Public trust in AI is falling. Trust in nonprofits isn’t. In the U.S., nonprofits remain the country’s most trusted institutions, even across political lines.
Nonprofits earn that trust. They’re mission-driven, they answer to the communities they serve, and they work where market incentives alone fall short. Now a growing number of them are building with AI, bringing those same values to the work. They start with a need facing their community, then ask whether AI is the right tool to meet it. They may be changing how they deliver, but they’re still working toward the goal they always have: better outcomes for the people they serve.
Fast Forward just released the 2026 AI for Humanity Report, with research led by our team at Third Plateau and support from Google.org. It’s the largest study yet of AI-powered nonprofits, organizations that put AI to work delivering their programs and services.
The report speaks to something we spend our days on at Third Plateau. We call it building the infrastructure of change, meaning the systems, strategies, and capacity that lasting change depends on.
Built by People, for People
For AI-powered nonprofits, how AI is used matters as much as what it can do. They build around that conviction. Their concerns about AI’s risks coexist with a belief that the technology can help them better serve their communities.
Our research found that AI-powered nonprofits are already delivering. 92% of the nonprofits surveyed report more efficient service delivery. When asked to weigh the risks, not one of them said the harms of using AI outweigh the benefits.
The harder part is sustaining the work. While 90% of responding AI-powered nonprofits with an AI solution have a plan to scale, only 24% say they have the resources to pull it off, and nearly half of those surveyed name the rising cost of AI tools and infrastructure among the greatest threats they face. These leaders have proven the model works, and what they need now is the funding to scale and deliver.
Where Philanthropy Comes In
It can be tempting for donors to treat AI funding as a bet on rapidly changing technology, but the people behind these programs are the ones who make a difference. The report offers recommendations for both the nonprofits doing the work and, just as importantly, the philanthropy leaders who can help close the gaps.
There are plenty of questions being asked about AI right now, and one of them is who it’s really for. The nonprofits in this study answer that every day by building for people in places the market overlooks, and staying careful about how it affects them. Today, this is what AI for humanity looks like.
