In our last post, we talked about why grant writing is important. Now we’ll explore how to use AI to write grants. Tools like ChatGPT have leveled the playing field for small businesses and organizations (artists/creatives included). Over 65 percent of corporate foundations offer grant opportunities for businesses and that number is growing. Here are a few ways to utilize ChatGPT when writing your next grant.

Use ChatGPT to Refine Your Mission Statement

Prompt: “Please refine the following mission statement for a business that does x,y,z”

This prompt can help tailor your mission statement and align it with the funder’s mission statement and or vision.

Use ChatGPT to Create a Budget

Prompt: “Please create a budget for a food drive. The goal of the program is to give away food to people in need in the Pittsburgh community. The drive will run for x amount of weeks.”

This could create a sample budget that is a nice starting point. You can then tailor the numbers and items to your organizational needs. Sometimes the sample budget also includes things that you might not have thought about yourself.

Use ChatGPT to Discover Risks

Prompt: “Please describe what risks should I consider while planning [project]?”

This prompt can help you find risks in your project/program that you might not have seen. Sometimes we’re really passionate or too close to our project to see potential risks.

Use ChatGPT to Find Measurable Key Performance Indicators

Prompt: “Please describe what are some key performance indicators (KPIs) we can use to measure the success of our project. The project is x and it takes place in y and the mission is z.”

This prompt can help you strengthen your measurable outcomes. Funders like things that can be measured especially when it comes to their annual report.

Use ChatGPT to Ask for Clarification

Prompt: “Can you please explain that in simpler terms?"

This prompt can you help you clarify any output that ChatGPT gives you that you might not understand or if you don’t like the wording in an output, you can ask it to reword it.

Use ChatGPT to Refine Your Outcomes

Prompt: “Help me describe the expected outcomes for [project details].”

This prompt can help you refine your outcomes for your grant and align those outcomes with the funder’s mission or vision.

Use ChatGPT to Connect Your Entire Grant to the Rubric

Prompt: “Please check the following grant section and compare it to the following grant rubric [insert rubric section here].”

This is my favorite prompt. Sometimes I go section by section and compare my grant to the grant rubric as most grants have a point system when they are being judged. If AI can help me get further, I’m absolutely going to use it.

Don’t be afraid to ask it to clarify itself. Remember that AI is only as good as the information that you give it. Don’t forget to check its work and utilize common sense. ChatGPT can help you and your grant stand out but should only be used as a starting point. Once you finish the grant, the great news is that a lot of that information can be used again for the next one. Have you used ChatGPT to write a grant?