Data: AI’s silent threat to charities

Written by Kerry Taylor, Director of Partnerships – The BIG Alliance and Digital Lead for ELBA

Since 2022, I myself have been to numerous events hosted for charities and community partners discussing the transformative effect of AI that could be had on the third sector. 

“It can help with donor engagement!” 

“It can automise data analysis!” 

“It can improve impact reporting!” 

All true and exciting ideas, but there is a catch. Data compliance is not something I have heard discussed at these events or on the multiple articles on AI, but this is a topic that is going to be a big deal for community partners when they are having to show their compliance as part of funding reports and partnerships. There is a critical need for more insight and support for the third sector on what this means, and what steps they should be taking. 

ELBA is currently having a new AI policy created, along with staff training on our AI tools, alongside clear guidance on what is permissible in terms of use. AI tools that are ‘boxed in’ (i.e. the data inputted stays within your system) are still very expensive to onboard, with most community partners only able to access free tools such as ChatGPT. The catch being any data entered is then in the remit of that tool, with the data being used to further train AI, meaning it is out there in the digital wild for all to access. And community partners have a lot of data…of volunteers, beneficiaries, partners and costings, all sensitive and much of it confidential. 

So what next? ELBA is looking to share the AI training we create with wider community partners, with loose guidance on what to think about with AI, and we will be looking to engage our business partners in this space more. AI policies, staff training and research into the various AI tools and their data practices are all asks we will start sourcing volunteers to support with – if you have an AI / Legal team that could help, please get in touch!

To stay up to date with the latest news, opportunities and success stories, please sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, here.