Charity AI skills gap a global threat

Posted on 18 Sep 2025

By Matthew Schulz, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia

Charity Digital Skills Report2025 — Access the full report

A UK study shows that while 76 per cent of charities there are using artificial intelligence – the same rate as Australian organisations reached in 2024 – organisations are concerned their chief executives and boards lack the AI skills they need to do their jobs.

The 2025 Charity Digital Skills Report – which surveyed 672 charities – revealed that:

AI skills were low, with 35 per cent of respondents saying they were poor users, and another 29 per cent saying they did not use AI at all
36 per cent said their CEOs had poor AI skills
44 per cent said their boards were poor at AI
50 per cent of respondents were struggling to keep pace with the latest AI trends
49 per cent of organisations were prioritising developing their strategy for digital, data and AI
74 per cent recognised AI developments were relevant to them.

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“AI is widening the gap between large and small charities and this could deepen inequality both within and outside the sector”.

Zoe Amar

Larger charities were somewhat in front of other organisations, with 89 per cent using AI in some fashion, compared to 72 per cent of smaller groups. Two-thirds (68 per cent) of larger charities were in the process of developing an AI policy, compared to 48 per cent overall.

Report author Zoe Amar, the founder of Zoe Amar Digital, said in the report that “AI is widening the gap between large and small charities and this could deepen inequality both within and outside the sector”.

According to the study, the top uses for AI were:

drafting and structuring documents and reports
administrative tasks
developing online content
writing grant applications
generating ideas
communications and fundraising
research and information gathering.

Charity Digital Skills Report2025 AI uses — Results of the 2025 Charity Digital Skills Report

The study showed few charities were using AI for more advanced tasks such as impact evaluation (17 per cent), qualitative data analysis (15 per cent), numerical analysis (13 per cent), service delivery (seven per cent), recruitment (five per cent) or predictive analytics (four per cent).

Amar said it was worrying that many organisations (37 per cent) had not taken specific actions to develop their AI use.

“There is a risk that many will continue to use AI in day-to-day work tasks (and stay stuck in the exploring stage), without looking at this strategically or actively weighing up the risks and benefits of implementing AI tools across their organisation,” Amar says in the report.

Amar has produced a free eight-part video series, AI Leadership Essentials, in collaboration with Microsoft, to respond to a “huge appetite from leaders for support with AI”.