Artificial intelligence technologies have been in the news for some time, often with sensational stories of incredible promises, disastrous impact, or even world-ending doom. In 2023, NTEN and our partners at Institute For the Future began a community process to convene dozens of people from diverse nonprofit missions, foundations, technology companies, and nonprofit advisors. Through this community process, we surfaced a few key points:
- Everyone, regardless of their work or organization, has the responsibility to understand how to build or use AI tools.
- Real harm comes from how AI technologies are currently built and applied to our missions, which we need to understand and be accountable for.
- Contemplating the creation or use of AI tools is complex, and we benefit from taking complex approaches to those considerations.
These key points and many questions, ideas, and challenges that surfaced through our community process led NTEN and IFTF to create the AI Framework for an Equitable World. This framework is a guide and tool for surfacing questions, identifying areas of evaluation or investigation, and embedding equity and transparency values into every AI-related project.
What's your experience with AI? Do you have questions about the framework or your own resources to share? Join the open conversation in the NTEN General Discussion online group.
Thank you to our supporting partners at Microsoft and Okta and to all the community members and expert practitioners who contributed your ideas, experience, and challenges to this process.
There's even more to come: We will soon publish additional resources and template policies, which will be available on this page.
VIEW THE FRAMEWORK (PDF, 566 KB)VIEW THE DIAGRAM ONLY (PDF, 483 KB)Thank you to the many contributors to this project, including:
Jessica Bither
Afua Bruce
Sarah Di Troia, Project Evident
Erin Baudo Felter, Okta
FORM
Zach Goldstein, Full Frame Initiative
Toshi Hoo, Institute For the Future
Beth Kanter
Rachel Kribbs
Tracy Kronzak, PledgeNoHate.tech
Natania LeClerc
Matt Levy, First Place for Youth
Margaret Meagher, Crisis Text Line
Erin Mote, EDSAFE AI Alliance
Tristan Penn, NTEN
Richelle Pittella, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Kate Ryan
Aki Shibuya
Jason Shim, Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience
Dar Veverka
Tessa Vithayathil, Common Impact
Amy Sample Ward, NTEN
Peter York, BCT Partners
Resources
Generative AI Use Policy: A Template for Organizations
This Generative AI Use Policy Template is designed to provide organizations with a framework for ethical, responsible, and transparent AI governance.
GAI tools approved for organization employee use – Exhibit A
A template providing documentation for each approved generative AI tool for organizational use.
Dos and don'ts for chatbots and similar GAI tools – Exhibit B
Help protect your organization by following these dos and don’ts of using approved generative AI tools.
Example questions for generative AI vendors – Exhibit C
Before purchasing a generative AI product from a third-party company, consider asking the following questions to ensure you have a clear understanding of the product’s capabilities, data usage, and potential impact on your nonprofit organization.
Policy narrative: Generative AI and the social sector
Understand the use cases and risk factors of using generative AI in the social sector. Explore potential benefits and risk mitigation strategies of this tool.
Equitable AI project planning worksheet
The AI framework is a practical and actionable tool. This worksheet helps you surface considerations across the framework to support you in any type or phase of AI project.
AI Policy Template | ANB Advisory
A template AI policy for nonprofits with sections tailored to both those organizations that build technology and those that do not. This resource was developed by ANB Advisory, an NTEN partner.
Board talking points | ANB Advisory
This document is designed to provide you with a series of talking points to raise AI use with your board, and to have an informed discussion about how your organization will approach AI.
