Slate Labs is our hands-on workshop series where we explore emerging capabilities, share what’s working across the community, and gather feedback that helps shape what’s next. This session focused on human-centered AI in Slate for Advancement—practical patterns that help teams move faster and more clearly, while keeping judgment and verification in human hands.

Download the slide deck

• Slate Labs – AI in Advancement (Show Deck): SlateLabs_AI_in_Advancement.ppsx

Digital Activity Guide (follow-along portal)

Step-by-step instructions and prompts are available here:

https://slate-advancement-showcase.technolutions.net/portal/slate-labs-ai

We recommend trying the activities in the Slate for Advancement Showcase “Clean Slate” environment, where you can experiment freely and iterate quickly.

What you’ll walk away with

Even if you weren’t able to attend in person, the deck and activity guide are designed to help you replicate the experience. After working through the materials, you should have:

• A clear, practical framing for using AI in Slate—where confidence isn’t correctness, and verification is built into the workflow.

• A shared “Operating System” for consistent outcomes: baseline instructions, reusable snippets, and grounded knowledge.

• A set of repeatable analysis patterns to turn information into usable insights and next steps.

• A better sense of how AI can support daily constituent work through record intelligence and in-context drafting.

• A starting point for scaling digital experiences (bots, agents, interviews, deliver, portals, design) with safe, testable patterns you can refine in Clean Slate before bringing them into production.

Framing: how we approached AI

We grounded the workshop in a simple idea: AI is most effective as an accelerator for human expertise — helping teams move faster from information to insight to action.

A few principles we returned to throughout:

• AI isn’t a “truth engine.” Strong outcomes come from good context and clear constraints.

• Confidence isn’t correctness. AI can sound certain even when it’s wrong. Prompting and context matter.

• Design for verification. Build workflows that help users confirm what matters without adding friction.

Slate AI Tour

We took a guided tour of where AI shows up across Slate today, and how the pieces fit together — so teams can map capabilities to real advancement workflows.

Activities (organized to match the Activity Guide + deck)

1) Operating System

A foundation for consistent, repeatable outcomes—so AI reflects your team’s standards.

• System Instructions (baseline voice, tone, and guardrails)

• Snippets (reusable prompts for reliable drafts and outputs)

• Knowledge Sources / Other Knowledge (grounding AI in trusted references and context)

2) AI for Analysis

Using AI to accelerate interpretation and decision support, including:

• asking questions of results in natural language

• summarizing takeaways and patterns

• turning “data” into draft-ready insights and next steps

3) Record Intelligence

Applying AI directly in constituent work to reduce friction and improve clarity:

• synthesizing record context into usable summaries

• drafting and refining stewardship/outreach content

• producing action-oriented outputs that support (not replace) staff judgment

4) Scale + Digital

Exploring how AI supports digital work at scale, including:

• Chat Bot

• Agents

• Interviews

• Deliver

• Portal

• Design