The Charity AI Conference: Setting yourself up for success - Online conference on Thursday 17 July

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way charities fundraise, operate and deliver services but with the landscape evolving rapidly, it is vital that charities understand how to use and maximise the benefits of AI to support their mission and not get left behind.

Join us for The Charity AI Conference as we help charities to navigate the changing and developing AI revolution. We will discuss the opportunities that AI brings such as increasing productivity, optimising donor engagement, personalising communications and how to use AI to increase income as well as the AI tools available and when to use each one.

We will also look at how to overcome the risks of AI, how to manage data ethically, ensure security and compliance and how to mitigate bias.

You will hear from charity leaders, fundraisers and AI experts as well as charities who have successfully used AI through a mix of expert led sessions, panel discussions and networking.

By attending The Charity AI Conference, you will gain an increased understanding of AI and how to use it practically in your charity to ensure your charity is set up for success.

Who should attend?

This conference is for anyone working in the charity sector who wants to understand more about AI and how to practically use it to drive their charity forward. It is suitable for those new to AI and those who are already using AI in their role.

The conference will be especially relevant to:

• CEO’s and Directors
• IT Managers
• Marketing teams
• Fundraising teams
• Operations and Service Delivery teams
• AI working groups
• Trustees

What’s included in the price?

• Attendance to the online conference, keynote session, session talks and networking session
• Access to all presentations and handouts
• Recordings of all sessions

Agenda

09.30:  Welcome – Join us for introductions, housekeeping and our schedule for the day.  

09.40:  Keynote: AI – A force for good

AI is a fast-moving item on the agenda for the charity sector in 2025, with potentially huge opportunities and challenges for the way we support our beneficiaries and causes, how we generate and secure funds, and how we run and manage ourselves as organisations. This opening keynote session will explain the importance and relevance of AI for the charity sector and explain why it is essential that charities embrace AI.

10.15: Breakout sessions. Choose from one of the following:

Session A: Understanding the Basics

The use of AI is on the rise as more use it in their role and organisation and it is a topic that many in the sector want to utilise more. However, if you haven’t yet used AI tools or software and want to know more about the basics, this session will break down exactly what AI is. We will cover:

• What AI is
• Terminology used when talking about AI
• Overview of AI tools
• How charities are using AI

Session B: AI in Marketing

In this session, we will look at how to utilise AI in charity marketing including:

• Generating impactful blogs and website content
• Personalised communications such as e-news
• Social media content
• Digital Marketing
• Case studies of charities successfully using AI in marketing

Session C: Personalise your donor experience with AI

We will discuss the impact of AI in fundraising and how it can help:

• Personalise donor communications
• Analyse donor data with AI
• Predict donor behaviour
• Identify new and lapsed donor

Session D: What do trustees need to know about AI?

Trustees play a hugely important role in charities and are responsible for ensuring the charity is governed responsibly, always acting in the best interest of the charity they serve. Trustees need to ensure charities are embracing new trends and new opportunities and so need to be aware of AI and how they can support their charities to utilise AI. In this session, we will look at:

• Key opportunities of AI
• Risks to be aware of when using AI
• Practical steps for trustees so they can support their charities to progress with AI

11.00: Coffee Break 

11.15: Panel discussion: The Impact of AI for the charity sector

There’s no doubt that AI is here to stay but what will the true impact be on the sector? Will successful adoption of AI allow charities to do more with less or will it allow for better results with the same resources? With small charities having a lack of resources, how can they ensure they are not left behind? Join us as we try to answer some of these questions, looking closely at productivity and output and how to prepare for it to add true value to your organisation.

Speakers: Simon Wickes, CISCO; 

12.00:  Case study: A charity’s AI Success Story

With any new and fast-moving tool or technology, it can be difficult to know where to start and how it can positively impact your charity. In this session, we hear from a charity who has successfully used AI across their organisation. Join us as we hear a real life example of how a charity has successfully used AI and how you can replicate this success in your own organisation.

12.45:  Lunch

13.30:  Breakout sessions. Choose from one of the following:

Session A: AI Tools for Charities

With so many tools to use, it can be quite overwhelming and difficult to know where to start. In this session, we will cover some of AI tools available and their key uses giving you more confidence and knowledge on how to use AI in your day to day role.

Session B: Enhancing services with AI

One of the uses of AI in the sector is to enhance and improve services. This session breaks down how to do this effectively and efficiently. It will also include some case studies of how charities have used AI to enhance their services.

Session C: AI your admin

This session will cover the best tools for taking minutes, summarising documents, data entry and reporting and how to work more efficiently

Session D:  AI and funding applications – opportunities and risks?

According to the Charity Digital Skills Report 2024, one in five charities (19%) are using AI tools for tasks such as writing bids and researching funders. We have also found with our own Funder Plus work, that this figure could now be even higher with one funder saying the majority of the 700 applications they received for a recent funding round showed at least some signs of having been put together using AI. And with more and more charities using AI along with the increased demand for funding, it is essential that charities know how to use AI effectively in their applications to stand out and generate the impact they need to secure the funding their charity needs. This session will look at the opportunities and risks involved in using AI in funding applications and give you practical actions to take forward in your next funding application.

14.15: Overcoming the risks of AI

There is no doubt that AI brings huge opportunities and benefits but there are also a number of risks to using AI. This can be really complicated and be a key factor as to why some organisations aren’t diving in to the technology. In this session, we will look at the risks of AI and how to overcome them.

In this session, we will look at:

• Current law and regulations
• Deepfakes
• Cyber security
• Copyright
• Mitigating bias in AI
• EEDI in AI
• Ultra-personalised phishing
• Public views and trust on charities using AI

You will leave the session with more confidence on how to use AI safely and lawfully.

15.00: Coffee and Networking

You will be put in breakout rooms so you can have the opportunity to talk with other delegates over a cuppa and share tips and knowledge.

15.30: Setting yourself up for success

We will close the conference with some practical advice and guidance on how to set yourself up for success. We will look at:

• Creating an AI Policy
• Setting up an AI working group
• Upskilling staff
• How to successfully implement new ways of working

You will leave the session inspired with more knowledge and confidence to integrate AI into your organisation.

16.15:  Closing remarks by conference chair

16.30:  Conference ends

Speaker biographies

Coming soon

Ticket prices