AI for Earth: Scaling AI Literacy Across Environmental Nonprofits

​As climate threats escalate and funding shrinks, environmental nonprofits are being asked to do more with less. AI has the potential to supercharge fundraising, storytelling, research, and operations—but most organizations in the sector lack the skills, resources, and tailored training to adopt it responsibly and effectively.

​This discussion group will explore a bold, sector-wide challenge: how do we onboard 1,000 environmental nonprofits to AI literacy by 2026? We’ll examine the barriers to adoption, from low familiarity and cost, to inflexible, vendor-tied tools—and the urgency of meeting this moment with open-source, accessible, and human-centered approaches. Participants will share ideas, identify needs, and brainstorm cross-sector collaborations that could make scaled adoption possible.

​Key Questions:

• ​What does responsible and context-relevant AI adoption look like for environmental nonprofits across diverse geographies?

• ​What are the biggest capacity gaps, and how can we center the people inside these organizations in the upskilling process?

• ​How can philanthropy, tech companies, and nonprofits collaborate to support rapid, accessible AI literacy at scale?

• ​What role can open-source AI and flexible platforms play in supporting international eNGOs?

• ​What are the risks of inaction, and what’s needed to move from small pilots to field-wide change?