Canadian nonprofits are adopting artificial intelligence rapidly, but most are using it narrowly.
High usage numbers can make the sector appear technologically mature. In reality, many organizations still rely on individual employees, public chatbots and informal experimentation rather than documented policies, integrated workflows or organization-wide strategies.
The Canadian experience offers a warning: access to AI is increasing faster than the capacity to manage it.
Adoption Is Already Widespread
Imagine Canada’s 2026 benchmark research found that approximately 80 percent of Canadian nonprofits surveyed were using AI in some form.
Common uses included writing, research, summarization and administrative support, while more advanced applications remained less common. (imaginecanada.ca)
An employee using ChatGPT to rewrite an email means the organization has access to AI. It does not mean the nonprofit has developed an AI capability.
A mature capability requires approved tools, documented workflows, reliable source information, staff training, data protections, human review, accountable ownership and measurable outcomes.
Generative AI Dominates
Ontario nonprofit fundraising research reported that 83 percent of participating organizations were using AI tools, up from 67 percent the previous year. Advanced uses such as donor prospecting and behavioral prediction remained limited. (theonn.ca)
This suggests most nonprofits are using AI where the barrier to entry is lowest—not necessarily where the greatest organizational value exists.
Policy Development Is Lagging
Ontario’s research found that only 11 percent of participating organizations had an AI policy, while another 30 percent were developing one.
A basic policy should address approved applications, prohibited information, human review, vendor security, copyright, disclosure, record retention, accountability and incident reporting.
Confidence and Skills Remain Uneven
Staff may know how to open an AI tool but not how to supply reliable context, recognize hallucinations, protect confidential information, test output quality, document a repeatable workflow or determine when AI should not be used.
Training should be based on actual roles and workflows.
Digital Maturity Matters More Than Organization Size
Organizations with clean data, documented procedures, clear ownership and trained employees can gain more value from simple tools than larger organizations with disorganized information.
AI does not remove the need for operational discipline. It increases it.
Move From Individual Use to Shared Capacity
Useful prompts, policies, tested workflows and lessons learned should become shared organizational assets.
A secure AI Knowledge Hub such as Maisy helps nonprofits organize approved policies, procedures, program information and institutional knowledge within Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
Maisy helps solve one of the central problems revealed by the Canadian research: widespread AI use without a shared, governed knowledge foundation.
The real challenge is turning scattered experimentation into reliable organizational capability before informal use creates avoidable risk.
