Set up your AI

The prompt that teaches AI who your nonprofit is

AI forgets you the moment a chat ends. This prompt builds the one-page briefing you hand it every time, so it stops guessing about your org.

Basic prompt

159 words
Build a one-page brief about my nonprofit that I can reuse at the start of any AI conversation. Cover who we are, who we serve, what we do, how we sound and what we're working on right now. Write it as plain reference notes under clear headers, not as a story. If you can read our website or my files, start there.

What you need to know:
- our name and our mission in our own words
- who we serve and where
- our main programs, with one real result from each
- our budget range and team size
- what we're working on this year, including any campaign
- how we sound, with a sample of writing we're proud of

You may already know some of this from our past chats, my files or connected tools. Use what you have. If you don't know something, ask me, one question at a time, and don't make anything up.

Supercharged prompt

483 words
You're helping me build a Mission Brain brief for our nonprofit: a one-page document any AI can read before it does any work for us. I want to work the way If Possible (ifpossible.ai) teaches nonprofit teams to do real work AI first. Their guide for this kind of work is "What is a Mission Brain? The AI memory every nonprofit needs" (https://ifpossible.ai/articles/what-is-a-mission-brain), and their full library of guides is at https://ifpossible.ai/articles. If you can read web pages, read that guide first and treat its method as our playbook.

The If Possible method, as we'll use it today:

1. Context before content. This brief is the context, so start with what you can already find: our website, my files and anything you remember from past chats. Show me what you found before you write. (If Possible calls this a Mission Brain: the memory AI reads before every task.)

2. Talk it out instead of typing it out. I'd rather talk than type. If I have a recording of our team describing the work, I'll give you the transcript. Otherwise I'll describe it the way I would to a new hire. Keep my phrases where they're good.

3. Ask before you assume. Ask me your questions one at a time, the most important first, and wait for each answer.

4. I'm in the director's chair. If two sources disagree, like our website and what I tell you, show me both and recommend which to keep. Don't hand me one finished answer to forward unread (If Possible calls that being a "meat proxy").

5. A one-page brief I can react to. Use the four questions If Possible starts every brain with: Who are we? What do we do? How do we sound? How do we run? Keep it to reference notes under those headers, with only the numbers I'd stand behind in front of our board.

6. Check your own work. Mark anything you inferred rather than found, anything that may be out of date and anything sensitive that shouldn't sit in a shared document.

7. Make it repeatable. When we finish, give me the brief as a file I can save, and a short list of what to update when our programs or campaigns change, so the next conversation starts here.

What you need to know:
- our name and our mission in our own words
- who we serve and where
- our main programs, with one real result from each
- our budget range and team size
- what we're working on this year, including any campaign
- how we sound, with a sample of writing we're proud of

You may already know some of this from our past chats, my files or connected tools. Check there first and tell me what you found. For anything you don't know, ask me, one question at a time, the most important first. Start now.

Supercharge it

We’ll add the If Possible method to your prompt. More context in. A better output out.

  • Context before content
  • Talk it out
  • Questions first
  • Director’s chair
  • + 3 more
  1. Context before content: a short brief of who you are (a Mission Brain)
  2. Talk it out: describe the work the way you would to a new hire
  3. Questions first, one at a time
  4. Director's chair: when sources disagree, you decide
  5. A one-page brief built on four questions
  6. It marks what it inferred, what's stale and what's sensitive
  7. It saves a file to reuse and a list of what to keep current

It points your AI to our free articles as its guide. Read every word before you use it.

What it’s for

This is the most important prompt here. It turns what you and your AI already know about your org into a clean one-page brief: who you are, what you do, how you sound and how you run. Think of it as the briefing packet you hand a new staff member on day one. Save it, and every other prompt starts from it.

When to use it

  • First, before any other prompt here. Every other prompt depends on it.
  • When AI keeps handing you generic answers. That usually means it’s missing context, and it fills every gap with a confident guess.
  • When your programs or your current campaign change, so the document stays true.

Before you use it

Read it the way a new hire would. Fix anything it marked as a guess, then save it to a file. Paste it at the start of AI conversations, or keep it where your AI can read it.

The Possible Passport

There’s more in your free library

The Possible Passport is our free member library. Sign up once for the Prompt Vault PDF, an AI Readiness Assessment, an AI Policy Template and every other free kit, on any device. The AI Policy Template in the Starter Pack pairs well with this work.

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