What to Ask Before AI Touches Your Data with Sam Fankuchen [Episode 459]

AI can help your nonprofit cut paperwork and connect information across tools. Before you put it to work, you need to understand what information you are sharing and how your software providers protect the people it belongs to.

Sarah and Sam Fankuchen unpacked what to ask about privacy and security before AI touches your data. Sam is the founder of Golden, a volunteer management platform, and has studied more than 1,000 volunteer programs. He brings that experience to a conversation about connected records, responsible software choices, and practical uses for AI.

Who it's for

• Nonprofit leaders who want to choose software with a clearer understanding of privacy and security.

• Teams looking to spend less time updating volunteer records across separate tools.

• Leaders who want to use AI while protecting personal information.

What you will hear

• Sam's story of a National Park Service employee who built an AI tool to simplify purchase approvals.

• How shared volunteer profiles and two-way syncing can reduce duplicate data entry.

• How to use AI to get a plain-English explanation of a vendor's privacy policy.

• Why Sam recommends asking vendors about SOC 2 and ISO 27001.

• What Model Context Protocol (MCP) means for connecting AI with the tools your nonprofit uses.

Links from this episode

• Inspired Nonprofit Leadership Newsletter: weekly tips for leading your nonprofit.

• Golden volunteer management platform

• Sam Fankuchen on LinkedIn

• Golden on LinkedIn

• Golden on Instagram

• Golden on Facebook

• Email Golden's support team

• AICPA information on SOC reports, including SOC 2

• ISO/IEC 27001 information security standard

• Sarah Olivieri's website

• Sarah Olivieri's Substack publication

Thank you to Donorbox

Thank you to Donorbox for sponsoring Inspired Nonprofit Leadership.

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