Policy · Not-for-Profit, Charities & Associations
Charity board AI governance and acceptable use policy
Original board-approved policy for a charity's use of AI: risk tiers, an AI register, rules for beneficiary and donor data, human review of outputs that affect vulnerable people, transparency, vendor checks, incidents and board reporting.
- Kind
- Policy. A policy or procedure for a firm or client.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 17 October 2026 against the 5 authorities it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a charity or not-for-profit starts using AI tools (writing assistants, chatbots, donor analytics, triage tools) or needs to bring existing use under board control. Scale it down for very small charities, and add sector rules for health, disability or child-safe services.
How AI may be used
AI may help draft the policy and the AI register from the charity's actual tool list, under close review. The risk tiers, data rules and approval thresholds must match how the charity really operates and are settled by the lawyer and the board.
AI may
- Draft register entries from vendor documents and staff surveys, citing the source of each fact
- Produce a gap list comparing the charity's current AI use with the policy's rules
- Draft plain-language staff guidance and board briefing notes from the settled policy
AI must not
- Must not describe a tool's data handling from memory or marketing material rather than its current terms
- Must not set the risk tier for a tool that affects beneficiaries' services or safety
- Must not add statements about compliance that the charity cannot evidence
The lawyer checks
- Whether the charity is covered by the Privacy Act or bound to comply by contract or funding agreement
- Data flows for each high-tier tool, including overseas disclosure
- Privacy policy update for APP 1.7 to 1.9 by 10 December 2026 where decisions significantly affecting individuals are made or informed by a computer program
- Consistency with safeguarding, complaints and records policies
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Not-for-Profit, Charities & Associations
- Conflict of interest policy for a registered charity (adapted from the ACNC template)
- Constitution for a charitable company limited by guarantee (ACNC templates): selection and adaptation guide
- Model constitution for NSW incorporated associations: adoption and review guide
- Letter of appointment for Responsible People (board members), with AI oversight paragraph (adapted from the ACNC template)
- Donor and supporter privacy collection notice (including AI profiling and personalised fundraising)
All precedents for Not-for-Profit, Charities & Associations · Tasks and AI use in this area