Three quarters (76%) of UK charities are using AI in their organisations, with more than a third (38%) intending to expand its use this year, research by JustGiving has found.

In a survey of 150 charity leaders from across the UK, 29% of respondents said they were using AI in a limited way across their organisations and planned to expand its use this year. More than a quarter (26%) said they were already using AI widely across their organisations and 21% said they were planning to continue to use AI in a limited way.

9% said they were not yet using AI but had plans to introduce it, and only 11% said they were neither using AI currently nor had plans to introduce it.

The research was commissioned as part of JustGiving’s 25 Years of Giving report, which explores how fundraising and charitable giving has evolved over the 25 years and examines the trends which will shape its future.

The findings reveal the extent to which AI has already been adopted across the charity sector and suggest its use is set to increase further this year.

How are charities using AI

JustGiving’s research show that AI is currently being used to tackle a variety of different challenges by charities:

· 39% are using AI to evaluate the effectiveness of their fundraising activity
· 37% are using AI to monitor sentiment and attitudes around their charity
· 35% are using AI in their data analysis and to create insights to support fundraising strategies
· 31% are using AI to improve donor communication
· 29% are using AI to create and share social media content
· 24% are using AI to improve administration and operational efficiency
· 23% are using AI to help copywriting for charity literature

When asked about the areas in which they were planning to introduce further AI use this year, evaluating fundraising activity, analysing data to support fundraising strategies and creating and distributing social media content were the most common responses from charity leaders;

· 39% are planning to further introduce AI to support with evaluating fundraising activity
· 36% are planning to further introduce AI to analyse their data and generate insights to inform their fundraising strategies
· 35% are planning to further introduce AI to help create and share social media content
· 29% are planning to further implement AI to monitor attitudes and sentiment around their charity
· 28% are planning to further implement AI to support with administration and operational efficiency
· 27% are planning to further implement AI to streamline and improve donor communications
· 26% are planning to further implement AI to support with copywriting for charity literature

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager at JustGiving, said : “AI is currently at the heart of extensive discussions across organisations. What’s particularly interesting about these findings is how charities are leading the charge in embracing the opportunities that AI presents

“It’s evident that a significant majority of charities are already leveraging AI across a wide range of activities. What’s more, many charities are actively looking to expand its use in the coming year. It will be interesting to see how that impacts the future of fundraising and charitable giving.

“At JustGiving, we took the step last year to integrate AI into our platform, creating an option for fundraisers to use the technology to create compelling narratives for their fundraising pages, helping to increase the donations they receive for their causes. We’re continuing to explore ways in which we can further enhance the way we use AI to support our fundraisers and look forward to working with our charity partners to share our learnings and realise the benefits AI can deliver.”

---