Artificial intelligence trends for 2026

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be one of the most significant game changers. For the charity sector, AI is already transforming work. Organisations are seeing operational efficiencies and deeper insights. At Charity Digital, we believe there’s more in store and we want to emphasise the risks, helping charities to make the right decisions.

 

With that in mind, here’s our top AI predictions for 2026.

 

 

AI will further transform fundraising

 

Take stock of what’s already happening. AI is challenging conventional fundraising by making quick work out of research and grant writing. Finding funding is time consuming. Summarising the existing data, literature reviews, and analysing prior impact reports are typically required for grant applications. Each application is bespoke and requires up-to-date achievements. The writing itself can prove tedious given the number of sections and responses.

 

We expect AI to produce further efficiencies. AI will reshape research and grant writing. Pushing where we see the tech now, AI could commoditise grants. In this scenario, the tech could sweep the internet for funding that matches an organisation’s purpose. There could be opportunities to help leaders identify new funds. 

 

Over the next few years, we expect AI will refine the process. AI may eventually be able to produce a custom first draft of literature reviews, introductions, and research for grant applications. Some of the best AI grant writers already summarise existing materials. It’s possible that AI will help recipients manage grants and generate draft reporting on progress.

 

But an over-reliance on grant-funding could cause problems. AI slop is a genuine risk, with grant funders increasingly saturated with more applications that have been given less thought. Charities should always apply human oversight to grant applications, rather than just adding to pre-existing noise.

 

 

AI expertise will be easier to access

 

AI is already evening the playing field in specialist industries. Legal services are prime examples of how non-legal experts access advice. Used by law firms, Harvey AI empowers legal and financial firms to find their own solutions. The platform explores complex legal and regulatory questions. It provides preliminary suggestions based on the existing body of work. For lawyers, Harvey AI also drafts texts and legal documents, saving client fees and time.

 

Over the next few years, it’s anticipated that AI will empower charities and smaller organisations with expert advice. Similar platforms like Harvey AI might emerge to help charities access legal, financial and strategic advice.

 

Lloyd’s Banking Group highlights how prevalent AI is in accessing financial information. The latest Consumer Digital Index found that more than one-third of users (37%) used AI for investment research and recommendations, while 39% used the tech for financial planning.

 

Platforms are already accessible to individuals. Tendi.AI helps people manage their finances and makes investment suggestions. Using your own data, Tendi.AI provides insights into where money is being spent and helps develop budgeting and financial plans.

 

Taking the technology one step further, it’s not inconceivable that these services will open to businesses and larger organisations.

 

 

Approach AI content with caution

 

AI revolution is already underway in charity marketing and communications. Powerful tools in the space include customised chatbots and content creators. Hootsuite’s chatbot claims to reduce manual responses by 80%. That means, charities can program the service to answer most queries from the public while maintaining the brand persona.

 

Content production is evolving, but the writing itself still leaves a lot to be desired. ChatGPT and Copy.ai are both able to take an idea or question and draft preliminary views. But the outputs are still prone to introducing errors and biases, so we advise charities not to rely on them for anything other than ideation. We are concerned, too, about AI slop, which we’re seeing across the internet, adding to an already concerning eco-system of misinformation.  

 

Graphics are where AI is cutting edge. Platforms like Leonardo AI and others take text prompts and turn them into glossy content. The outputs can be refined with superior editing tools, enabling marketing teams to produce content compliant with branding. Also, the platform creates non-static visuals – those that have short videos or animations are possible. Looking ahead, we expect that charities will make greater use of AI in producing eye-catching content.

 

Summarily, AI enables charities to produce content on par with sophisticated firms. Equally, charities stand to benefit from more efficient marketing and comms platforms.

 

 

Doubling-down on personalisation

 

AI takes personalisation to an ever-greater level of customisation. It means that your donors, audiences, and beneficiaries get a tailored vantage point of your purpose and operations.

 

Optimizely demonstrates how powerful the new tech is. The platform creates custom campaigns and adverts for specific audiences. Using the audience segmentation technique, the platform allows for different personality types. For example, student campaigns can be set to different categories (STEM, arts etc). The personas are matched off with targeted content. Marketers can decide what content is shown across each audience type.

 

Thinking about the future, it’s not unexpected that AI will play a greater role in personalisation. At Charity Digital, we imagine that AI might be used to design charity experiences, donor journeys and engage beneficiaries. When added with big data and analytics, the tech has potential to drive more fundraising and insights.

 

As ever with AI, we want charities to think carefully about its usage. The risks are currently not taken seriously enough, even in our risk-averse sector, and there are genuine concerns about the social consequences of our reliance on AI. So always practice caution.