A plain plan for where AI fits in your charity
Boards are asking about AI, and paid staff are already stretched. A small charity can't afford to try five tools and see what sticks. We start from your week and write a short plan that names the first job for AI, the tools it connects to, what it costs each month, and what stays with your people. It's short enough to put in a board pack, and it keeps the people you support out of anything that isn't safe.
Get your AI Starter Plan
What a charity AI plan covers
The first job
One job that eats paid hours, like the funder report or the roster, picked from what you tell us.
The tools it touches
Which of Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Airtable, Slack, Mailchimp, or Xero the first AI helper needs.
What stays with your people
Work with clients, stories, and sensitive decisions, written down so nobody hands them over.
Cost and board view
The monthly cost, what it covers, and a short summary your board can read.
Where charities are with AI
Many small charities have been told AI will save them time, and some have had a free tool offered to them. Paid staff try it between other jobs. Volunteers use their own accounts. The board asks for a policy. Meanwhile the grant report still takes a week and the roster still takes an evening, because nobody has picked one job and set it up properly.
What goes in your plan
Your AI plan (the industry calls it an AI strategy) is a short document written for your charity. It names the first job, how an AI helper will do it, which tools it reads from, and what a person checks. It says what comes next and what it costs. It also sets out which information AI must never see, which matters more for a charity than for most businesses. For a charity with funders, the first job is often reporting. For one with lots of volunteers, it’s often the roster.
Two charities, two first jobs
We work with a community food relief charity whose first job was the quarterly funder report. An AI helper now fills the totals from three volunteer spreadsheets, the first draft takes about a day, and staff still write the stories. We also work with an animal rescue with one paid coordinator and 45 volunteers whose first job was the weekly roster. It takes an hour instead of an evening, and the coordinator still decides who handles new animals.
What a plan can’t do
A plan shows where paid hours go and how to win some back. It can’t raise funds or recruit volunteers. If your charity is in the middle of a merger or a funding change, the plan may say to wait, and we’ll tell you so.
To see your charity’s first job, get your AI Starter Plan. It’s free, and it starts with where your week goes.
Related
Read about our Your AI plan service, and how we help small teams in not-for-profits.
Common questions
How do we start?
Can we justify the cost to our board?
Is AI safe for a charity working with vulnerable people?
Do we have to commit for a year?
Are we tied to one AI tool?
Get a plan your board can read
Tell us how your charity's week really runs. Get your AI Starter Plan and you'll have a plan for where to start.
Get your AI Starter Plan