Somebody on your team connected an AI assistant to the inbox, the customer list, or the grant files over a weekend, because it was useful and nobody said not to. No policy got written. No one is officially in charge of watching it. That is not carelessness. That is what happens when "AI governance" sounds like a Fortune 500 problem instead of a Tuesday afternoon problem.

Here is the truth nobody at the big conferences says out loud: governance is not firewalls and hundred page compliance binders. It is a small number of very human questions, asked before something goes wrong instead of after. Who owns this AI system. What is it allowed to touch. What happens the moment it is wrong.

This is a beginner level, no jargon session built for nonprofits, small businesses, and community organizations without a dedicated IT or security team. You will leave with a simple ownership framework (every AI agent gets a named primary and backup human, not a policy nobody reads), a short list of guardrail questions to ask before connecting any AI tool to real data, and language you can bring to your board or your funders that does not require a compliance consultant to translate.

Small does not mean exempt. It means this conversation cannot wait for someone else to have it first.

Target audience: nonprofits, small businesses, and community organizations without a dedicated IT or security team who are using or considering AI tools.

What you will need: a laptop to capture the ownership framework and guardrail question list. A phone is fine to bring too, but a laptop is what you will actually use. No existing governance policy or technical background needed. A charger is smart, outlets can be limited.