Right now, the discussion about AI in education is everywhere—dominating headlines, inspiring hope, and raising tough questions. From breakthrough innovations to concerns about equity and ethics, the conversation is loud and ongoing. And complicated.

So we want to cut through the noise and show some of the real ways AI is improving communities. 

At TalkingPoints, we believe the most important question isn’t ‘How do you use AI?’—it’s: ‘How can we use AI to do the most good for students, families, and educators—especially in communities that have long been under-resourced?’

As we celebrate 10 years of impact, we’re launching a new blog series to explore that question from our perspective as an AI-native organization. Over five parts, we’ll spotlight how we’ve used AI to break down barriers and unlock the superpower of families. We’ll share what we’ve learned along the way and what’s next as we build toward a brighter future in education.

We’re excited to share our reflections, tools, and lessons learned—and to hear from you. What questions are you asking about AI? What possibilities are you exploring? Let’s shape the future together.

Have thoughts, hopes, or worries about AI in education? Send us a note—we’re listening.

How nonprofits can use AI to supercharge impact: TalkingPoints’ next decade

Written by Claudine Ryan,

President, TalkingPoints

As a first-generation college graduate, I know firsthand how transformative education can be. And as a mother to three sons, I also know that parents can be powerful advocates for their children’s learning – when they are informed and intentionally included by their schools and teachers. This belief has shaped my life as a student, a parent, and in my role as President of TalkingPoints. 

Having dedicated my career to building technology as a force for social good, I’ve seen how much impact can be unlocked when tools are designed with the people they serve at the center. And now with advances in AI, we have unprecedented potential to truly transform how we engage families and improve education at scale.

This year marks TalkingPoints’ 10th anniversary, a milestone that allows us to reflect on the progress we’ve made and the future we’re building. Over the past decade, we’ve grown a bold idea into a nationwide nonprofit that helps millions of educators and families communicate, collaborate, and drive student success using research-backed technology and AI-powered tools. As we look ahead to the next ten years, one thing is clear: our future will be defined by how effectively mission-driven organizations harness artificial intelligence.

The new reality: Why mission-driven nonprofits need AI to increase impact

AI is no longer optional for nonprofits that want to scale impact; it’s an essential lever for operational efficiency, better data use, and more equitable access to services.

For years, AI and machine learning have been fundamental to our product—from our best-in-class translation engine to AI-supported tools that help teachers craft research-based messages and generate at-home learning activities. But the environment has shifted. Today’s technology is allowing organizations to achieve things in days or weeks that used to take months or years.

For nonprofits like ours, serving under-resourced communities at scale, staying competitive in this new landscape isn’t optional. We owe it to our mission, our donors, families, and educators we support to operate smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Embracing AI not only enhances our products it also accelerates our ability to deliver impact. That’s why this past year, we made AI adoption a priority across our internal operations. 

How TalkingPoints is using AI across operations

We started with a culture of experimentation, learning, and transparency. We created an AI Taskforce to drive adoption from the top down, and an AI Guild to filter innovations from the bottom up and make sure we’re all learning together. We sent intentional activities for staff to experiment with, and created a shared Slack channel for insights and findings. And we invested in enterprise-level access to AI tools for the entire organization. We’ve already seen meaningful shifts in speed, quality, and capacity, including:

• Automating over half of our customer support tickets with an AI-generated knowledge base and automated categorization, so educators and families receive faster, more consistent support
• Analyzing and optimizing our entire codebase using AI-assisted engineering tools
• Reducing infrastructure costs and accelerating prototyping, giving teams more room to test and iterate
• Building custom GPTs to support research, messaging, and the translation of decades of family engagement research into simple, actionable insights for schools and districts

These new ways of working aren’t replacing our team—they’re empowering them, and making AI a force multiplier for every part of our organization.

What responsible AI looks like in K-12 education

Scaling AI inside a mission-driven organization requires more than technical skill—it requires leading with values. For TalkingPoints, that means being resourceful, boldly courageous, agile and action-oriented, all-in-together, and most importantly: user and mission-oriented. Because the majority of our partners are Title 1, low-income schools, we ground every decision in empathy, transparency, and trust. We are committed to using AI responsibly and ethically, in ways that are forces for good and not harm. For us, this means: 

• Proactively mitigating bias in our models
• Designing with direct input from educators and families
• Ensuring user control in all AI-powered features
• Being transparent with users about when AI is involved and how it supports them

AI is reshaping how we work, but it doesn’t change why we work. We remain committed to helping educators who are stretched thin, supporting families who are eager to engage, and ensuring every student has empowered champions in their corner.

Our vision for the next decade is simple: leverage AI to deepen our impact, broaden our reach, and accelerate the connections that matter most. AI isn’t replacing the human relationships at the heart of our mission—it is superpowering them.

See TalkingPoints in action – Watch this 90 second video

Let’s learn together: Sharing AI practices across the nonprofit sector

Many of you are on the same journey. If you’ve implemented AI in ways that have strengthened your mission or transformed your operations, we’d love to learn from your experience. The faster we learn together, the more impact we can create.

We’ll continue sharing what we’re learning—and we’re grateful for the partners who make this work possible.

Celebrating 10 years of partnership and impact

For a decade, TalkingPoints has supported students, families, and educators through the power of effective family-school partnerships. As an education technology nonprofit, our award-winning communication and family engagement platform has improved outcomes for districts and students across the country.

We connect 9 million+ educators, students, and family members annually and have facilitated more than one billion conversations—building trust, fostering relationships, and fueling student success. Named by Common Sense Education as “the best overall family communication platform for teachers and schools,” TalkingPoints drives measurable gains in attendance and academic achievement, backed by rigorous, causal research.

Join us in building a future where every child has the support they need to thrive.