Charities struggle to find the skills to adopt AI

The number of charities using artificial intelligence (AI) tools has increased over the past year, but many believe they lack the appropriate skills for the technology, according to research by The charity digital skills report.

The report, which was established in 2017, found 76% of charities in the UK are now using AI, but 35% of charities said they aren’t good at using AI tools and 29% said they don’t use them at all.

AI governance was also cited as an issue, with many saying their CEO and/or board members don’t have appropriate skills to make a proper plan, although 48% are now developing an AI policy.

Nissa Ramsay, co-author of the report, said that many charities are using AI in creative ways, including for writing bids, fundraising and comms, but that a lack of funding has stood in the way of digital adoption in many cases, especially in charities with a lack of digital skills.

She said: “For those with limited digital skills and capacity, only 30% accessed funding which covered digital costs, compared to 55% of those at the advancing stage [where they are investing in digital]. The report really demonstrates why we urgently need to find ways to make digital tools, skills, approaches and funding more accessible.”

Digital skills needed for day-to-day life in the UK are already lacking, and worryingly this could get worse in the wake of fast-changing technology such as AI. This means it isn’t necessarily surprising that many charities are without the skills needed for adopting digital technologies.

The report found that charities want to be using technology, but just don’t always have the means to be doing so – 39% claimed to not be very adept at using website and analytics data, and half of charities admitted to not using AI to keep abreast of current tech trends, something many charities want to get better at.

How far along charities are in their digital journey directly correlates with a higher level of digital skill. The Charity digital skills report asked charities to rate their level of digital skill in areas such as using digital tools, using AI, collecting and analysing data, and keeping up with trends. Those very early on in their digital journey were less likely to rate themselves as good, whereas those at an advanced stage of digital adoption rated themselves as excellent in most areas, with 100% of charities at an advanced level of digital adoption rating themselves excellent at using digital tools for everyday work.

When it comes specifically to skills in AI, even charities established in their digital journey aren’t fully able to take advantage of the tech, with only 57% of charities at this stage rating themselves excellent-to-fair at using AI for daily work.

This drops further at other stages of digital adoption – 37% of those who are investing but not yet fully established in their journey consider themselves excellent-to-fair at using AI for everyday tasks, compared with 24% of those starting out and 26% of those who are just curious about digital.

More than half of charities are in these early stages of digital adoption. They are curious about technology and are just starting out with adoption, although this differs regionally as well as between large and small charities, with larger charities more likely to be advancing with digital adoption while more smaller charities are just starting out.

As mentioned by Ramsay, one of the biggest barriers for charities is financial, with 69% of charities saying that a lack of funds is the main reason they’re struggling with digital adoption, despite wanting to be more technologically enabled. This isn’t the only problem, however, with lots of charities wanting to use more tech but not having a digital strategy or being unable to use data to make decisions about the direction they should be going with tech.

More than 60% of charities have increased their level of digital adoption over the past year, and 74% recognise that developments in emerging technologies such as AI are relevant to them. Almost 30% of charities have made progress in looking into or adopting AI tools in the past year, as well as looking at AI use cases and their pros and risks. But 64% of charities want their CEO to be clearer about the direction they are going with digital adoption, and this concern has increased year on year.

As well as a skills gap, charities seem to have a knowledge gap, the report explained, with almost a quarter of charities saying data security and governance are low priority, which is a dangerous attitude when adopting any technology, emerging or not.