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Nonprofit leaders are embracing artificial intelligence (AI), but not necessarily putting training or responsible use guidelines in place that would maximize its potential while minimizing its risk.
Furthermore, AI adoption appears to be top-down: managers embrace it readily while lower-level staffers approach its use with trepidation, according to data in the 2026 State of Nonprofit AI Adoption and Governance Report from technology nonprofit NTEN and consultancy Bridgespan Group.
The report is based on survey responses from 917 individuals, separated based on their levels, executive (59.7% of respondents) or staff (40.3%) responsibilities, enabling NTEN and Bridgespan Group to observe differences in attitudes.
There are differences. Case in point: Among the rank-and file, 44% say AI is used informally by individual staff and is not organization-supported, while only 32% of executives agreed with this response.
Executives were also more likely to hold that AI is fully integrated into the organization’s work (5% agreed with this, compared with only 2% of staffers); that AI was being used across many teams or workflows (25% vs 23%) or that AI was being used within some teams or small pilot programs (35% vs 29%).
The research also revealed perception differences regarding the main reasons why AI was being adopted by the organization. Each group was allowed to cite multiple justifications. Among executives, top reasons included cost reductions or efficiency increases (63%), reduction of staff burdens (62%), improvements to quality or consistency of work (58%), enabling staff to perform new types of work (51%) and upskilling staffers.
The staffers were less likely to cite a desire for changes in their output and more likely to indicate improving the quality of their working conditions. The reason most often cited by this group was reducing staff burdens (48%), followed by the need to keep up with peers or sector trends (44%), reducing costs or increasing efficiency (42%), improving quality or consistency of work (35%) and having no other option, as AI had been integrated into products the staffers were already using.
As the report authors noted: “Where executives describe deliberate strategy, staff more often describe adoption as something that continues to happen to and around them, driven by external pressures or day-to-day work needs rather than being intentional, collaborative, and planned.”
That finding, which might underscore a lack of agency or the need to generate buy-in among the rank-and-file, might be why 68% of executives are either very or somewhat comfortable using AI as part of their work, while just more than half (55%) of staffers expressed either of those comfort levels. Conversely, 30% of staffers were either very or somewhat uncomfortable, compared with 18% of executives.
Look for executives to become more bullish on expanding AI’s use within their organizations. Eight in 10 either somewhat or strongly agreed there were meaningful opportunities for AI use their organizations were not yet taking advantage of, compared with 56% of staffers. Executives who want to expand use of AI within their organizations should probably put some time into considering staff discontent: 35% of staffers held very or somewhat negative perceptions of AI in their workplaces, compared with only 10% of executives.
Executives are taking steps to, if not win over their staffers, at least provide governance and parameters regarding AI use. More than three-quarters (77%) said their organizations either had or were developing written guidance on safe and responsible AI use, with another 73% either creating or having created rules regarding what data can and cannot be entered into AI tools. Seven in 10 said their organizations had a named owner or group responsible for AI oversight, and 67% either had generated or were generating a plan for managing and mitigating AI-related risks. Roughly two-thirds are or will be providing staff training regarding safe and responsible AI use.
The 2026 State of Nonprofit AI Adoption and Governance Report is based on a survey made accessible to NTEN and Bridgespan’s lists and partners between late- April and mid-June 2026. The report goes into further detail regarding the nature and approval of, and organizational responsibility for, AI implementation, as well as AI-related budgeting, detailed risk concerns, training and support and other topics.
A full copy of the report is available here: https://www.nten.org/publications/state-of-nonprofit-ai
