AI · governance
Your nonprofit needs an AI policy: here's a simple one
By the Ember team · August 28, 2026 · Updated September 24, 2026
An AI use policy is a one-page list of rules for how your team uses AI. The template below says what AI is for, what stays out of it, and who checks the work before it goes out.
Someone on your team already uses AI, and nobody has written down what's okay. The rules don't have to be long or lawyerly.
A copy-and-edit template
- Purpose. We use AI tools to save time on routine work so we can focus on our mission. This policy keeps that use safe and honest.
- Approved uses. Staff and volunteers may use AI to draft, summarize, rewrite, and brainstorm. For example, AI can write a first draft of an email, report, or post.
- Privacy. Keep personal details about donors, clients, volunteers, and staff out of any AI tool that [name / role] has not approved. That includes free and personal accounts. When in doubt, leave it out.
- Accuracy. AI can be confidently wrong. A person must review and verify any AI-assisted content, especially legal, tax, financial, or program facts, before it is used or sent.
- People decisions. AI does not decide who we hire, discipline, or let go, which volunteers we accept, or who we serve. A person makes those calls.
- Human sign-off. Nothing AI-generated is published or sent until a person has reviewed and approved it.
- Transparency. We don't present AI-written material as personal testimony or fabricate quotes, stories, or data.
- Questions. Direct questions to [name / role].
Edit to fit your org, then bring it to your board for adoption. This is a starting template, not legal advice.
How to adopt it
Fill in the blanks
Name, date, and your point person. Cut anything that doesn't apply.
Share it with everyone who uses AI
Staff and volunteers both. It only works if people have read it.
Put it on the board agenda
A quick vote to adopt, and a note to review it once a year as the tools change.
Why a small org needs this
Your team may already use AI to draft emails, grant sections, and social posts. A one-page policy protects two things you can't afford to lose: donor and client privacy, and your credibility. It also gives a nervous board a clear answer to "so what are our rules on this?"
Ember Board Hub
Put the policy on your next agenda, let your board vote on it, and keep the approved minutes as your record. Invite your whole board. Unlimited users on every tier.
A starting template, not legal advice. Adapt it to your organization and your state's laws.