In our last article, I introduced our newest ebook, Real Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence = Nonprofit Success, and shared why I believe nonprofit leaders need to think differently about AI.
Not as a replacement for human judgment.
Not as a shortcut around strategy.
Not as a way to invent programs, exaggerate outcomes, or make an organization sound like something it is not.
But as a tool to help nonprofit professionals strengthen the work they are already doing.
That distinction matters across every part of nonprofit leadership, but it may matter most in grant writing. Because grant writing is one of the places where AI can be both incredibly helpful and genuinely risky.
If you work anywhere near fundraising, development, nonprofit leadership, or program management, you have probably seen the promises by now:
Write a grant in minutes.
Let AI handle your proposal.
Use this magic prompt to get funded.
It sounds tempting, especially if your team is overwhelmed.
Grant writing has always been time intensive. Someone has to read the RFP, understand the funder’s priorities, gather program details, collect data, build the budget, write the narrative, review attachments, check the formatting, and submit everything before the deadline. And most nonprofit teams are doing all of that while also running programs, managing staff, serving clients, preparing for board meetings, tracking outcomes, and responding to whatever emergency appeared that day.
So when AI promises to make grant writing faster, of course people are interested. I’ve seen the ads. I’ve lurked in some of the classes and webinars. And I have been absolutely appalled by some of what I have seen. There are clowns running around proselytizing using AI to write grants who clearly have no idea what grant writing is or how it works. They are big fans of technology, not experts in nonprofit management or legal or regulatory compliance.
My team has been using AI to support the grant writing process for about two years now. We are not anti-AI. Far from it. We use it every day.
But here is what I know for sure:
AI slop is no substitute for a grant writing process.
A magic prompt will not win your grant.
A polished paragraph is not the same thing as a competitive proposal.
The danger of AI in grant writing is that it can make weak content sound strong. It can produce language that feels polished and persuasive at first glance, even when it isn’t remotely responsive to the RFP.
It can miss scoring criteria. It can blur details. It can overstate outcomes. It can misuse data. It can create a narrative that sounds impressive but does not actually match the project, the budget, the evidence, or the organization’s real capacity.
A strong grant has to align with the funder’s priorities, demonstrate real need, explain a credible project design, connect activities to outcomes, justify the budget, and prove that the organization can do what it says it will do.
AI can help with that work. But only if it is guided by a strong process.
That is where RI + AI comes in.
Real Intelligence is the human side of the work: strategy, judgment, ethics, experience, accuracy, storytelling, funder alignment, and quality control.
Artificial Intelligence is the tool that can help organize information, summarize documents, generate planning questions, draft first-pass content, identify gaps, improve clarity, and review a proposal against a rubric.
But AI should never drive the strategy. It should support it.
When my team uses AI in grant writing, we do not start by opening a blank chat box and asking it to write a proposal. That is where things often go wrong. Instead, we build a controlled workspace around the specific grant we are writing.
Without a process, AI can create more cleanup work than it saves. With the right process, it can help you move through grant writing with more speed, structure, and confidence.
That is why I created RI + AI = Grant Success, a new 3-week Master Class that walks participants through the exact process my team uses internally to leverage AI throughout the grant writing process.
This is not a passive course. During the Master Class, you will write a grant with me from start to finish.
If you have a live grant opportunity, you can bring it. If you do not, I will provide a sample grant so you can still work through the entire process.
Each week includes two asynchronous training sessions, with a suggested rhythm of completing one on Monday and one on Wednesday. Then, on Fridays at noon Eastern time, participants can join live drop-in office hours with me to ask questions, troubleshoot the process, and get support as they apply what they are learning.
Over three weeks, we will build an AI-supported grant writing workspace, organize source materials, deconstruct the RFP, generate project planning questions, develop a logic model, gather data, draft section by section, fact-check the output, pre-score the proposal against the funder’s rubric, and revise before final submission.
I first opened this opportunity to a small group of KFA community members. Now, I am opening the remaining first-cohort seats to the broader KFA community before the class begins.
The Master Class will be listed publicly at $999, but first-cohort participants can enroll for $599 with code GRANTWITHME.
Your enrollment also includes a free copy of our new ebook, Real Intelligence + Artificial Intelligence = Nonprofit Success.
This first cohort is intentionally small; we’re limiting it to 15 seats. I want to get everyone’s feedback on the master class. So every participant will receive a private one-on-one session with me at the end of the class. I am not promising or expecting to continue to do that beyond the first cohort.
The first cohort begins Monday, August 3.
If you have been wondering how experienced grant writers are actually using AI behind the scenes, this is your opportunity to learn by doing.
Not by downloading prompt list.
Not by hoping AI gets it right.
But by spending three weeks writing a grant with me, using a practical, ethical, AI-supported workflow you can use again and again.
Join the first cohort of RI + AI = Grant Success and write a grant with me in 3 weeks.
Use code GRANTWITHME to enroll for $599 before the first cohort begins.