Technology is rapidly reshaping how organizations create social impact, and AI is emerging as a powerful force for change.
Naomi Morenzoni is Senior Vice President of Corporate Philanthropy and Employee Impact at Salesforce, where she leads corporate giving, employee volunteering, matching programs, and sustainability initiatives. With 14 years at Salesforce, Naomi brings a unique perspective on using business as a platform for community change. She also oversees initiatives such as the Salesforce Accelerator and the company's nature and sustainability fund, supporting innovative solutions and the transition toward a net-zero, nature-positive world.
Today's conversation explores Salesforce's founding 1-1-1 philanthropic model, which combines equity, product, and employee time to support communities. Naomi discusses the AI for Impact Accelerator, which provides nonprofits with funding, technology, and expert support, along with real-world AI applications that help farmers, students, development teams, and fundraising professionals. She emphasizes that successful AI adoption begins with a clearly defined problem, reliable data, small-scale experimentation, and continuous development of AI fluency.
Naomi also explains why AI agents should be managed much like employees, with clear goals, documentation, regular feedback, and gradually increasing responsibility. Looking ahead, she calls for stronger collaboration among technology companies, nonprofits, and funders, with greater investment in operational AI and wraparound support to maximize social impact.
In this episode, you will be able to:
Understand Salesforce's 1-1-1 philanthropic model.
Explore AI applications for social impact.
Identify the essentials of successful AI adoption.
Build AI fluency through experimentation and learning.
Understand how to manage AI agents effectively.
Understand how funders and tech companies can enable AI adoption.
Get all the resources from today’s episode here.
Support for this show is brought to you by Bay Business Group. Our friends at Bay Business Group really understand nonprofit accounting and financial management on so many levels.
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