Introduction to AI for Social Enterprises

What is this session about?

This course is about introducing artificial intelligence (AI) to social enterprises, focusing on practical applications, addressing concerns, and providing a foundation for integrating AI into organisational workflows.

What will I learn?

• Understanding AI basics and its potential impact on social enterprises 
• Addressing common concerns about AI (safety, privacy, security) 
• Identifying appropriate AI tools and platforms for your needs 
• Learning how to prompt AI effectively for various tasks 
• Exploring potential applications of AI in social enterprise contexts

Why is this session relevant or important now?

This course is designed for staff and volunteers of social enterprises who are interested in understanding and potentially implementing AI in their organisations. It's suitable for beginners with little to no prior experience with AI, as well as those who have some familiarity but want to deepen their understanding.

Price

This course is free to access for West of England social enterprises; please contact Enterprise Manager sarah.m@voscur.org for a 100% discount code if this applies to you. 

For non-social enterprise clients, the following course fees apply: 

• Standard price: £94  

Voscur membership is free for small organisations. 

If you would like to benefit from VCSE Academy discounts and other benefits, you can register for Voscur membership today  

Discounted rates for Voscur Members and Affiliates: 

• Voscur Members: £55   
• Voscur Affiliates: £77

Who is the trainer?

Jim is the Founder of Grants AI, which is software to help charities fundraise for grants, and is also the founder of Electronics Watch, an INGO in the labour rights space, and of the nonprofits consultancy Flourish Nonprofits.  

Working in the VSCE sector for his whole career and consulting for a wide variety of charities and social enterprises, big and small, has given him a broad understanding of the stresses, challenges and time pressures faced by VSCE sector professionals.  

Not a techie nor a coder, Jim considered himself quite a ‘Luddite’ during his career in charities and other nonprofits: there simply was no time to learn new skills, it seemed.  However, this widely shared feeling in social enterprises and charities actually creates more unnecessary stress and work, as AI can do so much of our work for us.  

Since 2022, Jim found almost no part of his work that could not be aided by the use of AI tools, and he now regularly describes himself as a ‘cyborg’! This has made working life better, easier, and less stressful, and Jim found that he was consistently producing better outcomes for nonprofit clients with the same or less amount of time.  

However, these new competencies did take a lot of learning and experimentation to learn, and Jim is now synthesising all of that learning into this short course, to help you to save time and stress through the use of AI. 

What else do you need to know?

This course is set to run online using Zoom. To take part, you will need a laptop with a camera, microphone, and Wi-Fi. You will not require any additional software, and you don't need a Zoom account or to download the app to take part, but you may wish to do so.

You will be emailed an invitation with a link to join the online training the day before the course.