Hiding in Plain Sight: The AI Mistakes That Sink Grant Proposals
The hidden pitfalls of AI grant writing, and the four things to protect every time you use it
AI use in the nonprofit sector has skyrocketed in recent years, but most nonprofits do not have any policies in place to help govern their teams’ AI use. The question at this point isn’t whether using AI is good or bad – it’s whether you’re using it responsibly. Join this webinar to learn where AI can realistically help in the grant writing process, what mistakes to avoid, and how to make sure AI isnt hurting your chances of getting the funding you need for your mission.
Grant writers everywhere are using AI to move faster – summarizing NOFOs, analyzing budgets, drafting narratives. The problem isn’t how fast they’re moving now; it’s that one fabricated statistic in front of the wrong funder can cost you a relationship you spent years building.
Join Carolyne Hevesi – a certified grant writer and nonprofit consultant who used AI to develop 60+ proposals worth over $4 million – for a working session on catching AI’s mistakes before funders do. You’ll learn what a confabulation is (it’s super sneaky, and almost nobody checks for it), the four things to protect every time you use AI and the hands-on workflow she runs on every single proposal.
This is a time of change, and we´re here to share what is working with real tips from a real grant writer.
What We’ll Cover
- Where AI genuinely saves grant writers time
- How to use AI without letting it make strategic decisions for you
- The four things everyone should protect when using AI
- Scary mistakes to look our for when using AI
- What is Confabulation is (it’s super sneaky, and almost nobody checks for it)
- And a practical workflow for end-to-end AI-supported grant generation – with a human-in-the-loop checkpoint at every stage
Bonus: This Free Session is made possible from our sponsor GEMS and they will present a mini-demo of their FREE forever and discounted affordable all-in-one grants management software that was built by grant writers with 5 decades of grant writing experience. Don´t miss it!
Carolyne Hevesi is a certified grant writer, nonprofit consultant, and founder of First Light Grants. She spent more than 15 years in various helping fields – from classrooms and addiction treatment to community health – before being voluntold into grant writing and discovering she was weirdly good at it. Since May 2024, Carolyne has used AI to develop and submit +60 proposals worth more than $4 million across new and renewed funding opportunities. Carolyne brings equal parts strategy, curiosity, and healthy skepticism to her work; she believes technology should make nonprofit professionals more capable – not just busier. When she isn’t chasing deadlines, she can usually be found dancing at a loud concert, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, or negotiating over treats with her French bulldog Mando.
GEMS (Grant Easy Management Software) is an all-in-one grant management platform built by grant professionals with over 5 decades of grant writing & grant management experience, and used by over 5,000 grant professionals world-wide. Designed specifically for grant writers, nonprofit professionals and consultants, GEMS supports the entire grant lifecycle—from funder prospecting to grant closeout. GEMS provides everything you need to manage grants and preserve institutional memory in one centralized system with integrated AI features, funder research tools, deadline tracking, task management, budgeting, time & expense tracking, collaboration features, and live customer support from fellow grant professionals. Whether you’re managing a grants portfolio for a single organization or multiple clients, GEMS is the grants infrastructure you need to stay organized, save time, scale your grant awards and further your mission!