Nonprofit leaders share their thoughts on AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming the way nonprofits and charitable organizations work and the use of AI tools is widespread, according to a recent survey by Diligent. However, the survey also revealed a general lack of policies and guidelines about using AI.

Diligent surveyed leaders of mission-driven organizations about AI’s impact on their organization and their governance work. Nearly half of respondents were from education; 31% from nonprofit and healthcare and 25% were from local government.

When it came to roles, 30% of respondents are board president or chairs while around one-fifth are board secretaries or administrators.

Key insights of the AI survey

The survey revealed a portrait of the evolving uses, concerns and knowledge gaps of AI technology in organizations and associations. Insights include:

• 84% have adopted AI technology in their organization.
• A large proportion of organizations (72%) do not yet have AI policies/guidelines in place.
• 70% say they haven’t done any AI ethics training with board members and 56% have no ethics policy for AI in place.
• The top concern when it comes to AI usage is data privacy and security.
• Respondents are eager to understand the basics of AI and best practices for use.

Use of AI tools is widespread

Many organizations are now using AI regularly. More than 50% of the respondents said their entire organization is using AI, with another 32% saying it’s being used in more limited ways.

Some respondents that aren’t currently using AI tools have plans to start using them. Only 7% said they are not using AI and have no plans to.

Generally, respondents are enthusiastic about using these tools and curious about how to better use them. “Although [AI] has been around for a long time, the updates/upgrades are astounding and I believe will only get bigger and better with time,” one leader replied.

Some were more wary of AI, with one respondent saying they believed it was a fad. Another respondent pointed out that from a climate change perspective, AI requires a great deal of power to operate and so they will not be using it until that issue is solved.

“Although [AI] has been around for a long time, the updates/upgrades are astounding and I believe will only get bigger and better with time” – Diligent AI survey respondent

AI policies are needed

The creation of guidelines and policies lags behind adoption of AI: 72% of organizations surveyed do not have specific policies/guidelines in place for AI usage.

Those who have created policies say they brought in outside expertise to help them or have adopted guidelines from their state associations. Others created the guidelines themselves.

One leader said, “We have a very loose guideline to just make sure we do not copy word for word but take the information and interpret it using our own words.”

What do leaders see as the benefits of AI?

Not surprisingly, increased operational efficiency tops the list of benefits respondents have seen since they adopted AI, by a wide margin.

Innovation and development of new products/services comes in second. Improved decision-making and enhanced stakeholder experience come in third and fourth on the list.

Interestingly, leaders do not see cost savings as a major benefit, as it is relatively low on the list, only 16% of respondents saw that as a positive outcome of using artificial intelligence.

What are the challenges of implementing AI tools?

When it came to challenges, respondents were most worried about data privacy and security concerns and saw those concerns at the biggest challenge to using AI tools. As one leader said, “I am older so therefore, AI concerns me a bit. I have worked on computers since I was in high school, but with the latest scare with Crowd Strike, it just shows how dependent the world has become on technology and how fast someone can shut us all down.”

The challenge that came next on the list was the issue of how AI would integrate with existing systems. Resistance to change was also an issue, followed by a shortage of personnel who know how to use the tools.

The need for ethics guidelines

Ethical guidelines around the use of AI that ensure the technology is used responsibly are necessary, especially given how quickly many organizations adopted AI. While a majority of the respondents said they were using AI tools, a little less than half of them have created ethics guidelines for AI use.

Meanwhile, around 30% of respondents hold regular AI ethics training while 19% have established an AI ethics committee.

Leaders want more information on the uses of AI

The survey also revealed that 58% of respondents have had no specific training on AI. From their responses, it’s clear that they want to learn more about AI.

We also asked respondents what AI topics they would like to learn about. The respondents replied that they need more varied information and training on the uses, benefits and challenges of AI. Topics they suggested include:

• Understanding AI basics and best practices
• Office administration roles
• How to implement AI-related policies
• Risk management for AI
• AI ethics
• AI upskilling for employees

One respondent suggested training on using AI to schedule events on calendars, especially multiple calendars, to contact other districts and organizations and to solve smaller IT issues.

AI needs a human touch

AI continues to help organizations more efficient, and other innovations are mostly certainly coming soon. Leaders in the survey see the technology with a mixture of excitement and caution. As one respondent said, “I think AI can have an important role in our industry but would require a human touch to refine it.”

It’s also clear that they want more information. Diligent has been exploring the possibilities of AI from day one with a particular focus on how best to put governance and policies in place for AI use. We have developed BoardEffect with the needs of volunteer boards in mind as they work together strategically and thoughtfully around AI.