The Nonprofit Show
The Nonprofit Show is the nation’s daily broadcast for the business side of nonprofits — bringing you practical insights, expert interviews, and real-world strategies to help your organization run smarter, lead stronger, and fund better.
Each weekday, our co-hosts and guests break down the most current topics in fundraising, board governance, leadership, staffing, technology, communications, and financial strategy — giving nonprofit professionals the tools they need to build sustainable, high-performing organizations.
With more than 1,400 episodes and growing, our on-demand library is a trusted resource for executive directors, team members, fundraisers, board members, and sector leaders who are ready to move beyond inspiration and into implementation.
🎥 Watch the daily show on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3A0Dqlw
The Nonprofit Show
Where AI Actually Saves Nonprofits Time
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
How AI saves time for nonprofits depends far less on the excitement surrounding the technology and far more on the quality of the organization’s data, workflows, and financial controls. Buu-Linh Tran, Senior Vice President of Financial Solutions at JMT Consulting, and Torbjorn Nilsen, Director of Business Solutions at DATABASICS, explain where AI can deliver measurable value—and where nonprofit leaders should proceed carefully.
The conversation moves beyond broad promises about efficiency and into the daily work of nonprofit finance operations. Data entry, receipt review, expense coding, compliance checks, anomaly detection, and financial reporting are all areas where technology can reduce repetitive work and help employees focus on higher-value decisions.
One example shows how AI can examine an itemized receipt, recognize an alcohol brand, and flag a potentially unallowable expense. It can also identify spending drift, unusual fund-code activity, or patterns that may be missed when transactions are reviewed individually.
But automation is not the same as control.
As Torbjorn cautions, “We can’t let the machine control. The control still has to be there.” AI should help nonprofit teams surface concerns and direct attention—not make unchecked financial decisions.
Buu-Linh offers another important reality check: “Look at the basics first—look at tools that help you streamline your operations.” Poor data, inconsistent coding, and inefficient processes do not become reliable simply because AI has been added.
The guests also discuss natural-language reporting, which could allow managers to ask direct questions such as, “How much have we spent on this conference?” or “Are supply costs higher than last year?” Instead of learning a complicated reporting system, users may receive the information they need in plain language.
JMT Consulting has served nonprofit organizations since 1991 and currently supports more than 2,300 nonprofits. DATABASICS has worked with nonprofit organizations since the mid-1990s, helping manage time, expenses, grants, and workforce processes.
Key Takeaways:
Begin with the operational problem—not the desire to adopt AI.
Clean, consistent data is essential for reliable AI-generated analysis.
Data entry and high-volume receipt processing are strong automation opportunities.
AI can flag anomalies, unallowable costs, spending drift, and questionable fund coding.
Natural-language reporting can make financial information more accessible to non-finance managers.
Human oversight, privacy controls, and cross-department collaboration remain essential.
00:00:00 Where Does AI Genuinely Save Time?
00:01:50 JMT Consulting and the Nonprofit Finance Landscape
00:03:51 How DATABASICS Supports Time and Expense Management
00:05:05 Using AI Without Losing Financial Control
00:06:31 Data Privacy, Compliance, and Security Risks
00:08:37 Fix the Basic Workflow Before Adding AI
00:11:18 How AI Detects Expense Report Problems
00:14:05 Why Poor Data Produces Poor AI Results
00:16:15 Data Entry and Reporting Tasks AI Can Reduce
00:20:03 Creating More Time for Strategy and Mission
00:23:38 Turning Financial Reports Into Useful Insights
00:27:40 Finding Spending Drift and Fund-Code Anomalies
#NonprofitAI #NonprofitFinance
Find us Live daily on YouTube!
Find us Live daily on LinkedIn!
Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_Show
Our national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits!
12:30pm ET 11:30am CT 10:30am MT 9:30am PT
Send us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.com
Visit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show
