Something shifted this week. AI tools are not just getting cheaper — they are showing up in places small businesses and nonprofits already use every day. That changes the conversation from “should we look into AI?” to “what do we do with what we already have?”
Three announcements are worth your attention.
Google is giving nonprofits free access to Gemini AI inside Google Workspace. If your organization already uses Google Docs, Sheets, or Gmail through the Google for Nonprofits program, these features are now included at no extra cost. We are talking about AI that can draft documents, summarize long email threads, and pull patterns out of spreadsheet data. The catch: you have to apply through the Google for Nonprofits portal if you have not already. If you qualify and are not enrolled, that is real money being left on the table.
Meta launched a free AI assistant built into Facebook and Instagram business pages. It can handle routine customer messages, suggest post captions, and answer common questions automatically. For a small business owner managing social media between everything else on your plate, that is not a gimmick — that is recovered time. The question is whether you set it up thoughtfully or let it run on autopilot in a way that makes your business sound like a robot wrote it.
OpenAI also announced a mid-tier ChatGPT plan aimed specifically at small businesses, with shared workspaces, usage tracking, and priority support at a price point well below their enterprise offering. If your team has been sharing a single login or bouncing between free accounts, this is worth a closer look.
Here is the thing we have seen over three decades at On Your Side Technologies: when a new wave of tools becomes cheap or free, businesses that win are not the ones who adopt everything fastest. They are the ones who pick one tool, use it for a real problem, and actually learn how it behaves before adding more. Dr. Melody White has watched this pattern repeat through every technology cycle since the mid-nineties — from desktop software to cloud storage to now. The graveyard of abandoned tools that “seemed easy” is enormous.
There is also a compliance piece most people are skipping. The FTC just released new guidelines requiring businesses to disclose when AI-generated content is used in advertising. The rules take effect in 60 days. If you are using AI to write ad copy, generate social posts, or create marketing videos — and Canva’s new one-click AI video tool makes that easier than ever — you need to know what disclosure looks like for your situation. The FTC specifically wrote these guidelines for businesses without legal teams, so the language is readable. Go look at them before the deadline, not after.
One thing you can do today: If your nonprofit uses Google Workspace, log into the Google for Nonprofits portal and check whether Gemini features are available on your account. If your business runs Facebook or Instagram, open your page settings and see if the Meta AI assistant has appeared. You do not have to turn it on — but knowing it is there puts you in control of the decision.
If you want help figuring out which of these tools actually makes sense for your operation, that is exactly the kind of question we work through with clients. Not every tool belongs in every business, and a short conversation can save you a lot of wasted setup time.
Want to talk it through? We keep a few virtual coffee spots open each month — grab one while they’re available: Book a virtual coffee with Dr. White
