Here are common challenges that we have found organizations experience in the Buy-In stage of their feedback loop:

Leadership skepticism or misaligned expectations

• Decision-makers may not see clear value from investing in new tools or processes for community feedback.

• Some leaders assume technology automatically improves data quality without understanding the need for human judgment alongside it.

• Others may be enthusiastic about AI but underestimate the time, training, and ethical care required to use it responsibly.

Staff capacity and change fatigue

• Teams are often stretched thin. Introducing new tools can feel like an added burden rather than support.

• Previous technology rollouts that did not deliver on their promises can create skepticism or resistance.

• Staff may lack confidence in their own digital literacy, making adoption feel risky.

Community trust and meaningful consent

• Communities being asked to participate in digitally assisted feedback processes may not fully understand how their data will be used, stored, or shared.

• In contexts where communities have historically been surveilled, exploited, or ignored, digital feedback tools can feel extractive.

• Organizations often struggle to explain complex data practices in accessible, community-friendly language.

Lack of a clear technology strategy

• Organizations jump to tools before establishing what problem they are trying to solve.

• Without a technology strategy, organizations risk duplicating efforts, selecting incompatible tools, or creating unsustainable systems.

Here are ways that we have found organizations using technology tools in the Buy-In stage of their feedback loop:

Project management and planning tools

• Map out your buy-in strategy, assign owners, and track progress on internal stakeholder conversations. 

  • Examples: Asana, Trello, or Notion

• Build compelling internal presentations that make the case for tech-assisted feedback, visually communicating community needs, capacity gaps, and potential benefits. 

  • Examples: Google Slides or Canva

• Run a quick internal readiness assessment with staff or leadership before committing to a tool or approach. 

  • Examples: Google Forms or Microsoft Forms

Communication and collaboration tools

• Create a dedicated channel for your technology and feedback initiative so conversations are centralized and searchable. 

  • Examples: Slack or Microsoft Teams

• Record short explainer videos for staff or community partners who need a low-pressure introduction to a proposed new approach. 

  • Example: Loom

Research and landscape tools

• Explore what tools are being used by similar organizations in your sector and read honest reviews from nonprofits. 

  • Examples: NTEN or TechSoup

• Document your current tech stack, costs, and what each tool is used for before deciding what to add or change. 

  • Examples: Google Sheets or Airtable 

Here are ways that we have found organizations using AI tools in the Buy-In stage of their feedback loop:

Building the internal case

• • Use an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT to help draft talking points, FAQs, or a one-pager explaining the rationale for tech-assisted feedback to skeptical stakeholders.

  • Ask AI to generate a list of potential objections to your proposal, then use those to prepare responses before presenting to leadership.

  • AI can help summarize research on the benefits and risks of AI in community feedback so that decision-makers have a grounded basis for discussion.

Readiness assessment support

• • AI tools can help you build a simple staff readiness quiz, generating questions that assess digital literacy, data comfort, and attitudes toward new tools.

  • Use AI to help you compare different tools across criteria like cost, accessibility, language support, and data privacy before making a recommendation.

Note: At the buy-in stage, AI should be used primarily to support internal thinking and communication, not yet to interact directly with communities. Keep human judgment at the center of decisions about whether, when, and how to proceed.