Two pieces from The NonProfit Times focus on how grant applicants can use AI in proposal work while maintaining a clear, compelling, human tone. The articles note that AI tools are increasingly common across everyday tasks, including information searches, email summarization, and photo editing, and that their use is expanding into the grantmaking process as well. They describe the transition as uneven, suggesting that applying AI to proposal development can be difficult if organizations rely on machine-generated language without careful editing.
Both articles emphasize that proposals should remain understandable and persuasive to funders, with writing that reflects the organization’s real mission, context, and intent. The guidance centers on clarity and readability—avoiding content that sounds generic or overly automated—and on presenting information in a way that communicates urgency, relevance, and impact. While the articles frame the goal as “outshining” AI by improving the proposal’s human qualities, they do not argue against using AI; instead, they advocate review and refinement so the final submission aligns with the needs of grant reviewers and the organization’s specific circumstances.
