Service: AI Strategy and Policy
AI strategy and policy for nonprofits, schools, and member organizations.
Someone on your board or leadership team has been asked for an AI plan. Sometimes a donor or a grant has already set money aside for it. Meanwhile your staff may already be using AI tools on their own, and nobody has written down what information is allowed to go into them.
We talk with the people involved, find out what is already in use, write the policy and a short strategy, and pick the first project. You end up with documents your board can read in one sitting and a first step your staff can start on. We start on-site to see how you work, then work remotely once we have access to your systems.
What it costs.
$1,800 to $3,000
Time and materials at $150/hour with a not-to-exceed cap, quoted in writing before work starts. Plan on $1,800 to $3,000.
Start with what is already in use.
Your staff may already be using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot without a policy, possibly on personal accounts and possibly with work information in them. The first job is an honest inventory: which tools, which accounts, and what has gone into them. It is done to set sensible rules, not to catch anyone.
A policy people will actually follow.
The acceptable-use policy fits on one or two pages. It sorts your information into what can go into a general AI tool, what needs an approved account with the right settings, and what never leaves your own systems. It names the tools you approve and says who to ask when something is unclear.
A strategy short enough to read.
The written strategy ranks the opportunities by value and effort, says plainly where AI is not the answer, and picks a first project with a scope and a not-to-exceed quote. It is written to go in a board packet.
The first project, staff training, and any ongoing help are quoted separately, and you are free to take the plan to someone else.
A part-time AI program lead.
Some organizations already have the mandate and the money and need someone to run the program: choosing vendors, connecting tools to the systems you already have, training staff, and reporting progress to leadership. We can fill that role part-time, alongside your team, for a defined term. It is program leadership, not day-to-day IT operations, and the aim is a program your own people can run when the term ends.
That role is scoped and quoted in writing, separately from the strategy work.
Where the background comes from.
Before founding Spearworks AI, Nathan Spear spent twenty years in enterprise IT, cloud infrastructure, and customer success at IBM, Lenovo, and Rackspace, working with everything from small businesses to large channel partners. We bring that to the plan, and we stay on for the implementation if you want us to.
What you get.
- What's included
- Conversations with your leadership, the person who owns the AI question, and a few of the staff who do the work. An inventory of the AI tools your people already use, approved or not. A one- or two-page acceptable-use policy that says what information can go into which tools. A short written strategy that ranks the opportunities, says where AI is not the answer, and picks a first project, scoped and quoted. A summary you can put in front of your board. Training and implementation are separate and optional.
- Who it's for
- Nonprofits, schools, member organizations, and institutes where someone, often a board member or committee lead, has been asked for an AI plan and sometimes handed a budget for it, but does not have the time to build one. Also leadership teams with a funded AI program who need a part-time AI program lead to run it.
- How long
- Plan on three to six weeks, paced to when your leadership can meet.
FAQ
Questions about AI strategy and policy.
- How is this different from the $600 paid audit?
- The paid audit is sized for one owner-operator: a working session and a short report with three ranked opportunities, for $600. AI strategy is for an organization with a board, a committee, or several people who have to agree. It adds conversations with your leadership and staff, an inventory of the tools already in use, an acceptable-use policy, and a written strategy your board can approve. Plan on $1,800 to $3,000, quoted in writing with a cap.
- Do we need an AI policy if we are a small organization?
- If anyone on your staff uses ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Microsoft Copilot for work, yes. The policy is what tells them which information can go into those tools and which cannot. For a small team it fits on one page, and on its own it can be a regular project rather than a full strategy engagement.
- Can you run our AI program after the strategy is done?
- Yes, part-time and for a defined term. We can serve as your AI program lead: choosing vendors, connecting tools to the systems you already have, training staff, and reporting to leadership. That work is scoped and quoted separately, and the goal is to leave you with a program your own staff can run.
- Who owns the policy and the strategy?
- You do. Both documents are yours to adopt, edit, and share with your board, your staff, and your funders. You can implement the plan yourself, with us, or with someone else.
- Where are you based, and where do you work?
- Based in Clackamas, serving Happy Valley and the Portland metro. We start on-site to see how you work, then work remotely once we have access to your systems.
Start with a free consult.
We look at how you work today and tell you what we would set up first. No pitch.
See all services or the full pricing table.