Our non profit and charity AI policy template can be used by any organisation to create its own bespoke AI policy and road map to ensure its use of AI is ethical, effective and keeps the charity and its community safe. This webpage is a very short, simple overview of the full toolkit, which also includes annexes. You can download a copy by logging in and asking the in-system AI bunny for a copy (use his policy button), or from the Governance questionnaire.
If you complete all questionnaires (a couple of hours), you will then be able to run AI Ready in the query system to fully audit you charity's readiness. Alternatively, use the online Charity AI Ready toolkit and resources. We also have 60+ free policy downloads, all of which have been amended to reflect AI requirements, where appropriate. For smaller charities this includes a simple charity AI policy.
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In February 2026, we will publish our new AI Made Simple for Trustees and Management free online course and them our Making AI Work for Your Organisation course. These will give you everything you need to adapt to AI quickly, effectively and safely. You can order or pre-order all of our free AI courses at Charity Excellence Learning.
This framework is a simple, practical and flexible template for anyone using AI in the charity sector. Simply add, amend or delete to meet your needs.
This AI governance and ethics framework has been developed to ensure that the use of AI within our charity is ethical and legal, by meeting high standards of fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy, and non-discrimination in developing, running, and overseeing any AI systems we commission, create, develop, manage or use.
This policy applies to all trustees, other volunteers, employees, contractors, and third-party representatives working on our behalf. Its requirements should be reflected in other policies and procedures, agreements and contracts, as necessary.
We define Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the ability of machines or software to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence. AI systems can process data, learn from it, and make decisions or predictions based on that data. AI is a broad field that encompasses many different types of systems and approaches to machine intelligence, including rule-base AI, machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing and robotics.
A registered charity ourselves, the CEF works for any non profit, not just charities.
Plus, 60+ policies, 8 online health checks and the huge resource base.
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The Charity AI Ethics & Governance Framework was informed by the work of others, including:
This charity AI Governance and Ethics Framework is for general interest only and does not constitute professional legal or financial advice. I'm neither a lawyer, nor an accountant, so not able to provide this, and I cannot write guidance that covers every charity or eventuality. I have included links to relevant regulatory guidance, which you must check to ensure that whatever you create reflects correctly your charity’s needs and your obligations. In using this resource, you accept that I have no responsibility whatsoever from any harm, loss or other detriment that may arise from your use of my work. If you need professional advice, you must seek this from someone else. To do so, register, then login and use the Help Finder directory to find pro bono support. Everything is free.
Ethics Note: AI was used in the initial draft of this framework. All of our work is subject to human oversight and checking before being published. . This work was last updated Feb 25.