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October 2023 - Voluntary

Half of charities want to look into AI more but are held back by time, resources and skills: A survey of charities has revealed that 48% would like to look into AI more, but are constrained by lack of time, resources and skills. It also found that around two-fifths are actively trying to get colleagues to engage.

The Charity Digital Skills 2023 report polled 505 charities of varying sizes across the UK between March and May 2023, however, an additional AI-focussed poll was submitted to 100 charities following the closure of the main survey due to ‘an explosion in interest in AI’. The findings of the poll were presented in the main Charity Digital Skills 2023 report.

The additional survey asked questions around generative artificial intelligence tools (GenAI) such as ChatGPT, Google Bard and Microsoft Copilot, finding that almost two-thirds of charity respondents are interested in making use of these emerging technologies (66%). More than a quarter  reported that they are already using such tools (27%) with a similar percentage saying that whilst they are not using it yet, they would like to (26%). 

More than three-quarters of charities agreed that AI is relevant to them and has the potential to be transformative (78%) although 73% said they are not prepared to implement it. 

The research also found that while 64% of large charities have strategic plans to use AI to support their daily operations, just 44% of smaller charities said the same, which the survey authors, Zoe Amar Digital, Think Social Tech and supported by Cataylst say “could potentially create inequalities if larger charities are more likely to benefit from it.”

One of the conclusions made in the report is that charities need more guidance on AI in order to empower their leaders to use it. 

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