AI can be a powerful force for good”: harnessing Artificial Intelligence for people and communities

UK’s largest community funder issues guidance on using AI for funding applications and 10 principles for using AI to benefit people and communities

The National Lottery Community Fund has published guidance on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for funding applications. Acknowledging the growing role of AI in the third sector and the opportunities it presents, in a move to improve both accessibility and efficiency for organisations applying for funding, the UK's largest community funder has offered advice on using AI tools.

Alongside this guidance, the Fund has defined 10 AI Principles, setting out how it will use AI to benefit people and communities and will host a free online event on 11 March to share learning and encourage collaboration across the sector.

According to the 2024 Charity Digital Skills Report, 61% of charities are already using AI but The Status of UK Fundraising 2024 Benchmark Report found that almost 70% of charity professionals said they did not have the resources to explore how AI could be used, pointing to a gap in skills, confidence and capacity in the sector.

Sarah Watson, Head of Innovation at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “AI is set to be a gamechanger for charities and community groups, helping them to free up time to focus on supporting communities, and to think about bigger questions such as how we address the challenges facing society today. It has transformative potential for us as a funder and could free up time for us to focus on work that is uniquely human, such as listening to communities and our grant holders. Equity and fairness are at the heart of everything we do, and we believe that if deployed in the right way, AI can be a powerful force for good.

“We know that many other funders, community groups and organisations are thinking these issues through, so we encourage people to join us at our free online event on 11 March for an honest conversation about how we’ve developed our AI principles with experts Tim Cook, Founder of AI Confident, and Dan Sutch, Director of CAST, and to share learning and best practice across the sector.”

One charity already embracing AI is WECIL in Bristol, an award-winning, user-led organisation supporting Disabled people to live the life they choose.

The National Lottery Community Fund is supporting WECIL to use AI to benefit disabled people, designing digital products that are inclusive of people who are neurodivergent or have a learning difference, freeing up his teams' time to support people with more complex individual needs.

WECIL CEO Dominic Ellison explains how the charity has used National Lottery funding to develop what they believe is a first, a chat bot called ‘Cecil from WECIL’ that can function like an Easy Read document. “Tech isn’t generally designed with everyone in mind and a lot of new AI products don’t consider the user needs of people who are learning disabled, so it was important that we design Cecil in a way that meets the access needs of learning-disabled people.

"When you open it, you’re presented with options including visual options, to help find the right information. This in turn makes our website more navigable for people who are learning disabled or who are neurodivergent. Now the work is to train Cecil – our team is looking at data, what people ask, how people use it. It’s still early days and it’s an ongoing process but we think it’s going to be a huge breakthrough for a lot of people we work for and if we can get it right, we hope it will make a huge difference.”

The National Lottery Community Fund awards grants to strengthen society and improve lives across the UK. National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK.

Find out more information.

To book a place at the free online event on 11 March visit https://ow.ly/ePt450ULLX3

Date published: 24 January, 2025
Region: UK-wide

Notes to Editors

About The National Lottery Community Fund

We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name. We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.

We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key government programmes and initiatives.

As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:

1. Come together

2. Be environmentally sustainable

3. Help children and young people thrive

4. Enable people to live healthier lives.

Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute over £600 million a year through 13,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £49 billion has been raised and more than 690,000 individual grants have been made across the UK - the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.

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About WECIL

About WECIL - WECIL - Supporting Independent Living

CEO Dominic Ellison recently wrote a blog titled The Potential and Pitfalls of AI – Bridging the Gap for Disabled People, stating, “As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology advances, its potential to transform lives is clear. However, the benefits are not being shared equally. Many Disabled people, including those who are visually impaired, find themselves excluded due to inaccessible design and a lack of meaningful involvement in the development of these tools.”

WECIL also uses Access Ava on its website, a chatbot developed by charity Access to Social Care to offer legal advice on people’s care assessments and is currently exploring the functionality of OpenAI to help people with their PIP claims due to high demand exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.