The Institute of AI runs AI for All, its public programme, and through it UK charities get free, practical help to use AI safely and well. Pro bono advice, plain-English resources, and events, with no fee attached and nothing to buy at the end. This page sets out safe first use cases for AI in the charity sector, and how to get support.
Most charities do not need a strategy document or a new system to make a useful start with AI. They need a handful of everyday tasks where a good tool saves real time without putting anyone at risk. Fundraising copy, first drafts, routine replies, quick summaries: the ordinary work that fills a week and rarely gets easier.
The Institute of AI is the UK’s professional body for AI, and AI for All is how it puts that expertise within reach of the organisations least able to pay for it. For the charity sector that means honest guidance, not a sales pitch. The right first steps are the low-risk ones, chosen so that a person always stays in control and the personal information you hold is never handed to a tool it should not touch.
The use cases below are the ones IoAI points charities to first. Each is genuinely helpful, each keeps a human in the loop, and each comes with the one caution that keeps it safe.
Concrete starting points, not a wish list. For each one, the task it does, why it is a safe first step, and the caution that keeps it that way, especially around the personal data charities hold.
Turn a short brief into a first draft of an appeal, a supporter newsletter, or a set of social posts in your charity’s voice.
The stakes are low and a person edits every word before it goes out, so a rough draft only ever saves time. It never speaks for you unchecked.
Keep donor names and personal details out of the prompt. Describe the audience in general terms instead.
Get a structured starting point for a funding bid: the case for support, the outcomes you expect, and the budget narrative.
A draft written against the funder’s own questions is far quicker to improve than a blank page, and your team still supplies the real evidence and figures.
Never paste confidential beneficiary data or unpublished financials. Add those by hand once the draft is yours.
Draft clear, consistent replies to the questions you are asked again and again, from opening times to how to volunteer or donate.
These answers are already public and low-risk, so a drafted reply that a person approves simply frees staff for the harder conversations.
Do not let a tool answer safeguarding, crisis, or personal-circumstance enquiries. Route those straight to a trained person.
Condense meeting minutes, board papers, or a long report into a short summary the whole team can read quickly.
Summarising something you already hold, then checking it against the original, is a contained task with an easy way to spot mistakes.
Anonymise anything about a named individual first. Personal or sensitive data should not go into a general AI tool at all.
Produce a first-pass translation, or a plain-English version, of a leaflet, form, or web page for the people you serve.
It widens who your service can reach, and a fluent speaker or a colleague can review the result before anyone relies on it.
Have a person check anything legal, medical, or safety-related. A first pass is a starting point, not a finished translation.
AI for All is the Institute of AI’s public programme. For UK charities it means advice, resources, and events with no fee attached, whatever your size and whatever your budget.
A conversation with people who understand both AI and the constraints charities work under. Where to start, what to leave alone for now, and how to set simple guardrails your trustees can stand behind.
Plain-English guides, a prompt library, and free Learn AI content, made so a busy team with no technical background can follow them and put them to use the same week.
Sessions and workshops that meet you where you are, from a first look at what AI can and cannot do to using it safely across a whole organisation.
No budget needed, and no catch. Charities pay nothing, and there is nothing to buy at the end. The independence that makes IoAI’s accreditation credible is the same independence that lets its advice be genuinely on your side.
Explore AI for All: Charities for pro bono advice, resources, and events at no cost, or sign the free UK AI Readiness Charter to give your trustees a clear standard to work to.
The programme home for charities: pro bono advice, a prompt library, and free events to get your team started.
Explore charities supportFree, practical AI support for the wider voluntary sector, from small community groups to national bodies.
For the voluntary sectorA free, public set of pledges for using AI well. A clear first step your trustees can stand behind.
Read the Charter
