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Purpose
At Marketing Partners, Inc. (MPI), we use artificial intelligence (AI) to support—not replace—the heart, strategy, and judgment of our team. Every application of AI must advance our mission to “unlock the power of communication to drive change for good,” protect the people we serve, and reflect our core belief in people-first, equity-focused, mission-aligned work.
Scope: Where AI is Used
MPI may use AI tools in five defined areas. For every use, we document the task, the data source, the human reviewer, and the verification step before any output reaches a client, partner, or member of the public — consistent with the human-in-the-loop checkpoints described in the NIST Generative AI Profile (PDF).
| Use Case | Examples |
|---|
| Research, discovery, & analysis | Environment & media scanning, competition, trend identification, audience perceptions |
| Brainstorming | Content variation suggestions |
| Content drafting & editing | Blog post outlines, email copy, social captions |
| Administrative support & workflow automation | Scheduling, summarization, transcription |
| Design support | Image variation suggestions, layout recommendations |
Note: Final deliverables always require human review before publication.
Core Principles
Five principles govern every AI-assisted project: human-centered, ethical and inclusive, transparent, accountable, and accessible. AI use at MPI will be:
- Human-Centered: Enhancing, not replacing, human creativity and critical thinking.
- Ethical and Inclusive: Avoiding harm and proactively addressing bias, especially for underrepresented communities.
- Transparent: Clearly disclosing when and how AI tools are used in content, decision-making, or research.
- Accountable: With clear lines of responsibility for evaluating and overseeing AI usage.
- Accessible: Building on our commitment to accessibility by striving to include the widest audience possible, regardless of disability.
Governance & Roles
| Role | Responsibilities |
|---|
| AI Oversight Lead (MPI President) | Reviews all AI tool use and flags ethical risks |
| AI Task Team (ad hoc) | Small group convened for new tool evaluations or special projects |
| All Staff | Complete AI literacy onboarding and flag potential misuse or concerns |
Before any AI tool is approved for client work, MPI’s President and our AI Task Group document: (1) data residency and retention, (2) training-data use of inputs, (3) bias and accessibility testing, (4) explainability, (5) vendor liability and indemnification, and (6) independent-evaluation results.
Client data and personally identifiable information are confined to MPI-contracted, professional-grade workspaces only — never entered into public or free user AI tools.
Client and Public Transparency
Client contract language and consulting governance. When AI may play a meaningful role in an engagement, our proposal or agreement will say how it may be used, where it may not be used, when we will disclose it, how data will be handled, who owns the work, the human review that will happen, and when a client may opt out of specific AI-assisted tasks.
MPI discloses AI assistance in each proposal, scope of work, contract, deliverable, and external publication where AI materially shaped the content. Standard label: “Portions of this content were developed with assistance from AI tools. Human reviewed.”
Voice, Likeness & Emotional Manipulation
Boundaries we will not cross. MPI will not use AI to: (1) clone or simulate the voice, likeness, or writing style of a real person without that person’s written, informed consent; (2) generate visuals or audio that could be mistaken for authentic documentary evidence; or (3) use automated content engineered to manipulate emotional response. Any synthetic likeness or voice we use is clearly labelled as AI-generated.
Bias, Equity & Accessibility
Before publication, AI-assisted content is reviewed for representation, accessibility, and unintended bias against the communities our clients serve. Visuals carry alt text; documents meet WCAG 2.2 AA contrast and structure standards; language is people-first. MPI’s team reviews at least one randomly selected deliverable per quarter for bias and accessibility, and documents findings.
Social and Environmental Impact
MPI will choose AI uses with care and prefer right-sized tools and practices that support mission impact, accessibility, and responsible use of energy and other resources, especially for repeated or large-scale work.
Privacy, Confidentiality & Data
Client data is classified as public, internal, confidential, or restricted. Confidential and restricted data — including donor lists, personally identifiable information, protected health information, board minutes, and unsigned strategy — are entered only into MPI’s contracted AI environments with no-training agreements.
Ethical Decision-Making & Risk Management
Speak-up culture and non-retaliation when ethical questions arise. MPI staff and contractors are encouraged to raise AI concerns about ethics, privacy, accessibility, quality, or client alignment without fear of retaliation. We will review concerns promptly, document them, and pause a tool, workflow, or deliverable when needed so concerns can be addressed. Team members who encounter an AI-related ethical concern follow the PMI Ethical Decision-Making Framework (PDF): assessment, alternatives, analysis, application, action. Concerns escalate to the MPI President. MPI reserves the right — and the responsibility — to decline, pause, or withdraw from any engagement where AI use would conflict with our principles or with our duties to clients, communities, and our profession.
Continuous Learning & Improvement
Monitoring, incidents, correction, and continual improvement. MPI will revisit this framework at least once a year and sooner if a serious issue, major tool change, or new requirement calls for it. MPI will keep a clear process for correcting AI-related mistakes or harms, including privacy problems, misleading synthetic media, accessibility failures, and other concerns. When needed, we will disclose the issue promptly, fix it, and pause or stop the tool or use case.
The framework review includes: incident log, tool inventory, training completion, client feedback, and changes in law (notably NIST AI RMF updates, EU AI Act, state privacy laws), ICMCI guidance, and IMC USA ethics standards. Material changes are communicated to active clients in writing. MPI commits to:
- Keeping staff up to date on evolving AI ethics, especially as they relate to DEI, accessibility, and marketing practices
- Sharing lessons learned and evolving this framework annually
- Participating in peer exchanges and nonprofit networks on responsible tech use
Resources
Prepared January 2023. Most recent update June 2026.
