ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, has been named to Fast Company’s 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators list. The recognition puts attention on how organizations are creating workplace structures that allow employees to experiment with data, artificial intelligence and new operating models while keeping innovation connected to measurable organizational goals.
Innovation programs are increasingly becoming a workforce strategy rather than an isolated technology initiative. For employers adopting artificial intelligence, the challenge is no longer simply acquiring new tools. It is creating an environment in which employees can identify useful applications, experiment responsibly and turn successful ideas into repeatable processes.
ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is one of the organizations receiving recognition for that approach. Fast Company has named ALSAC to its 2026 Best Workplaces for Innovators list, highlighting organizations that give employees resources and opportunities to develop ideas and drive change. Fast Company says its 2026 selection process reviewed more than 1,200 applications before selecting 190 organizations.
For ALSAC, the recognition is tied to investments in data, responsible AI and employee-led innovation. The organization raises the majority of funds needed to sustain and grow St. Jude, giving its workforce-innovation efforts a somewhat different objective from those of a conventional commercial enterprise.
The technology question is therefore closely connected to the employee experience. Data and AI can help organizations understand supporters, improve operational processes and automate repetitive work, but their value depends on employees knowing where those technologies should be applied and where human judgment remains necessary.
That distinction is becoming more important as workplace AI moves from experimentation toward broader organizational adoption.
McKinsey’s 2025 global AI survey found that 88% of respondents said their organizations regularly use AI in at least one business function, up from 78% the previous year. Yet most organizations remained in experimentation or pilot stages, with only about one-third reporting that they had begun scaling AI programs.
The gap between access and effective adoption puts greater emphasis on workplace culture.
Employees need opportunities to test AI against real workflows, understand its limitations and develop confidence in using it. They also need governance around sensitive data, decision-making and accountability. For an organization handling donor information and operating in support of pediatric healthcare, those considerations can be particularly significant.
ALSAC describes responsible AI as one component of its innovation investment. That framing is notable because it moves AI adoption away from the idea that every new model or automation capability should immediately be deployed. Instead, technology becomes a tool employees can use to solve specific organizational problems.
Recent workforce research suggests that this employee-centered approach can influence whether AI adoption actually takes hold.
Gallup’s latest workplace AI indicator reports that, as of May 2026, 52% of U.S. employees use AI in their roles at least a few times a year, while 30% use it at least several times a week and 15% use it daily. Gallup also finds that manager support is strongly associated with frequent AI use.
That creates an important HR technology implication: AI transformation is partly a management and organizational-design problem.
Giving employees access to ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini or enterprise AI platforms does not automatically produce adoption. Employees need clear use cases, training, permission to experiment and managers who understand how AI fits into existing workflows.
Gallup’s research reinforces that point. In organizations where AI is available, 88% of employees who strongly agree that AI integrates well with their workplace systems and processes use it frequently, compared with 55% among those who do not strongly agree.
For HR leaders, that makes innovation culture increasingly relevant to workforce technology strategy.
An employee innovation program can function as a mechanism for discovering AI use cases that centralized technology teams might overlook. Employees working directly with donors, marketing campaigns, fundraising operations, analytics or administrative processes often understand the friction points in those workflows better than a technology team working from requirements documents.
The model also changes the relationship between HR, IT and business leadership. HR’s role can extend beyond policies and training toward helping establish conditions for experimentation, reskilling and responsible technology adoption.
ALSAC has a history with Fast Company’s workplace innovation program. The organization first appeared on the list in 2020 as the No. 1-ranked organization overall and subsequently received additional placements and category recognition, including a General Excellence honor in 2024, according to ALSAC.
The latest recognition comes as Fast Company continues to broaden its assessment of innovation beyond conventional technology companies. Its methodology evaluates areas including innovation culture, employee empowerment, resources for innovation and results and impact.
That broader definition matters for HR technology because some of the most consequential workplace innovation may not originate in software companies. Nonprofits, healthcare organizations, manufacturers and professional-services companies are all becoming technology-enabled employers, and their ability to innovate increasingly depends on how effectively employees can work with new tools.
For ALSAC, the ultimate measure is not AI adoption for its own sake. The organization says its innovation efforts are intended to strengthen donor relationships, improve operational efficiency and help more supporters contribute to the St. Jude mission.
That distinction offers a useful lesson for other employers. The strongest workplace AI programs may not be those with the largest number of tools, but those that give employees a structured way to identify meaningful problems, test solutions and scale what works.
As enterprises move from AI pilots toward broader deployment, employee-led innovation could become an increasingly important layer of the HR technology stack—connecting workforce culture, skills development, responsible AI governance and business transformation.
Market Landscape
Workplace AI adoption is expanding, but organizations are still working through the transition from experimentation to repeatable business value. McKinsey reports that 88% of surveyed organizations regularly use AI in at least one business function, while only about one-third have begun scaling their programs.
At the employee level, Gallup reports that 52% of U.S. workers used AI in their role at least a few times a year as of May 2026, with 30% using it several times a week or more. Manager support and integration into existing workflows are important adoption factors.
The competitive landscape increasingly includes Microsoft, Google, Salesforce and other enterprise technology providers embedding AI into everyday workplace applications. The differentiator is shifting from simply having access to AI toward creating the governance, skills and culture required to use it effectively.
Top Insights
- ALSAC’s Fast Company recognition underscores how employee empowerment can become an important component of enterprise AI and innovation strategy.
- Responsible AI requires more than technology access; employees need governance, training, clear use cases and managerial support to experiment effectively.
- Workplace innovation programs can surface AI applications from employees closest to operational problems and customer or donor interactions.
- Research shows AI adoption remains uneven, making workflow integration and employee enablement important complements to enterprise technology investment.
- HR leaders increasingly have a role in AI transformation through skills development, change management, culture and responsible-use policies.
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