How to Use AI in Grant Writing Without Losing Your Voice

As more nonprofits turn to AI, too many are using it without the strategy needed to produce fundable proposals. This is the difference between letting AI write for you and learning how to lead it.

I’ve seen a lot of change over the past year with more and more people beginning to embrace and lean on AI for grant writing. The issue is that most people are doing so in the wrong way.

AI is a great tool that can support and enhance your grant writing. The problem is that many people, especially those without formal grant writing experience, are using it like a crutch. They become completely dependent and disengaged in the process. Instead of guiding the tool with clear instructions, they take whatever the chatbot gives them and treat it as the final answer.

Let me tell you a quick story.

A while back, a client of mine asked me to use ChatGPT on a particular grant application. They hoped it would help us submit more proposals in less time. I’ve worked with this client for years, so I know their voice, programs, and priorities well. I’ve also written and submitted over 250 grants, securing millions in funding before AI was even on the table. In fact, when ChatGPT first came out, I turned my nose up at it.

But over time, my rigid views softened. I started to see how useful it could be when used correctly.

For this grant, I spent hours with ChatGPT, testing prompts, tweaking tone, refining structure, and adjusting language to match both the client’s voice and the funder’s priorities. I was proud of the result. It was thoughtful, strategic, and aligned.

Then I sent it to the client for review.

They ran it through ChatGPT again and had it completely rewritten.

What came back was flat. It lacked emotional appeal, nuance, and intentionality. I told them it was missing key elements, but they insisted on submitting it. I quietly sighed and sent it off as requested.

A few weeks later, we got a denial.

I wasn’t surprised.

AI can be an incredible support, but only if you know how to guide it. You have to treat it like a junior writer who needs direction. If you don’t know what makes a grant proposal strong in the first place, AI won’t fix that for you. In fact, it might make it worse.

When I originally wrote that proposal, I had crafted it so well with ChatGPT that my client didn’t even realize I had used AI. But when they stepped in and did a quick, unstructured rewrite, the result lacked all the thought we had built in.

I see this happen often with startups and new nonprofit leaders. They think that if they have ChatGPT, they don’t need a professional grant writer. Or they feel like hiring one is out of reach. The truth is that a professional just knows how to wield the tool better. That skill can be learned, but it takes some guidance.

It reminds me of a moment from high school when I was on my school’s robotics team. We used a programming language called C to code the robot’s movements. At one point, I complained to my teacher that the robot wasn’t doing what I wanted. He looked at me and said, “It’s doing exactly what you told it to do.”

I never forgot that. It’s the same with ChatGPT.

If you give poor instructions, you get poor results. If you test and refine, you can get it to do exactly what you need.

And the best part? You don’t need to know how to code. You don’t even need to be a strong writer. You just need two things: an understanding of how a grant proposal is built, and the ability to communicate clearly with AI.

That’s what I’m teaching in my upcoming training.

Smart Grant Writing: AI Secrets to Secure More Funding, Faster
🗓️ Saturday, May 31 | 🕒 3–5 PM ET | 💻 Free
Register here: https://www.gladiatorgrantwriting.org/signup