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Employee survey highlights charities as least likely to be using AI in the workplace
Melanie May | 28 January 2025 | News
A survey of employees in 12 industries and professions has found those in charities and not-for-profit organisations the least likely to be using AI.
Overall, the Access Group’s survey found that half use AI today. Most likely to be using it were those in the tech sector (74%) and in HR (68%). Charities and not-for-profit organisations are least likely to use it (29%), just behind health and social care (30%).
The research is based on 1,134 responses to a survey, with each industry / profession accounting for 10% of these.
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Reducing workload & helping productivity
Respondents who already use AI in their charity or not-for-profit highlighted a number of benefits, of which reducing workload (62%) and helping productivity (45%) were seen as the biggest. 32% said it saves money, while 28% felt it gives staff time to focus on what matters most, and 28% also said it resulted in better customer service.
ChatGPT most popular AI tool
ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the sector, with around 51% using it – just behind the all-sector average of 55%. Around 46% also say generative AI tools like ChatGPT have relieved stress or anxiety about their job or workload.
Shaf Mansour, Senior Product Manager at Access, Non Profit Division, said:
“Many charities run on a shoestring without in-house technical expertise to innovate using new capabilities such as AI. Tight budgets and limited resource only strengthen the case for adopting AI due to the efficiencies that can be made. Our survey showed around 36% of professionals in the sector use generative AI for content creation, so it could be a huge help speeding up the content creation process for campaigns across websites, social media and email.”
Ropinder Gill, Chief Executive at Lymphoma Action, which is looking at how best to use AI, commented:
“Like other digital tools, using AI for certain aspects of our work could free up staff and volunteer time to do more of what we do best – supporting people affected by lymphoma and their families. We’ve been developing our approach to AI with input from our community and through a cross-team working group who have helped to put policies and guidance in place to support staff whilst they learn and explore. We feel this is the best way to ensure that our use of AI is ethical, effective and transparent whilst also enabling us to be innovative.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.