EthiCode Impact

As AI works its way further into everyday life, it's reaching the nonprofit sector too. Using it responsibly raises a host of questions, yet these organisations often lack the resources to work out the ground rules in any depth. We believe civil society organisations deserve proper support in shaping how they use AI — which is why, through EthiCode Impact, we help nonprofits use AI safely, in line with the law, and with the care their cause deserves.

Why does responsible AI use matter in the nonprofit sector?

More and more foundations, associations and nonprofits are putting AI to work in their day-to-day — from campaign planning and communications to drafting and processing documents, managing their databases, or running a chatbot. In practice, how they use it rarely differs from how a business would.

But because of what they do, nonprofits often handle genuinely sensitive data — which means data protection has to be built into their use of AI from the start, so that it stays considered, responsible and lawful. So it isn't only GDPR compliance that deserves close attention, but meeting the relevant requirements of the AI Act too: certain provisions of the EU AI Act apply to civil society organisations as well, depending on the AI systems they use and how they use them. The interests of the people they serve call for no less. Yet nonprofits typically don't have the resources to build proper AI-use and governance frameworks, because their funds go first and foremost to their mission.

EthiCode Impact exists so this doesn't become a burden — so that organisations creating social value can benefit from what AI has to offer without compromising the principles of responsible AI use. We help put the right frameworks in place, scaled to the size of the organisation.

How does EthiCode Impact help?

Through EthiCode Impact, we want to support nonprofits with pro bono professional support, knowledge sharing, and partnerships.

Pro bono professional support

Working together with selected nonprofits, we provide the following free of charge:

• A short, practical review of the organisation's AI Act and data-protection position, and of the legal and ethical requirements
• Basic AI-use training and a policy for staff and volunteers
• A consultation to work through the most important questions together

We tailor the exact scope of the support to the organisation's needs. We provide the same quality as our paid service, in a narrower, well-defined scope. Depending on our capacity, we can help a few organisations each year, by application.

Knowledge sharing

We want practical know-how on responsible AI use to reach as many nonprofits as possible. To that end, we plan to support the sector with free training, webinars and professional resources.

Partnerships

We're open to working with civil society umbrella organisations, nonprofit networks and other professional initiatives — so that together we can help responsible AI use spread, and reach as many nonprofits as possible with the knowledge and practical solutions they need.

Want to propose a partnership? If you represent a civil society umbrella organisation, a nonprofit network or another professional initiative and see scope for joint training, knowledge sharing or other collaboration, feel free to reach us at [email protected].