Weโre pleased to welcome Instrumentl back to the Virtuous blog! Instrumentl is the all-in-one grant management tool for nonprofits and consultants who want to find and win more grants without the stress of juggling grant work through disparate tools and sticky notes. The Instrumentl blog team, composed of former fundraisers, education professionals, and tech experts, creates content to best serve nonprofit professionals so they can stress less and raise more. Read on to learn tips on how to use AI in grantseeking.
Hereโs a riddle: What gets smarter the more itโs used?
AI.
LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT and Claude are at the heart of many AI systems. These advanced algorithms are designed to understand and generate human-like text. They get better with use, learning from each interaction to improve their responses and adapt to specific tasks.
This makes AI a powerful sidekick in any complex task.
So, youโre wondering: โCan AI help me with my grant program?โ It absolutely can.
AI can assist your fundraising in a few key ways, including:
- Evaluating opportunities to help you create a shortlist
- Providing inspiration or ideas for content to include in your grant proposal
- Writing proposal abstracts, summaries, and first drafts
- Streamlining communications that are key to relationship-building
To dig a little deeper, our team at Instrumentl surveyed more than 300 grant professionals at organizations and consultancies of different sizes on their AI habits.
Hereโs what we learned.
AI is cutting grant writing time in half
According to the grant professionals we interviewed, the average time it takes them to write and submit a grant proposal is two weeks. With AI, that time is cut in half.
In fact, 71% of nonprofits shared they can write and submit a grant proposal in under a week when employing LLMs.
The significant time savings allow them to focus more on areas of their grant program that AI canโt effectively replace, like building and maintaining human relationships. Importantly, it allows them to double their grant output if they dedicate the same time and resources to the application process as before.
Using AI, nonprofits can apply for more grants without sacrificing quality and increase their odds of landing new grants without the need for additional resources, time, or staffing.
Organizations with more funding are more likely to adopt AI tools
Larger organizations may have more resources readily available to invest in tools. These investments, in turn, can increase how much money they raise. Stakeholders and their boards may be more likely to support short-term spending for long-term gains.
Letโs explore a breakdown of nonprofit AI usage based on grant revenue:
- 49% of nonprofits that raised less than $10,000 in grant funding used AI.
- 74% of nonprofits with $1-2 million in grants have integrated AI into their workflow.
- 91% of nonprofits that have between $2-10 million in grants rely on AI to help support their operations.
So, what does this tell us?
In general, as nonprofits grow, theyโre more likely to integrate AI into their work. If youโre not already streamlining your processes with AI, nowโs a good time to get a head start.
Related: 5 AI Tools for Nonprofits to Help You Scale Fundraising
The Pros and Cons of AI in Grantseeking
While all of this is very exciting, we want to offer a word of advice: Artificial Intelligence is not a replacement for human grant writersโand it takes time to build an LLM that understands your organization.
Weโve summarized some of the highlightsโand pain pointsโof adopting AI in your grants journey.
Pros of AI in Grantseeking
Accessibility
One of the most exciting aspects of AI is its accessibility. With tools like ChatGPT and Claude, anyone can train and customize their own LLM to fit their needsโoften at little to no cost. By providing clear examples and prompts, you can teach AI to understand your organizationโs voice, goals, and requirements.
For organizations ready to invest in AI, Apply by Instrumentl is a powerful tool. It streamlines the drafting process by generating new content suggestions in your unique style and automating tedious tasks like searching, repurposing, and fine-tuning content from past proposals.
Time Efficiency
One of the most obvious benefits of using AI to write grant proposals is the ability to save significant amounts of time. As weโve discussed, AI tech can help you automate repetitive tasks, search for new funding opportunities, edit and format your proposals, and even create unique content for you.
Think about all the time you will get back without having to focus on those tasks!
Precision and Accuracy
Another benefit to using AI tools for grant writing is that they can help you improve the quality and accuracy of your writing by identifying spelling and grammar errors. Many AI tools can also provide you feedback on the consistency and readability of your proposals.
Data Handling
Some AI databases use predictive analytics, meaning that they can analyze large volumes of information and synthesize them for you. This means that AI can help analyze data from your program evaluations and help you weave those data points into your grant proposals and reports.
Consistency
AI tools can make sure that your writing is consistent across all your contentโ grant proposals, abstracts, donor mailings, etc. It can also help you maintain consistency in your style, tone, and formatting and ensure that your voice is clear, on-brand, and recognizable.
Tailored Proposals
Most AI tools have the ability to create unique proposals tailored to your organizationโs needs. If you give AI a detailed and specific prompt, it will generate a unique and customized proposal for youโeach and every time. This means that you no longer need to recycle the same old stale boilerplate language that youโve been using for years. Great news!
Cons of AI in Grantseeking
Loss of Human Touch
Hereโs the thing: AI is still learning how to be human.
Weโve all heard the saying that a good grant proposal should โpull on the reviewerโs heartstringsโ, right? Well, AI hasnโt quite figured out how to do that yet. This is one of the most significant limitations of this technology; when it comes to human emotions, relationships, and genuine connection, AI just isnโt there yet.
Learning Curve
Successful grant writing requires an in-depth understanding of the organizationโs mission, vision, values, and programs. AI technology does not have this knowledge.
As such, there will be a significant learning curve as you โteachโ the technology about your organization and its needs. Until this learning happens, any AI tool you use will struggle to capture the essence of what your organization doesโwhich will have a negative impact on any grant content that it produces for you.
Data Privacy Concerns
One of the biggest concerns about using AI in almost every industry is the potential for this technology to be used in a way that violates privacy.
AI systems require an incredible amount of data to be effectiveโdata about your organization, its mission, values, programs, finances, etc. If this data falls into the wrong hands, it could be used for nefarious purposes and could damage the reputation of your nonprofit.
Over-Reliance
As with any tool, hack, or tip that makes our lives easier, there is a risk of becoming over-reliant on AI technology for your grant writing needs.
Itโs important to consider AI as a tool to help you be successful, but it does not negate the need for a human grant writer at your organization. Itโs a resource, not a replacement.
Go beyond writing
The traditional approach to grant writing is cumbersome, time-consuming, and highly repetitive.
AI can help you save time and energy by automating some of the redundant tasks and helping you to generate compelling content (in your own voice)!
But the grant journey extends far beyond just writing a proposalโฆ
Lucky for you, so does the impact of AI! You can bring your AI sidekick into grant research & evaluation, tracking & management, and even reporting.
To learn simple strategies to streamline your entire grant journey, join Instrumentl and Virtuous on January 23 for the webinar Developing Your 2025 Grant Strategy: How to Win More & Save Time With AI. Register now!
