Last Session of the AI Learning Journey: Reflections on Better Philanthropy – all in

2 juillet 2024

What a journey it has been! Last week, the 5th and last session of the six-month hands-on programme and Learning Journey “AI in Everyday Philanthropy”, organized together with our partners StiftungSchweiz and the University of Geneva, took place in Basel. In this session, the participants celebrated their wins, decided to create a Data Alliance in Philanthropy for more data transparency in the sector and said goodbye – for now.

AI in Philanthropy – still a bit mysterious

Over the past months and weeks, the participants learned a lot about the theory of AI, different AI models and their application, worked with prototypes in practice and tried to make sense of all the buzz in the context of the philanthropic sector. For most of us, the last session didn’t feel like we’d reached the pinnacle of AI wisdom, but more like we’d just reached the first base camp, there is still some fog.

Milestones to basecamp one

During the journey, some of the following milestones were achieved:

Development of the Peakprivacy Framework for safe and anonymized AI use in response to data protection and intellectual property concerns

Prototyping with a Cover Letter Generator designed to structure and summarize project dossiers effectively, experimenting with different AI models (and recognizing the limits of AI)

Introduction of the concept of AI trade-off or AI divide/share, emphasizing conscious decisions about the distribution of AI resources and its application

Conceptualization of Rulebooks to describe actions within the « black box » of AI processes, following the concept of Explainable AI (EAI)

Implications of AI-driven tools on decision-making processes within philanthropic contexts, emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability, leading to a draft for a Framework for Responsible AI (RAI) in Swiss Philanthropy

And now – all in towards data-driven philanthropy?

Fabio from the Learning Journey Faculty and CEO of Freihandlabor shared how they tried to evaluate as much of the publicly available data as possible and to establish relevant references and connections, for example, which SDGs are covered in the work of which organizations. An endeavor that is also being pursued by our partner CEPS (analysis of SDGs). Despite the sheer volume of data collected, including 15’000 entries in the commercial register, they often yield little intelligent information. The challenges were manifold: different languages, irrelevant content, various terms for the same concepts, and vastly different data volumes per organization.

Thus, in a lively fishbowl panel that followed, everyone agreed that the potential of sharing and using reliable data would make philanthropic work more efficient and, in the end, would create even more impact. The session concluded with a call to action, urging the philanthropic community to take small, meaningful steps towards greater data transparency. The data held by authorities is the most precise and focused, yet there is a need for a push beyond what is required from a legal perspective. A coalition of the willing, or a data alliance, was proposed as a way to start publishing significant, relevant information. This effort requires an openness of all actors in the sector.

At this point, what remains is a big thank you to the participants and our partners, especially StiftungSchweiz.

The Journey continues. Next: #FörderZukunft

The good news is: The learning journey continues. On one hand in the realm of AI. We will publish a comprehensive Report with the most relevant content. And in Autumn, a reunion is foreseen with all participants.

Also the Swiss Foundation Symposium “connect to change”, 12.09.2024 in Sursee offers a keynote on “The state of AI” and a session about “KI in Aktion: Innovieren und Inspirieren in der Stiftungswelt” (register here).

But there is even more. The next Learning Journey is in the pole position and we are excited to announce today the Learning Journey #FörderZukunft, which will start in Q4 2024 and encompasses all relevant aspects of smart, modern grantmaking – including best practices und brand new inspiration ideas. If you are interested to receive updates or being part of this journey, send a message to staubli@swissfoundations.ch