Brief your trustees on AI risks and opportunities

The problem

Your trustees are asking about AI but you're not sure what to tell them. Some are enthusiastic and want to adopt everything immediately. Others are worried about risk and want to avoid AI entirely. Neither position is helpful. You need to give them a balanced, practical briefing that covers governance duties, real risks, and genuine opportunities - without hype or scaremongering.

The solution

Use an AI tool to help you draft a board-ready briefing paper that covers what AI means for your charity specifically. Feed it your charity's context (size, sector, current tech, beneficiary profile) and ask it to generate a balanced briefing covering opportunities, risks, governance duties, and recommended next steps. You edit heavily to make it yours - this is augmentation, not delegation.

What you get

A 3-5 page trustee briefing paper covering: what AI is (without jargon), specific opportunities for your charity, genuine risks to consider, Charity Commission expectations on AI governance, recommended next steps, and a proposed approach. Ready for your next board meeting.

Before you start

• Basic understanding of what your charity does and its current technology use
• Knowledge of your beneficiary profile and data handling
• Awareness of any AI tools staff are already using (formally or informally)

When to use this

• Trustees are asking about AI and you need a structured response
• You want to propose AI adoption and need board buy-in
• Your charity has no AI governance position and needs one
• New regulatory guidance touching on AI governance has been published (e.g., updated Charity Governance Code) and trustees need briefing
• Other charities in your sector are adopting AI and trustees want to understand the implications

When not to use this

• Your trustees already have strong AI understanding (skip the basics)
• You need technical implementation advice (this is governance-level, not hands-on)
• You're looking for a generic briefing - the value is in making it specific to your charity

Steps

1. 1

   Gather your charity context

   Write down: what your charity does, who you serve, how many staff/volunteers, what technology you use, what data you hold, any AI tools already in use (even informally). This context makes the briefing specific rather than generic.

2. 2

   Draft the briefing with AI assistance

   Paste your context into Claude or ChatGPT with this prompt: 'I need to brief my charity's board of trustees on AI. Our charity [paste context]. Draft a board briefing paper covering: (1) What AI means for charities like ours (plain English, no jargon), (2) Three specific opportunities we should consider, (3) Key risks including data protection, accuracy, and bias, (4) Charity Commission and ICO expectations on AI governance, (5) Recommended next steps. Keep it to 3-5 pages. Use a formal but accessible tone appropriate for a board paper.'

3. 3

   Challenge and improve the draft

   Don't just accept what the AI produces. Ask follow-up questions: 'What risks have you missed?' 'Are those opportunities realistic for a charity our size?' 'What would a sceptical trustee challenge here?' Use the AI as a thinking partner to stress-test the briefing. Add your own knowledge of what your trustees care about.

4. 4

   Add your own voice and judgement

   Rewrite the AI draft in your own words. Add real examples from your charity. Remove anything generic or that doesn't apply. Include your own recommendation - the board wants to know what you think, not what an AI thinks. If you're unsure about something, say so honestly rather than presenting AI-generated confidence.

5. 5

   Include practical next steps

   End with concrete recommendations: adopt an AI acceptable use policy, run a staff survey on current AI use, pilot one low-risk AI project, set a review date. Give trustees something to approve rather than just information to absorb. Include costs if relevant.

Tools

Resources