📖 Chapter 2: The 6 Gen AI Tips You Wish You Knew Earlier

Welcome to Chapter Two, one of the most important and impactful chapters of this course.

By the end of this section, you’ll learn 6 critical tips that will: ✅ Save you hours of time
✅ Dramatically improve how you work with Gen AI
✅ Set you up for exponential impact in your mission-driven work

💡 Tip 1: Use the AI Co-Pilots Effectively

Leverage the two Custom GPT Co-Pilots designed for this course:

• Nonprofit AI Success Coach
• Sopact Program, Data, and Impact Measurement GPT

✅ Both available via direct links in your course
✅ Choose based on your role:

• Program Manager, Grant Writer, Fundraiser? → Use Nonprofit AI
• Data/Impact professional? → Use Sopact Program GPT

📌 Refer back to the specific chapters on each tool for examples and best practices.

💡 Tip 2: Context is the Future—Not Prompt Engineering

🚫 Forget the hype around “prompt engineering”
✅ Context building is the real game-changer in Gen AI.

🔎 Why?

AI tools are evolving rapidly—ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude—all becoming commodities.
The difference lies in the context you provide.

📌 Two Best Practices:

1. Audio-Based Thinking:
   • Speak your context into the tool
   • Think deeply, then hit "Go"
2. Google Doc Method (for Research):
   • Write down your goals, background, and the problem statement
   • Add any research you've done or want AI to do
   • Take time (even half a day!) before running the AI
   • Use “Deep Research” mode for detailed results

🎯 Outcome: More nuanced, powerful outputs tailored to your needs

💡 Tip 3: Avoid Getting Stuck on AI Tool Versions

🤖 Tools will keep changing, focus on your process not the platform.

• ChatGPT 4.0, 4.5, 5.0... Updates will keep coming
• Gemini, Perplexity, Claude... Similar intelligence levels
• Key Focus: What you input and the systematic approach you build

📈 Pro Tip: If doing continuous, deep research, build your own Custom GPT or Projects:

• Example: Sopact’s impact GPT took 2 years of knowledge-building
• Lightweight version? Use ChatGPT’s Project Feature or Perplexity’s Memory/Projects

✅ Create instruction sets
✅ Track effective posts (LinkedIn, YouTube, Blog)
✅ Build reusable context libraries for your organization

💡 Tip 4: Try This Bonus Tool – Napkin.ai

🎨 Napkin.ai — Your creative secret weapon for:

• Infographics
• Storytelling
• Design Thinking
• Donor communication assets

🌐 Visit Napkin.ai — it’s free and super intuitive!

"In seconds, you can turn ideas into beautiful, shareable visuals."

💡 Tip 5: Add These Must-Have Tools to Your Stack

Here are 3 more tools every mission-driven team should explore (we’ll dive deeper in later chapters):

ToolUse CaseDescriptVideo and audio editing, social media contentNotebookLMAutomated note-taking, podcast summaries, knowledge captureCanvaStunning designs without design skills

🎯 Pro Tip: If you’re not already on Canva, sign up today — it’s game-changing for non-designers.

💡 Tip 6 (MOST IMPORTANT): Critical Thinking > Prompt Engineering

🚀 The future of Gen AI belongs to critical thinkers.

Forget focusing on "better prompts." Instead, master these 4 Critical Thinking Models (covered next chapter):

1. Problem Diagnosis
2. Problem Decomposition
3. Problem Reframing
4. Problem Constraint Design

🎯 These techniques will:

• Sharpen your analysis
• Generate deeper insights
• Improve feedback loops with AI
• Deliver impactful and actionable outputs

✅ Key Takeaways from Chapter 2

✅ What to Do✅ Why It MattersUse Custom GPT Co-PilotsTask-specific, saves time, improves qualityPrioritize Context Over PromptsDrives better AI resultsAvoid Obsessing Over Tool VersionsTech changes, process is foreverBuild Projects for Deep, Continuous WorkCreates institutional knowledgeExplore Napkin, Descript, NotebookLM, CanvaSupercharge your content and storytellingLearn Critical Thinking FrameworksFuture-proof your Gen AI use

🎬 Next Up: Chapter 3 – Critical Thinking: Your Superpower in Gen AI

Get ready to dive into the thinking models that will set you apart from others just “playing” with AI.

✅ Download Your Co-Pilots
✅ Explore Napkin.ai
✅ [Bookmark This Chapter]

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