New program aims to build AI capacity and support knowledge sharing for nonprofit professionals across Canada
TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Human Feedback Foundation (HFF), with support from RBC, today announced the Agentic AI Design Exchange – the first national program to help Canadian nonprofits responsibly design, build and deploy their own dedicated AI agents.
The goal of the program is to boost productivity and encourage safe, strategic adoption of AI agents to achieve organizational objectives. The Exchange will be funded by a community investment from RBC, provided through the RBC Stronger Nonprofits Program, designed to help strengthen Canada’s nonprofit sector amid unprecedented strain and surging service demands.
Built on a proven methodology from Professor Mihnea Moldoveanu (Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto), the program is also supported by community partners such as the Rotman Business Design Initiative, Imagine Canada and the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience (CCNDR).
“Nonprofits are the backbone of communities across Canada, and many Canadians rely on nonprofits to catch them when things fall apart, yet too many are still working with clipboards in a computer world,” said Elena Yunusov, Executive Director and Founder of the Human Feedback Foundation. “When used strategically and responsibly, AI can multiply what nonprofits already do best and better support the communities they serve. This community investment from RBC builds capacity that compounds right when the sector needs it most.”
The Agentic AI Design Exchange will build on the success of the HFF’s Responsible AI for Social Impact (RAISE) program, the first national initiative to educate Canadian nonprofits on how to design and deploy AI solutions safely and responsibly. Leveraging lessons learned from RAISE, The Agentic AI Design Exchange will use proven methodology and a human-centred design approach to help cohort teams identify a real community need and develop an AI agent to address it. Teams will build fairness, accountability and human oversight into their designs from the start. Select designs will then be added to an open, Creative Commons-licensed library, giving other nonprofits the opportunity to learn from and build on the work.
The Agentic AI Design Exchange comes at a critical time for the nonprofit community in Canada and other nations. According to a recent Global AI Pulse survey from KPMG, the use of AI in the private sector has evolved far beyond question-answer interactions, with nearly six in ten large organizations currently deploying or scaling AI agents. Furthermore, a 2026 Imagine Canada and CCNDR benchmark points to limited use of AI amongst Canadian nonprofits. It shows that only 20 per cent of these organizations are using AI for more than three activities and most Canadian nonprofits have no formal AI policy. The nonprofit sector has yet to figure out how to safely and responsibly leverage AI agents to amplify social impact.
“Canada’s nonprofits are under significant strain, being asked to do more than ever, and funding alone isn’t enough,” said Andrea Barrack, SVP of Sustainability & Impact, RBC. “Through the RBC Stronger Nonprofits Program, we’re helping organizations build the capacity, skills and confidence needed to embrace new AI tools responsibly so they can spend more time and resources creating impact in their communities.”
With support from HFF and RBC, nonprofits in Canada will have access to a new resource for accelerating the benefits of AI for employees, volunteers and the communities they serve.
The first cohort of nonprofits supported by the Agentic AI Design Exchange are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2026. Learn more at https://humanfeedback.io/.
About the Human Feedback Foundation: The Human Feedback Foundation is a federally incorporated Canadian nonprofit and a member of the Linux Foundation AI & Data. It helps nonprofits adopt AI responsibly and builds a public commons for AI governance. Its RAISE (Responsible AI for Social Impact) initiative now spans an accelerator with the Creative Destruction Lab, the Agentic AI Design Exchange, and AI literacy training with The Dais. HFF also founded and runs AI Tinkerers Toronto, a community of 6,000+ AI/ML engineers, builders, and entrepreneurs.
Media contact: Elena Yunusov, Executive Director, Human Feedback Foundation, elena@humanfeedback.io
