Today, generative AI and emerging agentic technologies are rapidly reshaping the very systems philanthropy seeks to influence. These tools can create, analyze, and increasingly act on information—and are already affecting access to jobs, shaping healthcare inequities, and influencing how communities experience climate-related challenges, creating new risks and opportunities for communities and the systems they rely on.
At the same time, for many foundations, this translates into a few persistent questions:
- Where does AI meaningfully intersect with our mission?
- How do we engage responsibly amid real risks and harms?
- What AI tool should we adopt, if at all?
This framework is designed as a practical starting point to help philanthropy leaders make sense of these questions.
Funders do not need to be uncritical adopters—but we believe they can be informed and intentional participants in shaping how AI affects the communities and systems they care about.