AI could disrupt nonprofit grantmaking, and that’s not a bad thing.
As we move into the age of artificial intelligence, there's no denying that the world of work as we know it, including the nonprofit sector, is poised for significant disruption. Unless you’ve been living under a digital rock, you’ve probably heard about the grand debut of Artificial Intelligence like Chat GPT. Both the words of caution and the stories of Chat GPT’s successes are already swirling around the internet with leaders in each industry wondering how AI will change the status quo. Admittedly, nonprofit professionals aren’t known to be early adopters or tech savvy folks looking to streamline processes and maximize outputs. However, especially on online forums, whether and how to use AI has become a popular watercooler topic for nonprofit professionals.
Because Groundwork Co-creative supports nonprofits with grant prospecting and writing, we’ve been particularly interested in Chat GPT’s potential to assist with nonprofit development related tasks. Currently, much of the grant-seeking process includes writing: nonprofits respond to funding opportunities (commonly called Requests for Production or RFPs) published by grantors looking to fund specific causes or communities. Responding to RFPs can be daunting and time-consuming, especially for grassroots nonprofits and historically underfunded organizations led by people of color. Less funding means less staff and capacity to apply for new funding sources, creating a chicken and egg type conundrum. The hurdle of responding to RFPs cannot be understated. Especially with government funding, applications can include 40-plus pages of writing in which nonprofits respond to complicated questions regarding how the organization would spend grant funds (within certain restrictions), would track success, would collect and report data, etc. Other funders have shortened grant applications but still ask for a mountain of information, reducing grant applications to a precarious game of tetris, trying to make each word fit into very limited space.
As the use of AI becomes more common, this tool could help neutralize some of the writing-related hurdles of grant writing (assuming it remains widely accessible). If funders can no longer use written expression and application quality as a tool to narrow down applications, it could encourage them to totally abandon or at the very least heavily adjust the grant seeking process. Movements like the Trust Based Philanthropy are already calling to decrease hurdles to receiving grants as well as restrictions placed on the funds provided to nonprofit organizations. Only time will tell whether the existence of AI will spark radical change in a process that’s long overdue for an overhaul.
Want to learn about how to use AI to save time with grant writing? Reach out to Groundwork Co-Creative for more information about our “Stay Ready” Grant readiness intensive and other available training opportunities.
