By Margit Brazda Poirier, Founder of Grants4Good®
Grant success has never been about chasing every opportunity or writing faster at the last minute. It’s about being prepared — having clarity around your programs, your capacity, and your alignment with funders before you apply.
This core truth hasn’t changed.
What has changed is the set of tools nonprofits can use to support that preparation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now part of the funding landscape, and when used responsibly, it can help nonprofit organizations work more efficiently, stay organized, and strengthen their grant readiness.
AI doesn’t replace strategy, experience, or human judgment. But when used with a solid grant-seeking framework, it can become a powerful assistant.
Below are the 7 Steps to Grant Success using AI to support nonprofits at each stage.
Step 1: Confirm Eligibility
Before researching funders or drafting proposals, your organization must be eligible to receive grant funding. That means understanding your legal status, IRS designation, and any special requirements tied to the funders you’re considering.
How AI can help:
AI can help summarize eligibility criteria from funder guidelines or create internal checklists to confirm readiness. What it cannot do is verify eligibility for you — that step still requires your careful review.
Step 2: Identifing Your Program or Project
One of the most common mistakes nonprofits make is trying to fund too many priorities at once. Strong grant strategies start by focusing on one clearly defined program or project that is ready for funding now.
How AI can help:
AI can help analyze strategic plans, budgets, and program descriptions to surface priorities and draft concise program summaries for internal discussion. This makes it easier for leadership teams to align around what they want to fund — and why.
Step 3: Gather the Right Team
Grant writing is a team effort. Program staff, finance, leadership, and development all play a role in building strong applications.
How AI can help:
AI can support collaboration by summarizing meeting notes, drafting timelines, creating task lists, and organizing information across departments. It helps keep everyone aligned — without adding more administrative work.
Step 4: Assemble Essential Documents
Most grants require the same core materials: financial statements, budgets, board lists, organizational descriptions, and other supporting documents. Having these ready before deadlines saves enormous time.
How AI can help:
AI can help draft boilerplate language, standardize bios, edit narratives for clarity, and reduce content to meet word limits. It’s especially useful for creating reusable templates that can be refined over time.
(Important note: confidential or sensitive data should never be entered into AI tools.)
Step 5: Prepare for Government and Federal Grants
Government grants — especially federal grants — are more complex and more regulated, but they can also provide significant funding. Advanced registration, strict formatting rules, and precise compliance are non-negotiable.
How AI can help:
AI can help summarize large Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs), highlight key requirements, and create internal compliance checklists. It can also assist in aligning proposal language with federal priorities — as long as all content is carefully reviewed by you for accuracy and originality.
Step 6: Identify the Right Funders
Grant success depends on clear alignment. Applying to funders whose missions don’t match your work wastes time and energy.
How AI can help:
AI can support funder research by summarizing mission alignment, analyzing past awards, and comparing funder priorities to your program goals. Used alongside grant databases and your professional judgment, it helps narrow your focus to the most promising opportunities.
Step 7: Plan the Project Before You Write
The strongest grant proposals are built on clear and measurable outcomes. Funders want to understand who you serve, what you’ll do, what will change, and how success will be measured.
How AI can help:
AI can help draft work plans, refine outcomes, check alignment across narratives and budgets, and strengthen clarity. This allows grant professionals to spend more time on strategy and getting to the heart of the matter.
Want the Full 7-Step Framework? Download the Complete Guide
This article offers a high-level overview of the 7 Steps to Grant Success, but there’s much more detail behind each step — including practical worksheets, examples, and guidance to help you become truly ready to get the grant!
You can download the full 7 Steps to Grant Success guide here:
👉 https://www.grants4good.com/freebie/
It’s designed to help nonprofits focus on the right work before applying, and avoid the most common (and costly) grant-seeking mistakes.
AI is an Assistant — Not a Shortcut
AI does NOT replace your expertise or accountability. It doesn’t build relationships or make funding decisions. But it CAN save time and support better grant applications.
Nonprofits that pair strong fundamentals with responsible AI use will be the best positioned to compete for funding — especially as competition continue to rise.
Ready to Go Deeper? Learn the Full Grant Writing Process (and Save $200)
As a reader of this article, you’re invited to:
- Learn at your own pace
- Access real-world examples and templates
- Build skills you can use again and again
🎁 You’ll also receive a special discount when you enroll…get $200 off when you enter AAGW200 at registration.
👉 https://www.grants4good.com/work-with-me/course/
This course is ideal for nonprofit staff, leaders, consultants, and anyone who wants a clear, practical approach to grant writing — with no fluff.
What’s Next
These seven steps form the foundation of effective grant seeking — with or without AI. The opportunity now is learning how to integrate AI into this process in a way that is ethical, practical, and truly helpful.
I’ll be exploring this topic further — including real-world examples and AI use cases — in my January 13, 2026 webinar at 1:00 p.m Eastern Time on AI and grant writing. Register now for this FREE webinar, AI for Grant Writing: Practical Tools for Nonprofits.
