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By Michaela Hayes, MHSA, CFRE, GPC
Grant professionals have been inundated by articles, webinars, and marketing messages about AI’s role in prospect research and analysis, proposal and report writing, and more.
This might produce fear of dire outcomes — such as, “there’s no more need for us.”
Grant professionals face constant deadlines. They might put off learning about AI. However, do this at your own peril. It is imperative that you learn about AI and leverage it to elevate your role and increase impact.
As the field is rapidly evolving and expanding, there’s no single “best” resource for learning about AI.
Good options include asking colleagues who use AI what they’ve found helpful, accessing resources available through the Grant Professionals Association, and checking out trustworthy organizations’ free/low cost webinars and publications.
Most importantly, jump in.
Start with easily accessible tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude. Test these with basic tasks: producing proposal and report outlines, drafting responses to standard RFP questions, editing/proofing, and prospect research.
Consider AI as a virtual assistant that can improve your efficiency in performing routine tasks, or as a thought partner that can surface different perspectives and ideas.
But do not “outsource” critical thinking to AI. As with a human assistant, training and feedback are essential.
Invest time and thought into developing prompts. Specific, comprehensive, and unbiased prompts yield higher quality output. Critically review and challenge AI’s output. Is it accurate, current, inclusive, ethical? Is it sensitive to the specific context of your organization and its stakeholders?
Without human involvement, AI’s output might be subpar at best: bland, outdated, incomplete. At worst, AI can produce inaccurate/false and offensive output, which can damage funder and stakeholder relationships.
AI’s capabilities are constantly expanding and improving. Still, strong research, analytical, writing, and editing skills will remain essential to grant professionals’ success.
AI offers grant professionals an opportunity to focus on skills and competencies that AI can’t replicate. These include the ability to understand nuance and context; think critically and strategically; listen deeply; be curious; engage emotional intelligence, empathy, and creativity; find solutions to complex problems; place the voices of those served at the center; collaborate; and develop trust-based partnerships with funders.
These skills can only be cultivated through human connection, first-hand experience, ongoing learning, and professional development.
Messages implying that AI will take jobs might produce unnecessary fear and resistance. Sticking your head in the sand and pretending AI doesn’t exist is no longer an option. AI is here to stay and will only become more entrenched. Concurrently, the knowledge, skills, experience, and human attributes that seasoned grant professionals proffer and can use to enhance AI operations will increase in importance.
Grant professionals are best served by embracing this reality and determining how AI can best serve us. By doing so, you’ll increase your positive impact on behalf of the missions of the organizations you serve.
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Michaela Hayes, MHSA, CFRE, GPC, is a strategic funding consultant at Hays Impact in the San Francisco Bay area. Her email is michaela@hayesmarcom.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelahayes/
