Mission-driven leaders share their thoughts on AI

With its often-manageable costs and flexible use cases, AI has seemingly enormous potential for nonprofit organizations. Diligent’s annual AI survey shows changing attitudes among nonprofit leaders and staff. By comparing this year’s responses to last year’s survey, we see trends that can help guide board decision-making around responsible AI use.

Key insights

• 72% have adopted AI technology, a drop from last year.
• Almost 60% now cite data and security as chief concerns.
• Only just over a third of organizations have AI policies.
• 70% cite operational efficiency as the key benefit of AI use.
• Attitudes suggest excitement mixed with caution.

AI adoption: Still high but some hesitation creeping in

In 2025, 72% of nonprofit leaders report their organization has adopted AI technology, either in limited areas (61%) or throughout the organization (11%). This is a drop from 84% in 2024, suggesting more organizations are pausing or reconsidering adoption, or that responses include more organizations still in exploration phases.

Fifteen percent are considering adoption, about the same as in 2024. Still, 7% say they do not plan to use AI, virtually unchanged. As one leader explains, it “has not hit our team with the importance so far.”

Nonprofits have taken significant steps to adopt AI, and it’s no wonder given that exploration can be low-cost for mission-driven organizations. For those still on the fence, consider AI tools built-in to your technology partners’ solutions as low-risk ways to test the waters with AI capabilities.

How nonprofits are using AI

Communications leads, while routine automation grows. The most common uses of AI in nonprofits in 2025 are:

• Communications: 67%
• Automating routine tasks: 44%
• Data analysis/reporting: 30%

Knowledge management now sits at 22%, slightly increased. Notably, many organizations are still in the exploratory phase, with 26% stating they are “exploring AI but not actively using it yet.” Widespread usage for program evaluation and impact measurement is still limited, at 9%.

For communications uses, leaders mention three key areas: generating meeting minutes, improving clarity on written communications and using AI for “content creation ideas.”

Benefits: Efficiency takes the lead, while decision-making and innovation plateau

Seventy percent say increased operational efficiency is the top benefit, even higher than last year’s 50%, showing consolidation around AI’s practical applications. Improved decision-making processes (24%) and enhanced stakeholder experience (15%) follow, both similar to last year.

Cost savings decreased to 13%, while innovation and new product/service development fell sharply, to 4% from 22%. This suggests a more realistic outlook on AI’s transformative potential, or prioritization of core operational improvements. After all, as one leader notes,

“(AI) is not always accurate. Still need to take time to review.”

Even so, AI shines as an efficiency tool, as leaders have discovered. When nonprofit resources are stretched thin, having an aid for repetitive or administrative tasks can be a key time saver, but it is not a one-to-one replacement for human work hours.

Top challenges: Data privacy and ethics rising rapidly

Data privacy and security concerns are the most prevalent challenge, rising to 59% from 47% last year. Ethical and regulatory concerns nearly doubled (43% in 2025 vs. 23% in 2024), indicating growing awareness of risk and compliance issues as boards gain experience and AI regulation comes into focus.

Integration with existing systems remains a major hurdle (39%), while resistance to change (35%) and lack of skilled personnel (30%) round out the list. High implementation costs plummeted as a concern (4% in 2025 vs. 30% last year), possibly reflecting greater availability of lower-cost AI tools or more cautious scale of deployments.

Many aspects of risk related to privacy and ethics should be incorporated into initial and ongoing training. The board, all staff and other stakeholders must understand the risks of free or public AI tools. Because these tools learn from your data and are then used by others, they can expose your organization to risk. When asked what AI topics they’d like to learn more about, several leaders cited security issues, including maintaining confidentiality, protecting data and the like.

Many organizations still lack AI policies

Only 37% of organizations have explicit AI policies or guidelines in place, the good news is that is up from 28% last year, yet still more than half operate without any formal guidance for staff or board members. Policy creation remains fragmented: many nonprofits either borrow templates or adopt state/local government frameworks. A few developed custom guidelines, but confusion persists about policy sources. One leader points out that AI is “changing quicker than we can draft a policy about it!”

Whether or not your organization has guidelines, you must assume your stakeholders, from top leadership to volunteers, are using AI. Prioritize research and discussions around AI best practices and add these topics to your next agenda. Leaders mention getting policy development help from provincial governments, advice and consultancy firms and umbrella associations.

Major knowledge gaps remain in ethics and training

A significant majority (63%) say they haven’t addressed ethical considerations related to AI — a rise from last year (when 44% had implemented guidelines and 30% held training). Only 17% have guidelines; 9% conduct regular ethics training; and committee oversight is rare. Eighty-seven percent report no specific AI-related training for board members, up from 58% last year. Workshops, hands-on sessions and case studies are almost absent and requests for education on responsible, ethical and practical AI use are very common.

Ethical issues around AI are driving headlines, covering topics from intellectual property ownership to labor concerns to environmental effects. Your mission and community create a lens with which your board must evaluate the role of AI in your organization; an arts foundation, for example, must consider the optics of using AI-generated imagery over human-crafted work.

AI brings cautious optimism, more realism

While many leaders are excited about AI’s potential, there’s a marked increase in calls for caution and a "human touch" — and acute concern over how quickly the technology and its risks are evolving. A few now worry that AI’s benefits have been overstated, others point to energy usage and environmental impact, and many express confusion about which tools are best for nonprofit work. To help, Diligent offers AI and ethics certifications to upskill board members, while you can also download these nonprofit resources: how to create an AI governance framework and an AI governance checklist.

How BoardEffect can help with AI governance and AI use

As nonprofit boards navigate AI adoption, BoardEffect’s GovernAI suite stands out as a purpose-built solution designed specifically for the unique challenges of mission-driven organizations. Seamlessly integrated into existing board workflows, GovernAI automates time-consuming tasks like meeting preparation, minute-taking and document search. Unlike generic free AI tools, GovernAI understands the nuances of nonprofit governance, ensuring every board member arrives prepared and every decision is captured with clarity. By empowering boards to operate more efficiently and focus on what matters most, BoardEffect GovernAI helps turn the promise of AI into real, mission-driven impact.