Quick Tips
Why Nonprofits Rarely Invest Big in Their Grant Writers And Why That Should Change
Outsourcing a single proposal solves today's deadline, but it leaves your team starting from scratch tomorrow. Real, lasting impact requires a shift: moving from one-time transactional costs to building true internal capacity.
When you invest in your own people, you do more than save money on consultant fees. You build independence, retain talent, and strengthen your organization from the inside out.
What happens when you shift from outsourcing to equipping?
Your capacity stays in-house: Skills, strategy, and funding confidence remain rooted in your organization long after the deadline passes.
Your team moves with readiness: You gain the agility to pursue unexpected opportunities on short timelines without scrambling.
Your people thrive: Clear pathways for professional growth replace burnout and turnover with stability and purpose.
The work you do is already worthy. Developing the people closest to that work ensures you can translate your mission into sustainable, long-term funding: fully, proudly, and on your own terms.
[Read the full post to rethink your next budget cycle and build grant capacity that lasts.]
Why AI Grant Writing Tools Fall Short, and What Builds Real Capacity Instead
Every few months, a new tool promises to write your grants for you. Plug in your organization, answer a few prompts, and out comes a proposal. For a nonprofit leader trying to expand a grants portfolio with a lean team, that promise lands somewhere between exciting and too good to be true.
It is usually the second one. The tools are getting better, and some of them are genuinely useful for a first draft. Here’s the problem with these tools: when you try to generalize something for everyone (selling a product to 1000s of nonprofits), the specifics get lost. And in grant writing, the specifics are the entire point.
Why Generic AI Grant Writing Tools Lose What Matters
A general-purpose AI grant tool is built to serve thousands of organizations at once. To do that, it has to flatten the way that it writes grants. When a tool is designed to work for everyone, it cannot hold the things that make your application yours. You get language that is technically competent and fairly interchangeable. A reviewer reading a hundred applications can feel that flatness immediately.
The deeper issue is what happens when the output is wrong. With a closed tool where you can’t rewrite the skills/code, you are stuck. You can regenerate; you can tweak your inputs, but you cannot reach into the system and fix what is actually broken because you did not build it and you do not understand how it works.
The Case for Training Your Team Instead
There is another path: when you train the experts in your organization to use AI effectively, they can fix the problems themselves.
I have been saying this for a long time (in AI years…so like at least 18 months…ha!): the real promise of AI is that you get to solve YOUR problems. The accessibility of the tech is the benefit.
Positioning Yourself for Federal Grants Using Your Existing Strengths
Federal grants are often seen as too big, too complex, or out of reach. In reality, readiness has less to do with size and more to do with clarity, consistency, and strong systems. Federal readiness is not about becoming something different. It is about making your work structured, measurable, and aligned with long-term growth.
You’re Not Too Small. You’re Just Underestimated.
Some folks look at your org and see “small.” We see something else: underestimated. In this blog, we bust a few myths, share insight on a winning approach, and provide a four-step playbook for small organizations that want to compete for federal dollars.
From Heart to Head: Preparing Your Narrative for Federal Grants
Transitioning from foundation grants to federal grant writing requires more than minor adjustments—it demands a fundamental mindset shift. While foundation proposals often lean on compelling stories and flexible formats, federal grants require structured, evidence-based narratives rooted in data, measurable objectives, and strict compliance with RFP guidelines. This blog outlines key differences in tone, structure, and expectations, and offers practical exercises to help writers adapt—from reframing emotional appeals with data, to aligning narratives with federal evaluation criteria. Whether or not you pursue federal funding, these skills will elevate the rigor and credibility of all your grant proposals.
Building Your Federal Grant Muscles
Right now, federal grants things are weird. But you don’t need a live opportunity to start preparing for future opportunities. Here are several things I recommend doing while you wait for opportunities to reappear.
AI Tools That Are Changing the Game for Grant Writers
AI, when used well, can actually expand your power as a grant writer and equip you with tools that give you a head start, offer clarity, and free up your brain for the strategic decisions only you can make. In this Quick Tips post, I introduce you to three CustomGPTs—field-tested assistants I’ve built for the reality of small, capacity-strapped nonprofits who are doing this work without a full grant team.
Why Grant Writers Shouldn’t Fear Federal Grants
If you’re a grant writer, you already have most of the skills needed to tackle federal grants. Yes, Federal RFPs are longer (ok, MUCH longer), with more complex requirements and online systems that can test your patience. But if you can write grants, you can write federal grants. It’s just about learning the quirks, adapting your existing skills, and learning how to navigate the hidden challenges.