Thinking about AI maturity

Every charity we work with on AI asks some version of the same question: where are we compared to everyone else? The honest answer is usually "early, like almost everyone." But that's not very useful. What's more useful is a shared way of talking about where you are and where you're trying to get to.

We've been using a simple five-level framework in our strategy work. It's not original or complicated. Maturity models have existed for decades in software development, digital transformation, and organisational change. But having one specifically for AI adoption has been surprisingly helpful in the conversations we have with charity teams, because it gives everyone a common reference point.

The five levels

New to AI. People in the organisation are using personal accounts or free versions of AI tools. They might have been to some webinars. There's no organisational approach, no policy, no shared understanding of what AI means for the charity's work.

Experimenter. The organisation is actively running AI experiments and pilots. Maybe a fundraising team has been testing AI for draft writing, or a programme team has tried it for feedback analysis. But nothing has been scaled to production or embedded in core workflows.

Established. AI systems have been put into production for specific use cases and are delivering real benefits. But AI isn't yet part of how the organisation thinks about its work more broadly. It's solving particular problems, not changing how the organisation operates.

Advanced. AI has been widely adopted across the organisation's work, using techniques appropriate to the problems being solved. It's generating real value and people have developed the judgment to know when AI helps and when it doesn't.

Leading. The organisation is continuously expanding its use of AI in responsible and considered ways. AI is making meaningful progress towards the organisation's mission, not just improving efficiency.

In January 2025, almost every charity is at New to AI. Which is fine. It means there's a lot of headroom to improve. What matters is being honest about where you are.

Why this is useful

The framework is useful for three reasons, none of them academic.

First, it lets you communicate progress to people who aren't in the weeds. When a board member asks "how are we doing with AI?", being able to say "we're at Experimenter stage, we've run three pilots and we're deciding which to scale" is clearer than a twenty-minute update on which tools you've been testing. It gives senior stakeholders the edited highlight they need without requiring them to understand the detail.

Second, it helps set realistic expectations. If your organisation is at New to AI, an AI strategy that assumes you'll be at Advanced within six months is fiction. The gap between levels isn't just about tools. Moving from Experimenter to Established means changing processes, building confidence, dealing with data quality, and getting governance right. That takes time.

Third, it makes the conversation about capability rather than tools. Which AI product you're using matters less than whether your organisation has the data, the skills, the governance, and the culture to use AI well. A charity with clean data and a clear problem can get to Established faster than one with every AI subscription going but no strategy for using them.

Where the sector is

The Charity Digital Skills Report has been tracking AI adoption, and the numbers are moving. In 2024, 61% of charities reported using AI tools. But "using AI tools" mostly means individual staff members trying ChatGPT on their personal accounts. That's New to AI, not Experimenter. Individual curiosity is a good start, but it's not the same as organisational capability.

The gap between "people in our organisation use AI" and "AI is part of how our organisation works" is where the maturity conversation matters. It's the same gap that digital transformation has been stuck on for years: individual adoption runs ahead of organisational capability.

If you're working out where your charity sits, be honest rather than aspirational. A realistic assessment of where you are is the starting point for a plan that might actually work. And if the answer is "we're beginners", that's where almost everyone is, and it's the right place to start from.