AI That Reflects Your Values: Free Tools for Nonprofits

Most nonprofits are stuck between banning AI and letting everyone use it quietly. Neither is a plan. These three tools help you find the policy that’s already inside your mission, write it down in an afternoon, and check every new tool against it. They’re free, there’s no form to fill out, and you can start with your team this week.

If you read the article in MCN’s Nonprofit News or joined the session at the MCN Annual Conference, this is the kit we talked about.

How the three pieces fit together:

Start with the worksheet. Use the template to write it down. Use the checklist every time someone brings you a new tool.

Your AI Values Charter (worksheet)

Your mission already contains your AI policy. This one-page exercise digs it out. You’ll name what your community trusts you with, write the headline you never want to read about yourselves, and turn both into “we always” and “we never” sentences. Takes about thirty minutes with your team and a whiteboard.

One-Page AI Policy (template)

A fill-in-the-blanks policy organized under the five ETHOS letters. Your sentences from the worksheet go on the commitment lines. Add the tools you’ve approved and who’s responsible for each, date it, pick a review date, and you’re done. Most organizations fit the whole thing on one page.

The ETHOS Checklist

Five questions to walk through before any AI tool touches your mission: Equity, Transparency, Humans, Ownership, Stewardship. A box you can’t check yet isn’t a no. It’s your homework before the tool goes live.

Build your policy online

Prefer to work on screen? The guided version walks your team through all three steps and prints a finished policy at the end. Nothing is saved on our servers, so print before you close the page.

Questions?

If you’d like a hand running this with your team, or you’ve built a policy and want a second set of eyes, I’m glad to talk.
Contact Heather