Three ways charities can learn more about AI in 2026 

The charity sector is always seeking ways to save time and stretch their resources, to deliver more impact with their often limited budgets. Artificial intelligence (AI) is understandably, therefore, a hot topic for charities, promising to boost productivity, automate laborious tasks, and give charities time back to plan for the future – something they often struggle to do amid rising demand for their services.   

The charity sector is only at the beginning of its AI journey, and given the pace of AI adoption, it can be difficult to keep up with new use cases, figure out which new technology to invest in, and learn how to use it effectively.   

Below, we explore three ways that charities can learn more about AI technology, with support from technology experts TechSoup.

Find free resources  

Getting started with AI can seem like an especially daunting task for charities, who are understandably hesitant and risk-averse given the high stakes involved in their work. Finding AI advice can also be challenging, with budgets often limited.   

Fortunately, there are lots of free and helpful resources out there for charities, from webinars to e-guides, all of which can support organisations on their AI journey.  

TechSoup is dedicated to helping charities make the most of their digital technology, and as such, has shared many free AI resources. Its recent report, The State of AI in Nonprofits 2025, benchmarks AI adoption, impact, and trends in the sector, sharing practical applications and actionable strategies for leveraging AI. It also explores the challenges around AI and its ethics, making it a useful resource for charities to make informed decisions on how to use the technology responsibly.  

Download the full report 

TechSoup also hosted a two-part webinar series to help organisations unlock generative AI and use Microsoft Copilot effectively. The first webinar runs through the main points charities need to know about generative AI, while the second part explores charity-specific use cases and features a handy demonstration. You can watch the first session below.  

Start with tools you know  

Microsoft Copilot is a great example of a place to start when exploring AI. It works across your existing Microsoft 365 products, including Outlook, Excel, Word, and OneNote, and can produce analysis and other outputs specific and relevant to you by pulling information from your Microsoft documents and applications in a way that other tools can’t.   

Microsoft Copilot keeps your data secure and private within your ecosystem, and outputs remain within the Microsoft 365 service boundary, in keeping with its current privacy, security, and compliance commitments. Microsoft Graph data isn’t used to train the AI model. You can find more information about how your data is processed and handled by Microsoft in this article on Copilot for 365.  

Charities can purchase Microsoft Copilot at a discount through TechSoup, allowing them to explore its agent-building capabilities and more without investing significant sums of money.   

Microsoft’s reports on its earliest Copilot users revealed that seven in ten of them felt they were more productive, and people using it to catch up on missed meetings were able to do so four times faster. There are many other great Copilot uses too – including building bespoke AI agents to support researching grant funds, for example.   

Invest in new skills  

AI alone is not the answer to all charity challenges. It is a tool that can be used to help tackle some challenges – but as with any tool, what matters is that people know how to use it.   

Investing in staff digital skill building has historically been a challenge for the charity sector. More than two in five charities told the 2025 Charity Digital Skills report that growing staff or volunteer digital skills was a top priority. A similar proportion said that lack of technical expertise or someone to lead on digital was a barrier to progressing.   

AI is an emerging technology, but one that has dominated much of the discussion around how charities can innovate in recent years. It is important, therefore, that charities seize the opportunity to get ahead and invest in AI skills now to make adopting the technology more strategic and sustainable in the future.  

TechSoup offers charities an on-demand practical course to help them explore AI and get to grips with the technology: Exploring AI with Microsoft Tools. The course focuses on introducing participants to AI and generative AI, the ethics and principles around the tech, how to use it effectively with prompt-engineering, and more. There are four sessions involved in the course and charities gain an overview of AI’s capabilities and how nonprofits can use it to their benefit.   

As well as sharing AI expertise, TechSoup offers a wide array of courses for charities, from data analytics to cyber security. These two areas are inextricably linked with AI – AI’s outcomes depend on good input data, while understanding the principles of cyber security helps charities keep data safe and secure, particularly when using AI tools. Investing in these digital skills can be valuable to ensure the charity is always operating responsibly, while giving teams the best tools available to help them deliver more impact.   

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