Nonprofits around the world acknowledge the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), yet many have not yet passed the barriers to adoption, according to a new report from Google.

The report Nonprofits and Generative AI presents findings from a survey of 4,600 organizations that use Google for Nonprofits across 65 countries. A companion article, “3 insights from nonprofits about generative AI,” highlighted key takeaways.

1) 75% of nonprofits said that generative AI had the potential to transform their marketing efforts.

Nonprofits are most likely to use generative AI to create routine and/or customized content for marketing, fundraising, and program management, said the report. Recent research from MIT underscores the relevance of this finding, noting that generative AI can speed production of simple business communications by 40% and increase quality by 18%.

Most respondents (81%) also said they thought generative AI may be applicable to the communities they serve.

2) Two-thirds of nonprofits said a lack of familiarity with generative AI was their biggest barrier to adoption.

A substantial number of survey respondents—two out of five—were not using generative AI to support and expand their efforts. Only one-quarter of respondents said they have “concrete ideas” around how generative AI applies to their organization.

Nonprofits expressed concern about the time needed to learn the technology in an environment that already faces limited resources, said the report. According to the report, survey respondents named these factors as barriers to using generative AI:

• Awareness. A lack of familiarity with generative AI and its use cases (64%)
• Tools. Selecting which generative AI resources/tools to use and implementation (62%)
• Funding. Lack of funding to support generative AI usage (51%)
• Training. Inability to access sufficient training (50%).

3) 40% of nonprofits said nobody in their organization was educated in AI.

Respondents said the need for generative AI training was highest among volunteers, Chief Executive Officers, and marketing staff.

See the full report for more findings.

Google Resources for Nonprofits

Google for Nonprofits offers several resources and a grant program to support nonprofits in this space.

Google Workspace for Nonprofits brings together Google apps like Gmail, Google Meet, Calendar, and document management. An add-on called Gemini for Google Workspace adds generative AI tools. It can help nonprofits write grant applications, create marketing and fundraising assets, and manage events and volunteers. See “5 ways nonprofits can use Gemini” and the Gemini productivity guide for more information.

Google Ad Grants offers eligible nonprofits $10,000 of in-kind advertising each month to create text-based search ads. These ads show when someone uses Google to look for products and services related to a nonprofit’s offerings.

Other AI products include responsive search ads, where Google Ads automatically tests different combinations of creative and learns which ads perform best. Google says that advertisers that use Google’s AI to support their ad campaigns see 12% more conversions on average.