You hold health records, housing status, immigration information, abuse histories, children's data. Your donors trust you with their generosity. When you adopt AI tools without understanding what happens to that data, you risk betraying both. For organizations working in advocacy, human rights, immigration, or domestic violence services, a data exposure could endanger lives.
That data has just been sent to OpenAI's servers. Most free-tier plans don't guarantee training exclusion. This is happening daily at nonprofits across the country. The solution: a clear policy that no donor PII, constituent records, case notes, or financial data enters any AI tool without leadership approval.
Yes. A proactive transparency statement signals maturity and respect. Donors are more scared of discovering you use AI secretly than of knowing you use it responsibly.
If your nonprofit receives federal funding and uses AI tools, the politics of AI procurement now affect you. Be LLM-agnostic. Diversify tools the same way you diversify funding sources.
- No donor PII or constituent data into AI tools without leadership approval. High
- Audit biometric data collection (time clocks, security cameras, photo databases). High
- Brief your board on AI governance (even 15 minutes next meeting). High
- Draft a stakeholder-facing AI transparency statement. Medium
- Be LLM-agnostic. Diversify AI vendors. Medium
Next Steps
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