explain how to use it. But when it comes to content, we humans are still needed to shape the narrative, verify information, and ensure authenticity and originality so it doesn’t get lost in the sea of brainless AI drivel.

    I’m still exploring these tools and finding new things we can do with them. Used wisely, they can help create engaging, accessible, and even experimental content. But they need management, curiosity, critical thinking, and some attempts at humor – the same things that made us writers and content creators in the first place, and the things that LLMs just can’t really do on their own right now.

    So you may be wondering – did AI write this?

    I’ll admit that my merry LLM assistants (yes, I have a small team now) helped with finding background information and did some light editing of an earlier draft – but the em dashes are all mine! You can pry them from my cold, dead MacBook keyboard.

  • Building a Nonprofit Communications Strategy

    Building a Nonprofit Communications Strategy

    Originally published on Veedoo.io

    Why don’t more nonprofits have communications strategies?

    Often, as the reasoning goes, limited resources are better spent on other tasks. After all, communicating is the easy part. Or you may hear, “young people are good at technology and social media, so let’s assign a junior staff member to make some posts once in a while”.

    Stop right there! Let’s talk about these pitfalls.

    Sure, junior stuff (i.e. “young people”) are arguably more tuned in to the latest social media trends than we older millennials could ever hope to be in 2025. That’s great – knowing how to use today’s popular digital platforms is important! But skill is not strategy, and skill alone won’t help your team achieve your impact.

    Yes, resources are scarce, but in reality a limited budget makes having a strategy even more essential. Without it, teams risk scattering their energy across one-off campaigns, ad hoc social media posts, or donor updates that never quite connect. Effective communications strategies ensure that every message serves a purpose, content amplifies the impact, and scarce resources stretch further.

    And yes, it’s true that an effective strategy requires some time, but it doesn’t require a glossy document or a whole new team. It’s about clarity – knowing who you need to reach, what you want them to do, and how best to engage them with the resources you have.

    This quick guide is meant to help nonprofits, donor-funded projects, and other resource-strapped teams turn their missions into messages that mobilise supporters, attract funding, and strengthen trust with the communities they serve, while avoiding wasted time and funding.

    Elements of a nonprofit communications strategy

    Let’s break it down into seven key elements. Get these right and you’ll be well on your way to building an effective communications strategy.

    1. Mission and Objectives

    What do you want communications to achieve? For nonprofits, that might mean raising awareness of an issue, increasing donations, recruiting volunteers, or influencing policy. Objectives should tie directly to the organisation’s mission, with measurable indicators to track progress.

    2. Key Audiences and Desired Behaviours

    Knowing who you’re speaking to and why is the foundation of any effective communications strategy. Nonprofits often think of “the public” as their audience, but in reality, you’ll achieve far more impact by narrowing your focus to the specific groups of people who can help you advance your mission.

    3. Messages

    What messages will you use to make your audiences understand and act? Good messaging strikes a balance between clarity and emotion. It communicates your mission in ways that are accessible, compelling, and consistent.

    4. Channels and Tools

    Where and how will you share your messages? This could include social media, newsletters, websites, events, traditional media, or one-on-one outreach. The key is to select the channels your audiences actually use, not just the ones that are easiest for you to manage.

    5. Roles and Responsibilities

    Even in small teams, clarity about who does what is critical. A strategy should assign ownership — who drafts content, who approves, who manages social media, who liaises with media — so tasks don’t fall through the cracks.

    6. Timeline and Budget

    Outline how much you will spend, what resources you need, and the timeline for campaigns or activities. This ensures your plan is realistic and achievable.

    7. Evaluation

    How will you know if your communications are working? Set indicators for success (like number of new donors, event attendance, policy mentions, or engagement rates) and schedule regular check-ins to review and adjust.

    Step-by-step process for building a communications strategy

    Start with your nonprofit’s broader goals. Identify where communications can make the biggest difference. For example, if your priority this year is to increase local donations, your communications should focus on building relationships with community supporters rather than launching a broad awareness campaign.

    Step 1: Clarify your mission and objectives

    Define key communications objectives that advance your organisation’s mission. For nonprofits and donor-funded teams, this should sound familiar – think of it like a Logframe exercise.

    Step 2: Define your audiences and what you want them to do

    List your primary and secondary audiences. Use simple profiles to capture their demographics, needs, motivations, and information sources. Think in terms of real people – not just categories.

    Once you’ve defined these audiences, go a step further by clarifying the behaviours you want from them. Awareness is valuable, but it’s not enough on its own. Communications are most effective when they’re tied to action. For example, instead of broadly “raising awareness about mental health”, a nonprofit hotline might want to encourage at-risk young people to use its anonymous chat feature.

    In the picture - steps for audience analysis
    Step 3: Craft your key messages

    Key messages are the backbone of your communications, but they only become powerful when they’re crafted with two things in mind: the audiences you’re trying to reach and the objectives you want to achieve.

    Start by going back to your audiences and desired behaviours. For each group, ask yourself:

    • What do we want this audience to do?
    • What do they need to hear from us to take that step?

    When done well, this alignment prevents messages from becoming generic slogans. Instead, each one becomes a targeted tool to move an audience closer to the behaviour your organisation needs to see.

    Step 4: Choose your channels

    The most effective communications strategies don’t try to be everywhere at once. Instead, they focus on the channels that reach the right audiences in the most cost-effective way.

    Start with your audience profiles. Where do they already spend their time? Donors may respond well to personalised email updates. Young people might engage more on social media or messenger apps. Policymakers might be best reached through targeted briefings, op-eds, or LinkedIn. By matching each audience to the channels they actually use, you increase the likelihood that your messages will be seen and acted upon.

    Step 5: Assign responsibilities

    Write down who is responsible for each activity, even if it’s just one person. This keeps accountability clear and prevents tasks from being overlooked or duplicated.

    Step 6: Plan your activities

    Create a calendar with your planned campaigns, events, and content. Link each activity back to your objectives and audiences. This ensures you’re not producing content just for the sake of it. Linking to your objectives will also help your monitor your progress.

    Create a plan for each month to set goals and identify key events and themes. Turn your monthly plan into a content calendar so you can plan the drafting and dissemination of your materials in advance. This promotes consistency, accountability, and more effective monitoring.

    Step 7: Set metrics and review regularly

    A strategy is only as strong as its ability to show results. To know whether your communications are working, you need to define clear metrics and track them consistently. But not all numbers are equal. It’s fine to keep an eye on reach and engagement figures (like page views, social media likes, or email open rates), but these should be treated as indicators of visibility, not as proof of success.

    Think about your objectives and desired behaviours, and then choose metrics that measure progress toward them. For example:

    • If your objective is to increase donations, track not only website visits, but also the number and value of gifts received through your page.
    • If your objective is to engage community members, measure event attendance, volunteer sign-ups, or resource downloads.

    Regular review is essential. Schedule check-ins (e.g., quarterly or biannually) to look at what’s working, what isn’t, and where to adjust. A strategy should be a living document, flexible enough to respond to new opportunities or challenges.

    A roadmap that serves your mission

    For many nonprofits, the idea of building a communications strategy can feel overwhelming – another document to write, another process to manage, another demand for resource-strapped teams. But a good strategy isn’t about creating more work. It gives your organisation a roadmap that serves your mission. A well-designed communications strategy amplifies and enhances the impact of the work you’re doing.

    And remember: a communications strategy doesn’t have to be perfect or final. It’s a living guide you can refine as you learn what resonates, where you see results, and how your environment changes. Even a simple plan on a few pages can help your team stay aligned, focus resources, and show supporters the impact of their contributions.

    For nonprofits with tight budgets and big ambitions, a communications strategy isn’t a luxury. It’s a multiplier – helping every dollar, every hour, and every message go further in service of the communities you support.

  • Odds and Endings and Beginnings

    Odds and Endings and Beginnings

    2025 has been a year of change – geopolitical, professional, and personal. I’m no stranger change. I’ve always had a knack for somehow finding myself in the middle of it – revolution, political upheaval, war. That said, I won’t pretend that these past few months haven’t felt especially challenging. It’s been a difficult year for my colleagues and friends at home and across the globe, and many of us are still picking up the pieces and trying to figure out what’s next.

    It’s been about six months since our USAID project was terminated. Like many others across the world, I suddenly found myself without the mission and team that motivated me to work harder than I thought I could – often well past business hours and through the weekends. I’m immensely proud of what we were able to accomplish, while also saddened that we weren’t able to deliver the rest of the critical support we had planned for Ukraine in 2025.

    Although that chapter closed prematurely, I decided to stay in Ukraine a little longer. This country has been my “second home” for over 14 years, so it’s a hard place to leave behind – especially now. With Ukrainians continuing to endure Russia’s brutal war, I decided to stick around and look for other ways to make a positive impact – and maybe help build something new. I’m still optimistic that we can work across borders to make life better for each other. Communications can play a role. Technology can play a role. And, crucially, we play a role.

    Over the past few months, I’ve started exploring what that means – what we “idealists” can teach people in other sectors about communicating effectively and genuinely, and what we can learn from those same people in other sectors.

    I want to share some of what I’ve learned over the years about communications and international development, as well as what I’m learning now as I try to build new things alongside my new colleagues in the technology sector. Maybe there’s something interesting in it for you, too.

    –CC