Programs

Education

Education is the heart of our work. It provides Civil Society actors with the knowledge, the frameworks , and the context they need to apply their own expertise and values to artificial intelligence.

Fully preparing Civil Society to become indispensable partners to the public and private sectors will ultimately require a three-tier curriculum. For now, we're focused on Tier 1—building the knowledge, frameworks, context, and networks Civil Society needs to engage with AI on their own terms. Once we've demonstrated the value of our approach and refined both content and delivery based on real-world feedback, we'll develop the advanced tiers that build specialized capacity.

Tier 1: AI Foundations for Civil Society

Building Confidence, Clarity, and Courage for an AI Age

  • All Civil Society staff, regardless of technical background or role.

  • Move fast, stay curious, cultivate critical hope.

    The program supports learners to adapt to new information, sustain curiosity through guided inquiry, and develop early ethical awareness and reflective habits. Together, these capacities enable learners to participate confidently and responsibly in fast-changing technological and civic contexts, applying taught frameworks with growing independence.

  • Most Civil Society professionals feel simultaneously overwhelmed by AI hype and underprepared to engage meaningfully with the technology. This curriculum moves them through three phases: building practical confidence with AI tools, grounding that competence in their organization's values and mission, and synthesizing both into strategic judgment about when and how to use AI in service of their communities

  • The curriculum uses a hands-on learning rhythm: brief concept introduction (20%), group discussion to set context (20%), extended experimentation time (40%), and collective reflection on what worked and what it means (20%). We believe people learn by doing—especially when they're given permission to break things in a safe environment.

Beyond Tier 1: Building Specialized Capacity

Tier 2: Applied Civic Stewardship (Critical Organizational Capabilities)

Tier 2 will focus on building the critical capabilities Civil Society organizations need to thrive in an AI-shaped world. While we're still analyzing our research on the global training landscape, we expect this tier to support the specialists and roles most essential to organizational resilience and strategic capacity—not just those applying AI in daily tasks, but those building the institutional muscles that let organizations adapt, resist capture, and maintain independence. The exact focus and structure will be shaped by what we learn from Tier 1 pilots and our ongoing research.

Anticipated duration: TBD
Target audience: Specialists (specific target roles based on ongoing research)

Tier 3: Leadership in an Uncertain Age (Strategic Transformation)

Tier 3 will support executives, boards, and senior leaders navigating long-term organizational transformation. We imagine this tier asking leaders to take up explicit meaning-making work: helping their organizations stay oriented, principled, and imaginative in the face of rapid change. Leaders will learn to build governance structures, read early signals, articulate institutional purpose, and hold multiple possible technological futures in mind at once. As with Tier 2, the specific content will evolve based on what we learn

Anticipated duration: Multi-day intensive plus extended support
Target audience: Executive directors, board members, senior leadership