Kenny Kane 12/29/25 Kenny Kane 12/29/25

Why Most Nonprofits Are Getting AI Wrong (And How the 4D Framework Fixes It)

Most nonprofits I talk to are stuck in one of two places with AI.

Either they're paralyzed, worried about misinformation, security, or just not knowing where to start. Or they're rushing in without guardrails, letting staff use whatever tool they found on LinkedIn, with no sense of what could go wrong.

Neither approach works.

The paralyzed organizations fall behind. The reckless ones create liability. And both groups miss what AI could actually do for them: amplify their mission without replacing the humans who make that mission real.

After working with AI across commercial real estate, health tech, and cancer advocacy for the past two years, I've found a framework that cuts through the chaos. It's called the 4D Framework for AI Fluency, developed by Professor Rick Dakan at Ringling College of Art and Design and Professor Joseph Feller at University College Cork.

Kenny Kane 12/9/25 Kenny Kane 12/9/25

My Year in AI

This year was the first time artificial intelligence stopped feeling like a tool and started feeling like a partner. It was the first time I saw it not as something we bolt onto existing workflows but as something capable of reorganizing how my organizations think, operate, and scale. I entered the year curious. I am leaving it with a clear sense that my companies, my work, and even my personal operating rhythm have fundamentally changed.

My AI journey has been shaped by the fact that I work across different sectors. I run a real estate company that relies on operational consistency. I lead a national health nonprofit where trust and empathy matter more than efficiency. I collaborate on Gryt Health, a health tech organization focused on improving the patient experience in oncology. These roles should be worlds apart, yet AI made them feel connected. The same capabilities that helped a cancer survivor receive better follow-up also helped a Firmspace member get faster service. The common thread was not the technology itself. It was the intentional design of systems that amplified human work rather than replaced it.

Kenny Kane 12/6/25 Kenny Kane 12/6/25

How AI Can Strengthen Nonprofit Operations Without Replacing Human Relationship Work

When I first started at Stupid Cancer, I took the CEO’s Outlook contacts from years of his personal advocacy work and manually entered every single one into SugarCRM. Line by line. Name, email, organization, phone number. Copy, paste, save. It took hours. And none of it felt connected to the mission. It was my first real glimpse into something every nonprofit eventually discovers. The work you care about is always competing with the work you can’t avoid.

For years, that kind of administrative drag was just part of the job. You powered through it. You made peace with the backlog. You assumed the operational chaos was permanent. The calls you didn’t return. The follow ups you meant to send. The donor updates that slipped because your CRM was a mess. It was constant.

Kenny Kane 11/20/25 Kenny Kane 11/20/25

Should AI Get a Cover Credit?

Here's a question I've been wrestling with: if I use Claude to help me write a book, should that go on the cover?

Not buried in the acknowledgments between my coffee maker and my dog. On the cover. Like those black-and-white Parental Advisory stickers that started appearing on albums in the 90s — a warning label signaling that something inside might be... different.

Kenny Kane 11/11/25 Kenny Kane 11/11/25

Claude AI for Writing: The Complete Guide for Authors and Content Creators

The rise of AI writing tools has changed how we think about authorship. For most creators, the challenge isn’t whether AI can write—it’s how to make it work with your process, not against it.

After years of building organizations and publishing books, I’ve found that Claude AI (especially the 3.5 Sonnet model) is the first system that feels less like a generator and more like a collaborator. It doesn’t try to be the author—it helps you become a better one.

This guide distills how I use Claude to write and edit long-form projects like The Accidental Nonprofiteer and Mission-Driven Ecommerce. Whether you’re a novelist, nonfiction writer, or content creator, you’ll see how to integrate AI into your workflow without losing your voice or authenticity.

Kenny Kane 10/23/25 Kenny Kane 10/23/25

I Asked Lindy AI to Write My Wikipedia Page

This week I asked Lindy AI to generate a Wikipedia page about me. Not to publish on Wikipedia itself, just to see what it could create from my public footprint.

The result looked surprisingly real. It built a full article with an infobox, clean sections, and a references list that linked to my site, Forbes articles, and even my books. It read like something that could actually live on Wikipedia.

Initially, it wasn’t perfect. A few dates were wrong and some sources were thin, but that was the value. It showed me what the internet already says about me, how consistent my story is, and where I could improve the trail of verified information behind it.

I used it as a checklist to tighten my own online narrative. If an AI can build a convincing profile in seconds, it’s a good reminder that your digital presence is always being written, whether you’re involved or not.