AI for clubs and volunteers: newsletters, minutes, free offers and data protection

What clubs already use AI for

AI has long since arrived in volunteering. For a study by the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering (DSEE), 1,235 volunteers and paid staff were surveyed in 2025. 73 per cent of them use AI. Binding rules, for example on data protection, exist in only 9 per cent of organisations.

In a DSEE online seminar from March 2026, the speaker lists typical uses: newsletters, minutes, social media posts, images and even funding applications. Her most important advice: everything the AI delivers is a draft. A person checks figures, dates and places, ideally under the four-eyes principle. The committee is responsible for setting the framework.

Our assessment: AI saves the most time on recurring texts, such as the invitation to the general meeting from bullet points, the club newsletter in plain language or the text for the summer party flyer. If you have never worked with a chatbot, our article on the first five everyday tasks with free AI will help.

Free and discounted offers for non-profit clubs

According to Google, Google for Nonprofits is also open to organisations in Germany that are registered as non-profit; eligibility is checked by the partner Goodstack. According to Google, the free Google Workspace for Nonprofits package includes the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook for up to 2,000 users. Gemini directly in Gmail and Docs is only available in paid editions, which are discounted for non-profits.

Microsoft requires recognised non-profit status. According to Microsoft, those excluded include professional and semi-professional sports associations, professional associations and political organisations. The licences are intended for staff and volunteers, not for club members. For Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft says it still grants up to 300 donated, meaning free, licences. According to Microsoft, only paid staff and unpaid leaders such as the committee may use them; other volunteers need discounted licences. According to Stifter-helfen, Microsoft discontinued the free donated licences for Microsoft 365 Business Premium from July 2025. Via Stifter-helfen, the IT portal of the Haus des Stiftens foundation, further Microsoft 365 Business Basic licences cost 1 euro per user per month plus VAT according to its price list. According to Microsoft, the AI chat Copilot Chat is included at no extra cost. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, meaning AI directly in Word, Outlook and Excel, costs from 218.40 euros per user per year at Stifter-helfen. For Business Premium, Stifter-helfen lists different prices on two pages; the current catalogue is what counts.

Canva gives registered non-profit organisations Canva Pro free of charge for up to 50 people, for designing flyers, posters and images. In its eligibility rules, Canva excludes professional and commercial sports organisations as well as social clubs; on its help page, Canva lists sports clubs in general as not eligible. Sports clubs should therefore read the rules carefully before applying.

The Haus des Stiftens foundation, supported by Microsoft, offers free learning videos and webinars on AI in clubs under the name KI verein(t).

Newsletters, minutes, flyers: how to go about it in practice

A general chatbot is enough to get started. ChatGPT is available free of charge; according to Notebookcheck, ChatGPT Go costs 8 euros and Plus 23 euros a month in Germany.

For minutes, first write your notes and leave out anything that points to a particular person. According to the German data protection conference, removing names and addresses is usually not enough, because people can also be identified from the context. In a small club, a role such as treasurer often gives away just as clearly who is meant, and so does a specific incident. So write in general terms, for example a committee member reports. Then ask the AI to turn them into structured minutes with decisions and tasks. The DSEE speaker advises not to put minutes containing personal references into open AI tools at all. For newsletters and invitations, precise instructions help: target group, tone, length, date, place and what should not be included.

Take care with anything affecting non-profit status. According to the DSEE seminar, donation receipts and statutes should be drawn up using the official templates and not reworded by an AI. For images: photos of people require their consent, even if an AI places them into a new image, and for images from the internet you must check the usage rights.

Member data and the GDPR

The data protection commissioner of Baden-Württemberg recalls the basic rules: a club may only collect the data needed for membership. Each officer may only know the data they need for their task, and the data may in principle only be used for the purpose for which it was collected. Even an umbrella association counts as an outside party. That applies all the more to an AI provider.

It follows that membership lists, email addresses, birthdays or health information, for example from rehabilitation sports groups, do not belong in an open chatbot. For working with AI, the German data protection conference recommends organisation accounts instead of private ones, switching off training on inputs and, if a provider processes personal data on your behalf, a data processing agreement under Article 28 GDPR. In the personal versions of ChatGPT, OpenAI says it may use inputs for training; this can be switched off in the data controls.

Our assessment: an organisation account through a non-profit programme has a second advantage besides the price. When someone steps down from an office, access and documents stay with the club rather than on a private account.