Indian non-profits lag on digital maturity, AI adoption: report

A recent report reveals that Indian non-profits are trailing behind in digital maturity and AI adoption, despite some interest in leveraging large language models (LLMs) for tasks such as reports and marketing. Conducted by Delhi-based Digital for Nonprofits (D4NP) on 500 organizations in the sector, the State of Nonprofits Digitization Report 2026 found that non-profits scored below 50% on digital maturity.

Unlike white collar organizations with college-educated employees, which are rapidly integrating AI into their workflows, non-profits have not scored higher than 50% on digital maturity, according to the report. Abhinav Chetan, D4NP founder and former Google executive, observed that nonprofits are still at level one, primarily using AI for conversations and not implementing it in complex workflows. They are still experimenting and lagging behind on earlier digitization trends.

One example cited was the non-use of monthly $10,000 ad grants, which amounted to millions of dollars of free advertising lying unused. Moreover, the report highlights that only Child Rights and You (CRY) out of twenty signal measures is at the right level of digital maturity, attributing its adoption to the corporate background of its staff.

While the majority of Indian startups, six out of ten, use at least one AI tool daily and 85% use more than one, the majority of non-profits lag in governance and taking advantage of emerging AI capabilities. Only one in four startups have safeguards for AI tools handling sensitive personal data and only one in four use online analytics tools, which have become easier to use with LLMs. The report noted a "median shift" towards more adoption compared to the previous year.