/@DanKershaw
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7.9
@DanKershaw
Nonprofit CEO | Turning Furniture Waste into Dignity, Jobs, and AI-Enabled Social Impact
AI Fluency Score
7.9/10
Assessed 11/27/2025
Velocity
Generated 12/1/2025
Dan Kershaw is a nonprofit CEO with 2+ years of AI experience who architects organizational AI systems that actually stick. He designs workflows around how people actually think, builds custom verification layers that catch what others miss, and transforms AI-skeptical staff into confident practitioners leading implementation across their teams.
These capabilities position him to solve one of the sector's hardest problems: making AI adoption sustainable in resource-constrained organizations where "just figure it out" isn't an option. His combination of systematic workflow design and exceptional knowledge transfer means his impact compounds through everyone he teaches.
His work at Furniture Bank—turning donated goods into furnished homes while building an AI-ready culture—reveals someone who sees technology as a means to dignity, not an end in itself.
Organization: Furniture Bank (Toronto, Canada) Dates: 2014 – Present
Leads Furniture Bank, a Toronto based charity and social enterprise that transforms donated furniture and household goods into furnished homes for families emerging from crisis. Built and scaled a logistics heavy social enterprise pickup service that funds core programs while diverting large volumes of usable furniture from landfill into homes that need it. Part of charity social enterprise is a the Leg Up social employment program, offering paid work experience in warehousing, logistics, trucking, and customer service, now expanding to include foundational and intermediate AI skills. Guides Furniture Bank’s shift to an AI ready, data informed, circular economy organization, partnering with The Human Stack on a guidance first, psychologically safe approach to AI adoption.
Organization: Independent / DanKershaw Substack Dates: 2022 – Present
Description: Writes and speaks about AI adoption in nonprofits, with a focus on governance, psychological safety, and guidance first culture. Shares Furniture Bank’s journey integrating AI into operations, social enterprise logistics, Leg Up training, and impact measurement. Delivers keynotes, panels, and workshops for philanthropy, nonprofit, and social enterprise audiences on topics that include AI governance, human stack design, and “buying success instead of software.”
Organization: Various technology and startup companies Dates: 1996 – 2013
Description: Led management and growth in a range of technology driven businesses, including internet gaming, telecommunications, payment processing, web hosting, mobile dating, mobile advertising, mobile content solutions, and multiple ecommerce projects. Developed skills in building and scaling digital products, using data for decision making, and managing cross functional teams in fast changing environments. This prior experience in tech and entrepreneurship underpins later work applying digital innovation and social enterprise models in the charity sector.