Wells Fargo PCI Pilot · AI Working Labs

Get your time back for the work only you can do.

A hands-on AI Working Labs program from RW Institute, funded by Wells Fargo. Over seven weeks you turn your own work into one repeatable workflow, one stage at a time, with people solving the same problems you are. For the nonprofit and community partners invited by Wells Fargo Philanthropy and Community Impact (PCI).

7 labs over 7 weeks · 90 minutes each · Sessions begin mid-September 2026 · Two cohorts of up to 25 each

How you got here. A Wells Fargo PCI colleague nominated your organization, we matched the nominations to the seats in this round, and the invitation came to you. This page is the last step: you confirm the seat and name the two people coming. Nothing here is a competitive application.

Find your fit Skip to the application
Who this is for

Built for the people doing the work.

If you are the one who actually writes the grant, cleans the spreadsheet, or builds the report, this was made for you.

Nonprofit and community partners invited by Wells Fargo PCI

You run grant applications, fundraising communications, volunteer programs, and impact reporting. You will leave with AI carrying the heavy, repetitive parts of that work, so your hours go to the parts that need you.

You were not picked for your job title. You were picked because someone believes you are ready for this and able to bring others along. That is what we are looking for: people who will use it, and share it.

Is this the right time

A few honest questions before you say yes.

We would rather you join when it can really pay off. Here is how to tell whether that is now, or a later cohort.

This is for you if

  • You do the actual work. You write the grants, clean the spreadsheets, build the reports, run the programs. If that is your day, you will get the most out of this.
  • You have two or three hours a week for seven weeks and you can protect them.
  • You have a real task in mind that eats your time and you would hand off if you could.
  • You can name a second person from your organization. Two people per organization is a requirement this round, because the breakouts and the work between labs run in pairs.
  • You are curious, even a little skeptical. You do not want to be sold on AI. You want to see what it actually does for your work.

A later cohort may suit you better if

  • You would rather watch than build right now. Every lab is hands-on, in your own account, on your own work, so it lands best when you are ready to roll up your sleeves.
  • The next seven weeks are already full. If a long trip or a busy season lands in the middle, a later cohort will give you a cleaner run at it.
  • You are after a lecture series or a certificate. This is a working lab, so you will get more from it if hands-on is what you are looking for.
  • You are not the one who can change how the work gets done. You will get the most out of this when you have room to put what you build into practice on your own team.
  • You cannot name a second person right now. Organizations join in pairs this round, so if only one of you can come, a later cohort will be the better fit.
The commitment

What it takes, in plain numbers.

7labs, one per week, over seven weeks
90 mineach lab, live and recorded
2-4.5 hrsper week, depending on the homework level you pick
2 peoplefrom one organization, required this round

The floor is the 90-minute lab plus about 30 to 45 minutes of your own work, so a little over two hours. Pick a heavier homework level and the week runs longer, up to four and a half hours or more if you build ahead. You choose that level week to week. Each lab is live, so you can ask questions in the moment, and recorded, so a calendar conflict never costs you a session. Between labs you keep working on your own deliverables alongside your partner from your organization. The work between sessions is your real work, the things already on your plate, moving faster. Miss a week or two and you pick it back up from the recording, then carry on with the homework and the build you are growing across the weeks.

What you'll get

What you walk out with.

A paid Claude account, on us

Every participant gets one, funded by Wells Fargo, for six months from the day your seat is confirmed. That runs well past the last lab, so you keep using it once the structured sessions end. It is the frontier tool that lives outside the Copilot world, and it is yours to push hard.

More than one AI

In Lab 6 you see a live agentic research run and a model-selection map, so you know which tool to reach for when.

At least one workflow you actually build

Not a demo you watched. A repeatable process from your own work that you leave with running.

Time back on the work AI can carry

The aim is to move the repetitive parts of your week onto AI, so the hours you spend on them come back to you.

Every session recorded

Plus the templates and frameworks we use, so you can rebuild and adapt them later.

A cohort and a network

People solving the same problems, and a path to becoming the person others in your organization come to.

Five reasons to attend

Five reasons to take the seat.

1
You get time back.

You hand off the repetitive work, so your hours go to the work that needs you.

2
You build something real.

You leave with at least one workflow from your own job, running and repeatable. Not a stack of notes or a recording you mean to get to someday. Something that works on Monday.

3
You learn how to choose well.

Which model, which tool, how to check the output, and the one habit we practice the whole way through: always ask for the consequences before you decide. That judgment outlasts every tool we show you.

4
The tools are covered.

A paid Claude account comes with the seat, six months from your confirmation date. You show up with your work and a willing mind. We handle the rest.

5
You become the person people ask.

Come in with your second person, work between sessions, and walk out as the one in your organization who knows how this works and can show the next person.

The seven labs

Seven weeks. Seven things you build.

1
First Safe WinRun the full safe-data round-trip on a real writing task and leave with one usable piece of writing in hand. This is where the safety habit starts.
2
Writing + the Org BrainBuild a permanent project loaded with your organization's identity and voice, then produce real writing through it: grant applications, donor communications, memos that sound like you.
3
Board-Ready Reporting + the Second ChairTurn messy notes, threads, and half-finished spreadsheets into a polished narrative summary, then run a critique pass that becomes a required step in everything you make after.
4
Data: Clean & ExtractTake a realistically messy spreadsheet through the round-trip, clean it, pull out the insights, and walk away with an auditable change log and a reusable cleanup recipe.
5
Numbers to Narrative to DeckTurn verified numbers into an impact story, then into a presentation, and learn the visual judgment that decides what becomes a chart and what stays a single sentence.
6
Agents & the Wider ToolboxTurn the critique pass you have been running into a standing reviewer agent, run one supervised research task, and leave with a clear sense of which tool to reach for when.
7
Build Session & 90-Day RoadmapAssemble, document, and present the operational workflow you built across the whole program, then set your 90-day priorities for keeping it running.

Everything from the program scope is still here. What changed is its shape. The disciplines that keep your work accurate and safe are not standalone lessons that show up once and disappear. They repeat inside every lab until they stop being lessons and become reflexes: a verification ritual on every output, the safe-data round-trip practiced weekly, a critique pass that checks for bias and for the sentence that could be quoted against you, and a workflow you build one stage at a time, so the final lab is assembly, not a cold start.

Three ways in

Three ways in. You pick the one that fits.

Same seven labs for everyone. Where you start depends on where you are today.

Explorer

You have used AI a little, mostly Copilot or the free chat tools. You are curious and ready for more. We start you on solid ground.

Builder

You use AI most weeks and you want it to be repeatable instead of one-off. You are ready to design workflows, not just prompts.

Catalyst

You are well past the basics. You are ready to build real systems and bring your team along with you.

Find your fit

Find your fit.

Answer fifteen quick questions, thirteen of them required and two marked optional. There are no wrong answers. You will get a read on which way in fits you best, a simple next step before Lab 1, and a short summary you can copy straight into your application below. The quiz saves nothing and sends nothing. It all runs right here in your browser.

The questions are interactive, so they do not print. Take the quiz at wf-ai-labs.vercel.app/apply and copy your summary into the application.

0 of 13 required answered
Q1How are you coming into this program?

Why we ask: it just helps us greet you right. Everyone runs the same seven labs on their own real work.

Q2How often do you use AI tools right now?

Why we ask: if you are just starting out, Lab 1, First Safe Win, is built for exactly that. Starting is welcome.

Q3When you use AI, what does it usually look like?
Q4Do you have a paid AI subscription today?

Why we ask: no subscription needed to join. A paid Claude account comes with the seat.

Q5How comfortable are you judging whether an AI answer is any good?

Why we ask: this is the one habit we practice the whole way through, so wherever you are is fine.

Q6What do you most want out of these seven weeks?
Q7Which of these have you actually tried? Select all that apply.
Q8Which of these would make the biggest difference in your work? Pick up to three.Optional

Why we ask: we aim the labs at what you pick, not at exercises. Pick the few that matter most.

Q9Name one real task you would hand off if you could.Optional

Why we ask: before Lab 1, every pair names a few real items to produce this quarter, and the labs aim at those. This is your first one.

Q10The labs ask for two to three hours a week for seven weeks. How does that land?

Why we ask: each lab is 90 minutes, plus your own work between sessions. That work is your real work, not busywork, and every session is recorded so a conflict never costs you a lab.

Q11Can you bring a colleague from your organization?

Why we ask: this round, organizations join in pairs. Two people from one org is a requirement, because the breakouts and the between-lab work run in twos. The application asks for both names.

Q12Between labs, how much do you want to take on?

Why we ask: you choose your level week to week. There is no wrong answer here. Added to the 90-minute lab, the light level runs about 2 to 2.25 hours a week, the middle about 2.5 to 3.5, and building ahead 4.5 or more.

Q13Where are you on AI right now?

Why we ask: you do not need to be sold on AI to belong here. You need to be willing to see what it actually does. A healthy dose of skepticism is welcome.

Q14Most of these labs use frontier tools that live outside Copilot and Microsoft. How does that sit with you?

Why we ask: this is the rest of the map, the frontier tools outside the Microsoft world, and how to use them well. Starting at zero here is completely fine.

Q15What computer will you use for the labs?

Why we ask: the desktop and agentic tools run best on a newer Apple Silicon Mac. Intel Macs and Windows PCs still work, they are just slower and need a few workarounds. If you were thinking about a new machine anyway, this is worth knowing now.

See my fit Start over Thirteen required questions. Nothing is sent or saved.

A few questions are still blank. We need all of them except the two marked Optional. We have jumped you to the first one that is missing.

Your fit

Explorer

Recommended track

Your next step before Lab 1

How the hands-on part works for you

What we will aim your labs at

A note on your computer

One honest note on time

One honest note on the second seat

No matter where you start, the first lab goes better when you bring one narrow real project and a working paid account. We will help you set up both.

Copy this summary and paste it into your application below. It tells us where to start you and what to have ready. Both people from your organization should take this quiz, so whoever fills in the form pastes both summaries into the same application.

Copy summary Go to the application Print this page
Apply

You were nominated. Confirm your seat here.

Your Wells Fargo PCI contact put your organization forward for this round. This form is how you confirm and tell us who is coming, and it is built for two. Every organization joins with two people: you pick a colleague, you name each other below, and you do the labs side by side. The breakouts and the between-lab work run in pairs, and two voices carry a new practice back into an organization far better than one.

This is not a competitive application. Nominated organizations are not scored against each other and none is turned away. Each cohort seats about 12 to 13 organizations, roughly 25 organizations and 50 seats across both cohorts. If more organizations are nominated than there are seats this round, we hold the extras for the next cohort and share the session recordings in the meantime. You will not hear a no.

Nominated by a Wells Fargo PCI colleague? This form confirms your seat and tells us who is coming. It takes about five minutes, and confirmations close August 28.
A1Your organization
A2Participant one
A3Participant two

Why two: the labs run in pairs, from the breakout rooms to the work between sessions. Two named people are required this round, so both fields are needed to confirm the seat. If your organization cannot field a second person right now, tell your PCI contact, because a later cohort will be the better fit.

A4Where is your organization on AI right now?

Why we ask: this round is built for organizations arriving with real work in hand. If you are still exploring, say so here. It changes how we pair you and what we put in front of you, and it does not affect your seat.

A5What would you tackle first?

Why we ask: this is the answer selection leans on most. Concrete beats polished.

A6Which cohort fits your schedule?

Why we ask: you and your partner attend the same cohort for all seven weeks, same content either way. Exact dates come with your confirmation.

A7Anything else?Optional
Submit application Takes about five minutes. Two named participants per organization.

A few required answers are missing. Check the organization name, both participants, where you are on AI, your first challenge, and the cohort choice.

One more step to send it

An email draft should have opened, already addressed to RW Institute with everything below in it. Send that email and your seat is confirmed. If no draft opened, your browser may block email links: copy the text below and send it to nichole@realizedworth.com yourself. Either way works, and we reply to every confirmation.

Two cohorts run the same content each week: Monday 12:00 to 1:30 PM CT and Friday 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM CT. Sessions are virtual, 90 minutes, and recorded, so a busy week does not have to knock you out. Sessions begin mid-September 2026, with the Monday cohort on September 14 and the Friday cohort on September 18. Exact dates land with your confirmation.

Ecosystem Map