Digital Distance: An Essential AI Skill
Walk into almost any nonprofit staff meeting right now, and you’ll hear the same mix of curiosity and anxiety:
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How can we use AI for fundraising?
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Should we try ChatGPT for grant writing?
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Could it help us with strategy or storytelling?
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Can it handle our accounting?
The questions make sense. Nonprofits are stretched thin, and AI tools promise relief—less time writing, more time leading; fewer spreadsheets, more insight.
But there’s one question I rarely hear:
Is AI bringing us closer to our mission—or quietly pushing us away?
That’s the question at the heart of an insightful article by Joel Salinas Frencia and Eric Barberio , “If You Want to Lead in the AI Age, Then Master Digital Distance.”
They argue that leading in the AI era isn’t about how fast you adopt technology—it’s about how intentionally you manage the distance it creates between people and purpose.
It’s a powerful idea. And for mission-driven organizations—where human connection is the work—it’s essential.
Two Kinds of Distance You Can’t Ignore
They describe Digital Distance as the gap AI can create across two dimensions:
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Constituent Distance – How far technology takes you from the people you serve.
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Cognitive Distance – How much AI takes over your reasoning, judgment, and learning.
Every AI decision you make—every chatbot, automation, and algorithm—sits somewhere on those two axes.
Sometimes AI pulls you closer to people by freeing up time for connection (a central tenet of Common Ground’s approach to strategic planning). Sometimes it pushes you further away by replacing it altogether.
The problem is that most leaders don’t see those gaps forming until it’s too late.
The Hidden Risk for Nonprofits
In the social sector, digital distance doesn’t just affect productivity—it affects trust, empathy, and growth.
When a chatbot answers a client’s question faster than a person could, that’s efficient. But what happens to the quiet empathy that builds when a human hears the story behind that question?
When AI drafts donor messages, board updates, or grant narratives, it saves time. But over months or years, that efficiency can hollow out an organization’s collective voice—the shared language that ties people to mission and meaning.
And when new staff rely on AI to summarize reports or plan projects, they risk skipping the messy, hands-on learning that builds true expertise. Over time, that flattening of learning can leave even strong teams shallow in understanding.
This is already happening in other sectors. As AI takes over cognitive work, professionals lose the chance to learn by doing. For nonprofits, that’s more than a skills issue—it’s a leadership issue.
When AI Brings You Closer
There’s a better path—what Frencia and Barberio call intentional proximity.
That’s when leaders decide, with purpose, where AI should stay close and where it should keep its distance. AI Belongs close:
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When it helps humans do their work better:
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When it surfaces key insights that help you listen more deeply.
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When it automates the routine, so your team can focus on relationships.
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When it supports reflection, not replaces it.
Imagine:
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A youth mentoring program using AI to identify mentors who might need extra support, so staff can reach out early and personally.
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A food security nonprofit analyzing distribution data to understand community trends, freeing time for volunteers to connect with families face-to-face.
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A fundraising team using AI to synthesize giving histories but still writing thank-you notes by hand.
That’s AI as amplifier, not substitute. It pulls the organization closer to its mission.
When AI Pushes You Away
But proximity can flip.
AI becomes dangerous:
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When it separates people from meaning.
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When donor communications are entirely automated, relationships drift.
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When predictive analytics decide who gets help and who doesn’t, empathy fades.
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When staff begin trusting AI’s summaries more than their own experience, organizations lose wisdom.
This kind of distance doesn’t happen overnight—it’s a slow drift. You wake up one morning and realize the organization is efficient, but it no longer feels human.
The Work of Managing Digital Distance
Managing digital distance is about reclaiming agency. It’s leadership work, not tech work.
Here’s how you can start:
Map your digital footprint.
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Where are you already using AI—fundraising, marketing, operations, HR, strategy?
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Write it all down. Seeing it clearly is the first step to leading it.
Ask two questions for each tool:
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Does this bring us closer to the people we serve—or push us further away?
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Does this deepen learning—or replace it?
Adjust intentionally.
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Keep AI close for data-heavy or time-intensive work that supports human judgment.
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Keep it distant where empathy, ethics, or creativity are central.
This approach turns AI from a shiny new toy into a leadership discipline. It puts proximity at the center of every technology decision.
Protecting the Human Fabric
Sociologist Allison Pugh calls it “connective labor”—the invisible work of building trust, empathy, and belonging.
That’s what holds nonprofits together. And it’s exactly what AI can erode if used without intention.
But with care, it can strengthen those same bonds.
AI can help teams notice patterns of inequity faster, spot burnout sooner, and surface feedback that leads to better conversations. Technology isn’t the threat. Disconnection is.
The Real Goal: Accelerated Impact, Human Connection™
Every nonprofit I’ve worked with is chasing the same dual goal: to do more good, faster—without losing the soul of their mission.
That balance won’t happen by accident. It takes leaders willing to slow down, ask better questions, and make proximity a design principle.
Every AI decision creates distance or closeness. The future belongs to leaders who choose on purpose.
So before you roll out that new AI tool, pause and ask:
Where is this bringing us closer to our mission—and where might it be quietly pushing us away?
With gratitude to Joel Salinas Frencia and Eric Barberio, whose original article, “If You Want to Lead in the AI Age, Then Master Digital Distance,” inspired this reflection. Their framework offers a simple but powerful lens for every sector—but it’s especially urgent for those of us working with organizations built on trust, empathy, and human connection.