Supporter charities have warned that there is a “significant disconnect” between charities’ use of AI and board oversight of its use.
charity excellence report, AI in charity 2026which is based on an analysis of sector research and the consultancy’s own research of more than 200 people, says that strategic awareness and governance around AI is “laggard”.
The report references: Charity Digital Skills Report 2025Research shows that 76% of UK charities use some form of AI, most of it informally, with individuals using AI tools on their own.
However, the findings contrast with the Charity Commission’s Trust in Charities survey. The same survey found that just 3% of trustees said their charity uses AI at all, rising to 8% for larger charities.
“This highlights the significant gap between what is happening in the business and what the board believes,” the report said.
It added that the Charity Commission has also made clear that trustees will continue to have legal responsibility for how AI is used, including risks around data protection, safeguarding, bias and decision-making.
“In the charity sector, the use of AI is already commonplace, but strategic awareness and governance have lagged behind,” the report warns.
An exclusive study by Charity Excellence of over 220 charities in the UK found that over 60% of charities are still in the early stages of using AI.
Almost a quarter are progressing with implantation, but less than 3 percent are fully implanted.
Only 5% were actively trying to avoid the use of AI, but this figure rose to 14% in a March survey of 205 grantmakers by Charity Excellence.
A survey of charities found that around 61 per cent of respondents strongly agreed that their charity cannot afford to be left behind when it comes to implementing AI, with half of respondents agreeing that AI is a huge opportunity.
Only about 17% said they did not think AI was relevant to their job.
However, the report suggests there is a “dangerous gap” between charities’ perception of AI as a potentially transformative opportunity and the public’s perception of its use.
This refers to Charity Tracker’s Public Perceptions survey. The survey found that 36% of UK adults feel positively about using AI for charity work, while 27% feel negatively and 37% remain unsure.
“This split suggests that most people are still forming their own opinions, rather than having fixed ones,” the report says.
However, the survey found that trust “dramatically declines” when AI influences human decision-making, with 38% of respondents saying it would be unacceptable for charities to use AI to decide who receives support.
We also found that only 13 percent of people are uncomfortable with their sensitive personal data being used in AI systems, and 36 percent say data security risks are their primary concern.
“There is far less tolerance for AI to replace human judgment, shape narratives about vulnerable people, or operate without transparency,” the Charity Excellence report said.
