NotebookLM
Author: Andrew Collins;
Reading Time: 4 minutes
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Ever feel like you’re drowning in documents? Between grant applications, impact reports, meeting notes, and research, finding the exact piece of information you need can feel like a full-time job.
That’s where Google’s NotebookLM can be a game-changer for charities. Think of it as a smart research assistant that works exclusively with your documents.
What is NotebookLM?
NotebookLM is a free AI tool from Google. Unlike other AI chatbots that search the whole internet, NotebookLM only uses the sources you upload. This is its key strength: you create a personal knowledge base, and the AI helps you understand and work with it. You can upload PDFs, Google Docs, text files, and even website links.
How Can Charities Use It?
The possibilities are huge, but here are a few practical ideas to get you started:
- Grant Writing: Upload past successful (and unsuccessful) applications, funder guidelines, and your latest impact data. Then you can ask NotebookLM things like, “Summarise our key outcomes for youth projects in the last two years,” or “Create a bulleted list of how our project meets the funder’s criteria for community cohesion.” It can help you draft new proposals using your own proven language.
- Onboarding New Starters: Upload your key internal documents: the staff handbook, project plans, your strategic vision, and important policies. A new team member or volunteer can then ask direct questions like, “What is our process for booking annual leave?” or “Who is the lead contact for the ‘Digital Inclusion’ project?”
- Analysing Feedback: Got pages of feedback from a community survey? Upload the report and ask NotebookLM to “Identify the top three most common suggestions from this feedback” or “Summarise the sentiment about our new service.”
- Meeting Prep: Upload the minutes from the last three board meetings. Before the next one, ask, “What were the key action points from the last meeting and who were they assigned to?”
Why Should Charities Use It?
Beyond its core function, NotebookLM has some key features that make it particularly well-suited for the third sector.
- Your Data Stays Your Data: A major concern with AI is data privacy. With NotebookLM, the documents you upload are not used to train Google’s general AI models. Your information remains ring-fenced within your account, giving you a secure space to work with potentially sensitive information.
- Trustworthy Answers with Citations: NotebookLM doesn’t just give you an answer; it shows its work. Every response it generates includes numbered citations that link directly to the exact passage in your source documents. This is fantastic for fact-checking, pulling quotes for reports, and ensuring your grant applications are accurate.
- Audio Overviews: This feature can automatically generate an audio discussion based on your documents. It can create a short “podcast” summarising a long report or have a back-and-forth conversation between two AI voices discussing the key themes. This is brilliant for accessibility, for team members who prefer to listen instead of read, or for catching up on a report while you’re busy with other tasks.
- It’s Free: Yes, it’s completely free of charge! You just need a Google account to get going. NotebookLM does have a plus version, which gets bundled for free when you subscribe to Google Gemini, but the added features are pretty minimal and you certainly won’t need to upgrade to get the most out of it.
A Final Thought
NotebookLM isn’t about replacing human knowledge; it’s about making it easier to access. For busy charities in Wales and beyond, it’s a powerful and free tool that can help you save precious time, write stronger funding bids, and make better use of the information you already have. There are so many ways to utilise NotebookLM, give it a go, and get innovating!
If you would like help getting started with NotebookLM, or have any other AI questions, DigiCymru can help. Charities and non-profits in Wales can access up to 5 hours of support, absolutely free. For more info, and to book a session, click below.
Commissioned by Catalyst
