Grant Writing with AI

The Blank Page Problem

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, you learned to use AI for prospect research — identifying major gift candidates using the capacity-affinity-propensity model. Now you’ll apply AI to another time-intensive fundraising task: grant writing. Where prospect research is about finding the right people, grant writing is about crafting the right message for the right funder.

Every grant writer knows the feeling: a 15-page proposal due in two weeks, a blank document, and a stack of funder guidelines that seem to ask for everything in a slightly different way than you’ve ever described your work.

AI doesn’t write winning grants for you. But it eliminates the blank page, produces structured first drafts in minutes, and — critically — helps you align your language with what funders actually prioritize. Research shows AI gets grant proposals about 80% there. The human finishes the 20% that wins the award.

Finding the Right Funders

Before writing a single word, you need to find funders whose priorities match your work. This is where many organizations waste time — applying broadly instead of strategically.

Help me identify the best-fit funders for my organization.

About us:
- Mission: [your mission statement]
- Programs: [brief description of 2-3 main programs]
- Geography: [where you work]
- Budget: [annual operating budget]
- Target population: [who you serve]
- Previous grants: [funders you've received from, if any]

Help me build a funder prospecting strategy:
1. What types of funders align with our work?
   (private foundations, corporate, government, community)
2. What keywords should I search in grant databases?
3. What red flags would indicate a poor-fit funder?
4. Create a funder research template I can use to evaluate
   each prospect: name, mission alignment (1-10),
   grant range, deadline, relationship status, priority level

Funder Matching Matrix

✅ Quick Check: Why does mission alignment get the highest weight in funder matching? Because applying to a funder whose priorities don’t genuinely connect to your work wastes everyone’s time — and funders can tell when an organization is stretching to fit. The best grant success rates come from funders where the alignment is natural and specific, not generic.

The AI Grant Writing Workflow

Step 1: Analyze the Funder

Before drafting, feed the funder’s guidelines into AI:

I'm applying for a grant from [funder name].
Here are their guidelines and priorities:
[paste guidelines or key sections]

Analyze this funder:
1. What are their TOP 3 priorities based on this language?
2. What specific terms and phrases do they use repeatedly?
   (I should mirror these in my proposal)
3. What do they seem to value most: innovation, evidence,
   community engagement, systemic change, scalability?
4. What sections do they require and what's the word limit?
5. What would make a proposal stand out vs. what would
   get it rejected?

Step 2: Draft Each Section

Draft the [section name] of my grant proposal.

Funder priorities (from our analysis):
[paste the priority analysis from Step 1]

Our program details:
- Program name: [name]
- What we do: [description]
- Who we serve: [population, numbers]
- Key outcomes last year: [data]
- What makes us different: [unique approach]

Section requirements:
[paste the specific section instructions from funder]

Write this section:
- Mirror the funder's language and priorities naturally
- Lead with impact, not activities
- Include specific data points where possible
- Keep to [X] words
- Mark any place where I need to insert specific
  data or stories with [INSERT: description]

Step 3: Build a Logic Model

Funders love logic models because they show the connection between resources, activities, and outcomes:

Create a logic model for my program.

INPUTS (what we invest):
- Staff: [X FTE]
- Budget: $[X]
- Partners: [list key partners]

ACTIVITIES (what we do):
- [Activity 1]
- [Activity 2]
- [Activity 3]

OUTPUTS (what we produce — countable):
- [Output 1: number served, sessions delivered, etc.]
- [Output 2]

OUTCOMES (what changes — short-term, 1 year):
- [Expected change 1]
- [Expected change 2]

IMPACT (long-term systemic change, 3-5 years):
- [Ultimate goal]

Format this as both a table and a narrative paragraph
I can include in my proposal.

Step 4: The Human 20%

After AI generates the draft, add what only you can provide:

✅ Quick Check: Why is “mirroring funder language” one of the most important grant writing techniques? Because funders evaluate proposals through their own framework. If they prioritize “community-driven solutions” and your proposal talks about “program delivery,” you’re speaking a different language — even if you’re describing the same thing. AI excels at identifying funder keywords and weaving them naturally into your narrative.

Managing a Grants Pipeline

Individual proposals matter, but sustainable grant funding requires a pipeline system:

Help me build a grants pipeline tracking system.

I want to track:
- Funder name and program
- Submission deadline
- Grant amount range
- Application status (researching, writing, submitted,
  pending, awarded, declined)
- Key contacts at funder
- Next action and due date
- Win/loss notes for improvement

Create a tracking template and a quarterly review process:
1. How many applications should we have in pipeline
   at any given time?
2. What's a realistic win rate to plan around?
3. How do we learn from declined applications?
4. When should we reapply vs. move on?

Key Takeaways

• AI eliminates the blank-page problem and produces structured grant drafts in minutes — but the human 20% (real stories, specific data, relationship context) is what wins awards
• Always analyze the funder before writing: identify their top priorities, recurring language, and what they value most — then mirror those terms naturally in your proposal
• Authentic alignment means showing how your work genuinely connects to funder priorities — not misrepresenting your programs to match their language
• General AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude) handle grant writing effectively without specialized tools — the main advantage of platforms like Instrumentl is funder discovery
• Build a grants pipeline with tracking for deadlines, status, and win/loss analysis to improve your success rate over time

Up Next: You’ll learn to build AI-powered donor communication systems — from personalized thank-you sequences to stewardship plans that turn first-time givers into lifelong supporters.