AI Governance for Small Organizations

AI Governance for Small Organizations from the Enterprise Technology Association (ETA) is for the people who keep small organizations running: owners, executive directors, operations and office managers, practice administrators and the person who ends up handling IT. Your team is already using AI, often through free accounts, browser extensions, meeting bots and features switched on in tools you already pay for. Governance doesn't need a department. It needs a few habits, done consistently, by one owner.

This course teaches seven habits sized for teams of 5 to 150: an owner, an inventory, a one-page policy, risk levels, vendor checks, an incident plan and a quarterly review. You finish with a capstone: an AI governance starter kit for your real organization, submitted and reviewed by a person. Completing the course earns the ETA Specialist: AI Governance for Small Organizations badge.

What you'll learn

• Find the AI already in use, including shadow AI and built-in features, and rate each use low, medium or high
• Write a one-page AI policy people follow, with data rules in OK, ask first and never columns
• Set up AI accounts, meeting bots and connected tools to protect customer and business data
• Assess medium- and high-risk uses, match controls to the risk, and keep agents at the right rung
• Question AI vendors, follow client AI clauses and answer customer security questionnaires
• Respond to AI incidents in the right order and know when to get outside help
• Show customers and funders you use AI responsibly, and keep governance current in 30 minutes a quarter

Who it's for

Leaders and operations staff at small businesses, nonprofits, professional practices and small public bodies without a dedicated security or compliance team, and advisors who support them. For IT, security and risk leaders at larger organizations, AI Governance and Security goes deeper. This course assumes you've completed Level 1: Foundations of the ETA Applied AI Professional Certificate (free). It is not legal advice.

How it works

Four modules with small-organization examples, templates and a Try it exercise in every lesson, a knowledge check after each module, a capstone and a final assessment. About 2 hours 30 minutes. Included with ETA Pro membership and above.

Your badge and certificate

Passing the final assessment, including your reviewed capstone, earns two things: the ETA Specialist: AI Governance for Small Organizations badge and a certificate of completion for AI Governance for Small Organizations. Each has its own verification page on joineta.org, is a verifiable digital badge (Open Badges 3.0) and can be added to LinkedIn. Your badge shows on your ETA profile and stacks with your other ETA credentials: the ETA professional certificates and their levels, other ETA Specialist badges and the hours-based credentials. The course adds 2.5 credit hours toward AI Explorer, AI Empowered Professional and AI Empowered Leader.