Regular readers of my articles will know that I have NOT been an advocate for Microsoft Copilot Pro for Not for Profits.
Although I have been a licensed user of the product since it became available over a year ago, I advised my clients to wait and see.
And today?
I still don’t think Copilot is worth the nearly $400/year investment for most Not for Profit users, even with the 15% charity discount.
Here’s why.
Why Microsoft Copilot is still not worth the investment for NFPs
Despite the heavy sales pitch and articles promoting the benefits of Microsoft Copilot, in my opinion, it still fails to measure up from an investment perspective for most Not for Profit users.
Here’s why:
- It exposes privacy issues if your SharePoint folders are not appropriately classified – few NFPs have done this correctly.
- It writes like a stiff lawyer. Despite it having access to hundreds of my articles, I find it really hard to train it to match my writing style. I know many people love Claude more for this exact reason.
- Other tools like ChatGPT still excel with most office worker tasks. It feels like Microsoft has forgotten that the majority of its users are not technical or large enterprises with significant IT teams. When it comes to getting the everyday tasks right, I personally think that other tools have way better outputs.
- Users with very narrow use-cases for AI would probably find it more beneficial with a cheaper, more functional tool than giving them the whole toolbox with Copilot.
5 Recent Examples of where Copilot failed me:
Since most Not for Profits have no idea what Copilot can and cannot do beyond the sales pitch they hear, here are a couple of examples where it failed me in the last two weeks.
Example 1: Reduce the size of an article I wrote
I asked Copilot to reduce one of my articles from 1000 words to 300 words for another publication. Rather than condensing my article, Copilot utilised it as just another source among its many others and transformed it into a completely different article on the same subject.
I tried ChatGPT on the same task, and it did a great job of getting it to 350 words while keeping both my key points and style of writing. I personally edited it further to the needed length.
Example 2: Review a contract
I asked Copilot to review a project contract for me and to point out any issues I should be concerned about. Rather than doing that, it gave me a number of generic project risks to consider with no ties back to the content of the contract itself.
After anonymising the contract, I tried again with ChatGPT, and it was brilliant. Because I wrote contracts for a living years ago, I already had an opinion. However, it highlighted a few areas that I might have overlooked otherwise.
Example 3: Reschedule my meetings
I asked Outlook to reschedule some project workshops exactly 2 weeks later in my calendar, with no variation or day. It was happy to give me a list of what the new days would be, but it was not able to reschedule anything, and it took a few prompts before it would even admit to that.
Example 4: Change the presentation to match my template
In PowerPoint, I asked Copilot to change the colours and font in an old presentation to my corporate colours, which could be found in a template I created previously. Impossible! I still think that PowerPoint is the weakest link of the Copilot-embedded apps.
Example 5: Find an answer within my OneNotes
I asked Copilot to answer a question from a client that would likely be buried in my many notes in OneNote. It could find the answer, but it provided the wrong Note link when I tried to review the source.
As you can see, I still try Copilot regularly, but frankly, it’s still not worth the annual licensing fee for the average user in my opinion.
Which users might benefit from Microsoft Copilot now?
While I don’t think it’s worth the investment for most users, there are a few who could benefit more than most. They include:
- EAs and others who frequently take meeting minutes – The most popular use case that my clients ask Copilot for is for transcribing and taking meeting minutes of video calls. While there are obvious productivity benefits for these users, if this is their primary use case, I recommend Teams Premium. Not only is Teams Premium a fraction of the price of the Copilot license, but it also limits the privacy issues associated with unclassified SharePoint folders.
- Excel Power Users – Microsoft just released a major update in beta to Copilot for Excel. I don’t have access to it yet, but those who do have been raving about the in-built AI formulas that allow you to ask in plain English for formulas to be created within a cell.
- Users who speak English as a Second Language or have poor grammar skills – If you are often writing, but English is not your first language, Microsoft Copilot will likely increase both the speed and accuracy of your writing. This is the same for those who may struggle with grammar. However, if this is the only use case for this user, I would recommend Grammarly instead, which is about half the annual price of the paid version. There is also a free version too.
- Organisations that have in-house Microsoft resources, specifically with skills in Copilot Studio and Power Automate. These are the built-in automation and AI tools that allow orgs to create AI-powered functionality within their existing Microsoft suite – useful for repetitive, highly manual tasks. Unfortunately, most NFPs don’t have such skills.
If you’re going to buy Copilot
No matter how much I advise Not for Profits about the issues with Copilot, there will still be some who believe the potential benefit outweighs the risks. So, if you’re going to make that investment, be sure you do the following:
- Ensure your data is structured well, cleaned and classified within SharePoint. Failure to do this could result in potential privacy breaches from random docs, like payroll spreadsheets and board minutes, being saved in the wrong place. Furthermore, remember that AI is completely dependent on data. So, garbage in = garbage out.
- Only buy it for the users who will really utilise it. There are too many early adopter orgs that have not received a positive return with this tool. Ensure that each user is worth that investment.
- Invest in training for your users. If your users are only using it for basic tasks like generating transcripts and minutes of meetings, there are cheaper options with lower risks. So, make sure you invest in training, so they really know how to use it effectively, especially with the constant feature and model updates.
Furthermore, the safe use of AI is essential to keep your data from leaking into these models. Ensure this is part of your training curriculum too.
If you’re going to use other tools like ChatGPT
Personally, I find the paid version of ChatGPT to be far more helpful than Copilot for most of the work I do. However, it’s not as safe as Copilot in your Microsoft environment.
So, if you are going to use other tools, ensure you follow these protocols:
- Ensure you turn on the privacy function to avoid using your information to train their tool.
- Avoid “sharing” your chats at all costs because search engines could index them. Both Grok and ChatGPT chats have already been found online.
- Know that your searches are being saved and could be used in a court setting as evidence.
- Anonymise all privacy data, including in any uploads, to ensure this critical data isn’t leaked. Remember, if you don’t want the whole world to see that information, you shouldn’t share it with an AI tool in the first place.
Final Thoughts
AI tools can be incredibly useful for many users in Not for Profits. However, I’m just not convinced that Microsoft Copilot is worth their hefty license fee at this time.
Ask me again in 12 months, and hopefully I’ve changed my mind.
For now, if you need help in creating an AI Adoption Strategy that goes from governance to roadmap and budget, let me know.
P.S. If you found this article helpful, you might want to read these too:
Tammy Ven Dange is a former charity CEO, Association President, Not for Profit Board Member and IT Executive. Today, she helps NFPs with strategic IT decisions, especially around IT risks and investments.