Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for PEAK Grantmaking, Natalie Hirsch discusses the advancements of technology and mulls over the idea of using artificial intelligence in grantmaking. 

· What advantages could AI provide to grantmakers? Could this technology advance grantmaking practices?

· Learn how data is being used to progress philanthropy.


You probably know our friend, Alexa. She doesn’t have much in terms of personality, or voice inflection for that matter, but she’s a wealth of knowledge. If you aren’t familiar with Alexa, perhaps you know one of her friends, like Siri, Cortana, or Google.

Our smartphones, computers, and in-home devices have transformed over the last decade into items that not only can we input data into, but can request data from. We can get a weather report, order a pizza, check the score of the game — all by simply asking. This technology is now commonplace in our homes, and so it stands to reason the next step is utilizing it in our grantmaking.

It’s not a far reach — the technology is here. We simply need to teach it the new tasks we want it to complete. To prove it, our CTO decided to train his Echo Dot to have Alexa pull status reports from our grants management database. He did it over a weekend.

Read the full article about grantmaking by Natalie Hirsch at PEAK Grantmaking.