Working with no budget

Zero budget does not mean zero options. It does mean choosing a route that your people, devices, and review time can support.

Start with three data lanes

• Public: Published material and synthetic workshop examples can use a free hosted service after you check current terms and account settings.
• Internal: Routine drafts and unpublished work need an organisation-approved account, storage location, and access rule.
• Identifiable: Testimony, case files, protected locations, voices, and details that could identify a person stay local or are handled without AI.

Do not choose a free tool first and force every task into it.

Three zero-cost routes

Work without AI

Manual templates, checklists, spreadsheet formulas, search, and peer review are often the safest route. They also remain available when a service changes limits or blocks access.

Use a verified local tool

Whisper running locally can transcribe supported speech without sending the recording to a hosted transcription service. Local does not automatically mean safe. Check downloads, telemetry, device encryption, backups, access, model quality, and storage.

• Transcribe an Arabic interview offline
• Test the advanced live translation route

Use a free hosted service for public work

A free account for ChatGPT or another hosted assistant can help draft, classify, or summarise public material. Product limits and data controls change. Follow the vendor link from the tools catalogue, then check the exact account and workspace before use.

Five checks before you depend on a free route

1. Data: Does the route match the public, internal, or identifiable lane?
2. Access: Can the team create and recover the account without using a personal phone, card, or unsafe workaround?
3. Capability: Has the tool passed a small test in the required language, script, file type, and device?
4. Human: Is reviewer time available for names, facts, numbers, quotations, and meaning?
5. Continuity: What happens to the work if limits, access, terms, or the service change tomorrow?

Count the real cost

Include installation, hardware, connectivity, staff learning, review, correction, and secure storage. A no-charge tool can still cost more staff time than a manual route. A paid plan can still be unsuitable for sensitive data.

Check nonprofit programmes at the source

Eligibility, country coverage, benefits, and documentation requirements change. Verify them before planning a workflow.

• TechSoup Global
• Google for Nonprofits
• Microsoft for Nonprofits

Treat any donated or discounted account as a real hosted service. Apply the same data lane and five checks.

A zero-budget workshop route

1. Write one page of rules with the one-hour AI rules recipe.
2. Pick one public or synthetic task and define what a correct result looks like.
3. Compare a manual route, a free hosted route, and a local route where available.
4. Check the result against the original and record the time spent correcting it.
5. Keep the route only if the team can repeat it safely after the workshop.