Artificial Intelligence will become one of the most transformative technologies of our time, but only if its benefits reach beyond the reach of organizations with the biggest budgets and the most specialized technical expertise. That’s what drew me to Anthropic, a public benefit corporation whose mission is to responsibly develop artificial intelligence for the long-term benefit of humanity.
That belief is now being tested. Artificial intelligence is accelerating research, reshaping industries, and creating tremendous value. But for organizations working to solve society’s toughest problems — nonprofits fighting hunger, expanding access to health care, tutoring underserved students — the technology remains largely out of reach.
It’s not because they don’t want it. In our conversations with nonprofits, we hear a consistent story: Small teams know AI can help, but learning to use it is at the bottom of an endless to-do list. When they do consider adoption, the stakes are high—these organizations serve vulnerable populations and handle sensitive data. They can’t make mistakes.
On Giving Tuesday—a day dedicated to global generosity—it’s worth asking what it means to make these nonprofits resilient.
The potential is huge. AI can draft proposal narratives, synthesize project data into impact statements, and tailor language to funder priorities, compressing 100 hours of work into 20 hours. Development teams can automate donor segmentation, generate personalized letters, and identify top donation prospects. Organizations can match clients to projects faster and allow employees to spend more time on relationships and reduce administrative burden.
Over the past year, we’ve worked with nearly 100 organizations to build a new AI program for nonprofits. today, Epilepsy Foundation Claude provides 24/7 support to the 3.4 million Americans living with epilepsy. this international rescue committee Crowder is being leveraged to communicate more effectively with local partners in time-sensitive humanitarian settings. Robin Hood Claude is being used for coding and administrative work that would otherwise require more resources.
Our work with these organizations shapes what we think useful AI will actually look like. Employees need courses they can complete in 15 minutes, with examples from their real jobs and ongoing support, not manuals. AI needs to be integrated with the tools and processes that organizations already use. These insights shape how we build Artificial Intelligence Fluency for Nonprofitsa free course from Anthropic Academy designed for the workflows and constraints of a specific department. They also informed us of our decision to help create Three new connectors Nonprofit Tools.
Making AI trustworthy and easy to use requires more than just ensuring it is available. It requires understanding mission-driven organizations from the inside and adapting our tools to their realities. The first is to listen before you build.
For Anthropic, this work is core to our mission as a public benefit corporation. But it also serves our broader work in artificial intelligence development. The lessons we learn from deploying AI into organizations that serve vulnerable populations—lessons about privacy, trust, and responsible use—inform how we deploy it everywhere.
This is a critical time to ensure these organizations are not left behind and learn from them as we shape how AI can serve the public good.
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