Two AI Questions for Philanthropy: What to Adopt Inside and What to Fund Outside

Inside foundations, leaders are deciding whether and how to integrate AI into grantmaking, operations and governance. That means confronting the realities that rarely make it into an AI strategy: board time, staff resistance, new capabilities, unexpected costs, failed experiments and decisions that eventually need to be reversed. At the same time, philanthropy is helping determine what gets built around AI in the wider world. Funders are supporting litigation, moratoria and community opposition to harmful development. But what about the institutions that need to endure after today's battles are over: standards, community capacity, accountability mechanisms and stronger participation in decisions about AI infrastructure and supply chains? This session is for people ready to move past statements of principle and compare actual choices. What has worked inside philanthropic institutions? What hasn't? How can organizations support one another through adoption, including bringing more global perspectives into decisions about AI? And when philanthropy looks outward, what should it fund now to shape the systems that will govern AI for years to come? Discussion Group Leaders A. Toni Young is Founder at A Global Firm & Community Education Group, advancing community-centered standards that ensure communities benefit from the growth of AI infrastructure and its supply chain. Emily McNair is Director, Fundraising at IDinsight, mobilizing resources and partnerships that strengthen data- and evidence-driven approaches to social impact. Jeff Atherstone is Chief Advancement Officer at Redeem International, mobilizing resources and partnerships that advance justice and protection for vulnerable communities. Hrishabh Sandilya is Co-Director at European Philanthropic Initiative for Migration, advancing systems change across migration, philanthropy, democracy, and climate. Kayla Ajavon is Associate Director of Development at RefugePoint, advancing equitable funding partnerships that support long-term solutions and opportunities for refugees. What to expect A candid conversation grounded in implementation rather than prediction. Participants will compare real decisions: what organizations tried, what they implemented, what they reversed, where internal resistance emerged and what responsible adoption looks like once the initial enthusiasm wears off. The conversation will then turn outward to philanthropy's funding choices, asking whether today's portfolios are creating temporary resistance or durable structures capable of shaping how AI develops. Who This Is For This session is for foundation leaders, program officers, philanthropic advisors, board members, nonprofit leaders and funders grappling with how AI should change both the way philanthropy operates and what philanthropy chooses to support. What You Will Get Out of It Practical lessons from philanthropic organizations already implementing AI A clearer view of the organizational costs and trade-offs involved in adoption Questions to help distinguish responsible experimentation from AI adoption for its own sake A framework for assessing whether AI funding creates temporary interventions or durable infrastructure Ideas for building greater collaboration and global participation into philanthropy's response to AI