Holly Rustick: Hello. Hello. Hello. It's Holly Rustick here with the Grant Writing and Funding podcast. And we're going to be talking about a big, big item today, and that is AI.
And we're going to be talking about how to be AI grant ready. And before we start this episode, I just actually wanna chime in from our last week's episode on all the changes with OMB. We also gave you some templates as well. So if you don't even know what I'm talking about, check out that episode. Episode.
It is so good, all about OMB, and all the changes coming up. We also gave you some templates that you can advocate, to actually reject a lot of these proposals. I just wanted to tell you that one of I used both of the templates, and one of the ones that I used, for my congressperson, I sent them the exact same script that I sent to you and you have available for you. My congressperson, their staff has already responded to me, and I have a meeting with them, my congressman, next week. So these templates work.
If you wanna use it, go ahead and get get over there, and you can go to our episode four five seven. The o n b proposal, what grant writers actually need to know before July 13. Alright. Let's bring you back to this episode today because it's good. Now I love this because I came up with this framework actually just last week when I was really working through a lot of, like, how have we been incorporating AI into our business?
We have that terminology as grant writers. Right? The grant readiness, that sort of thing. So the readiness really rings true. And I really wanted to talk about how to be grant ready AI.
And even I had a great, episode with Steve Vick, and he talked about how to get nonprofits, AI ready, and I really liked the whole framework of the grant writing as well by looking at this lens. And, of course, I made it an acronym because I'm a grant writer. So we're gonna be talking about how AI too is reshaping our industry really fast, and and I just don't want you also, like, being afraid of it, being mad at it, just being overly zealous about it. I want you to be ready for it. So here's the first thing I need you to hear because it changes everything.
You don't have an AI problem. You don't have a funder problem. You don't even have a lead problem for you grant writers out there, you freelancers. You have a decision problem and a visibility problem. That's it.
So I don't want you to think about, oh my gosh. Like, my business is gonna burn down because of AI. Like, it won't, one. You just want to first it's just you haven't made a decision yet. Right?
Like, the thing that's probably stressing you out isn't really the technology. It's that you haven't decided where you stand on it. And when you don't decide, we freeze, we shrink, we go quiet. And in this business, shrinking is the only real risk. Not putting your grant writing services out there, not talking about your policies, not marketing yourself.
That's the only risk. Right? And we get scared sometimes. We see AI and, oh, nonprofits aren't hiring grant writers now because of AI. Like, our grants are dead or all of these things like these these crazy just, like, really clickbait headlines that aren't even true at all.
And but we start believing them, and then we start shrinking. And we're like, oh, I don't wanna put my stuff out there because what if somebody's offended that I'm trying to sell my grant writing services? Let me tell you, no one's gonna be offended. And if they are, like, that's on them. Like, more people will be happy that you're available to write grants.
It's still the best party trick there is to say you're a grant writer at any networking event at all, even at birthday parties. Come on. If you say I'm a grant writer, you're gonna get someone's attention. Today is helping you decide on purpose and with confidence what how you're ready for AI in your grant writing business. But before the framework, let me zoom out a little bit because the narrative in your head might be a little bit backwards.
A lot of people are thinking grant writing isn't safe anymore, federal cuts, AI, more competition. And here's what actually is happening on the ground. Nonprofits are streamlining. Yes. In 2025, 30% or 3039% of nonprofits ran a deficit up from 222% the year before in 2024.
And now you might hear that and think, see, they can't afford to hire me. They're running a deficit. Wrong. You know what this means? It means they can't afford to hire staff, so they're hiring freelancers.
They're actually pivoting more towards you. And if you think you wanna burn your business to the ground and go find a nonprofit job, it's gonna be harder than actually getting clients. You're gonna spend the same amount of time, even more, and get fewer results looking for a j o b right now. And that is almost a true across all industries right now. It really is the rise of the freelancer, and it's so important to know that.
Because listen, nonprofits and just regular organizations, I'm a business. I understand this completely. They don't wanna carry a full salary benefits and office space. They wanna bring in an expert on a budget who can navigate all of this change for them. Not only is this the rise of the freelancer, this is the era of the freelance grant writer.
And here's my proof. Our Academy students made more money businesses and their grant writing businesses in 2025 than they did in 2024 during the freezes, during the shutdown. Right? We had government shutdowns happening. As a community, students have now secured over $278,000,000 in grants and more than $10,500,000 in their businesses.
So nonprofits don't need you less right now. They need you more. AI doesn't change that. It just changes how you may work. Two truths can be true at the same time.
That's also a new saying I've been saying this year. The landscape is shifting, and you are more valuable than ever. How let's bring it back full circle. How do you actually get AI ready? Let me get into the framework.
Make sure you're taking notes right now. We're gonna get into the framework. I want you to audit yourself. I want you to audit your framework, your readiness. Okay.
R stands for resolve your stance. This is a big one. You need to decide. Are you all in on AI? Are you opting out?
Are you doing some kind of combination? And here's the key. Base that decision on your business model, your clients, and your values. Not on a trend, not on FOMO. Hear me on this.
Winning grants does not require AI. We won grants for decades without it. AI just might change your speed, not your necessity. So there is no wrong answer here. The wrong move is staying undecided because undecided is where the anxiety lives.
There. So you can pick a stance and you're allowed to change it in six months as things evolve. Just change it because of a value, not a trend. And let me just be real about this. In the last couple of years, I would say, I have not really been leaning into AI for grant writing.
I'm gonna say it out loud. And why why that's so is because we've always leaned into creating a master grant application, and we still do. Nothing is changing. But because we had leaned into developing a template or a boilerplate for your client's programs, we basically were already fast tracking and up to the AI speed at that point. You could go back to the spoilerplate, copy different places, blah blah blah blah blah.
Right? We had already done something very unique and we're not gonna stop doing that because that actually becomes your source of truth for AI now. So it helps you mitigate AI issues if you have a very well developed, master grant template first. Right? So that was one reason I didn't really heavily lean into it.
The other thing was I was leaning so hard into how to support grant writers and how to support freelance grant writers in all of the federal grant changes that were happening in 2025. And you heard the receipts like our people made more money in their businesses in 2025 than they did the year before because we leaned in so hard on how to find new funding for your clients, how to add funding assets for your clients, so not just grants. And we also leaned in hard on how to communicate and overcome all the objections on sales calls. So we did like old school stuff that worked. It worked more than you just learn learning how to use AI and write grants faster because that wasn't the conversation at the time.
The conversation was panic and mayhem for a lot of nonprofits and we needed to address that. We needed to also keep getting them results and that meant diversifying a bit. So that's one of the reasons I didn't I'm not one of the first to the game with Grant Writing and AI. I'm not. And I'll tell you, I'm like, I'm being honest.
Like, that wasn't my my that wasn't where my head was at. And I heard a lot in the industry, like, if you're not using AI in grant writings, you're falling behind. And I kind of thought, well, that's kind of ridiculous. Like, I wouldn't say that would be my mantra. Now in 2026, we've had some time.
We've had our nervous system kinda resolve a little bit from 2025 stuff with grants. We've learned how to support and train our grant writers on how they can continue to support their nonprofits. Now I have time and capacity to lean more into the AI. And honestly, now it's cheaper and faster and easier to learn as well. Once a year ago, I'm good.
I'm good. I'm sitting back. Mm-mm. But do I do I believe that kind of mantra? You know, I don't necessarily because you can still if you have a template and you understand how to write grants, like, there's a lot of quality control that happens with AI as well.
Do I think it can speed up a lot of things? Absolutely. Do I think that it it if you if you want to lean into it, you can and it will help your it'll help speed up things? Yeah. Right?
You could focus on other things because you're not doing all of the writing and you're just reviewing the writing. Absolutely. But I haven't gone to the point where I'm like, oh, you're left behind. I don't think that. I just think that the way things are going are kind of changing.
There's a lot of people out there, and this is why I like our for the framework for the first framework is resolve your stance. Is because there's a lot of you that are gonna say, no. I ethically don't agree with AI. There's a lot of controversy around it. I do feel like it may just be a part of our future will kind of change and adapt because it's already adopted it in so many different things.
But some of you are like, no. I'm not gonna lean into that. That's not where my ethics lies. That's not where my values lie. There's a lot of, concern about it.
There's like the whole bubble talk, the crash, taking water, building up communities. Like, some people are like, this is providing jobs. Other people like, this is taking land. This is driving up prices. So there's a lot of discussion about it.
So I'm not gonna say you're gonna be left behind because I don't believe you will be. I literally know you can write a master grant application and still write grants really fast and you don't need a lot of clients. You can still focus on that. You can still be very human led, and we can help review your grants too. Right?
You know what I mean? So, like, in our program, in our academy, we have unlimited grant reviews. So I just want you to to resolve your stance. And at this point, if you're like, I am going to be I'm gonna have AI in my grant writing business, cool. Like, that's you can lean into that.
If you're like, I'm not, cool. Lean into that. And in six months, if something changes on either side and you're like either like, oh, well, no, I do wanna lean into it or because these policies have changed or whatever. Or if you're like, oh my gosh, this is getting out of control. Now I wanna lean into not using it.
Like, it's up to you. You can make that change as well, but I want you to make a decision now and that's really gonna help everything moving forward. Okay? So I'm here for it. I'm also here if you don't wanna use it 100%.
Number, the next number, the next letter. It's a letter. So in ready, it is the e, establish your source of truth. If you do use AI, do not use it like a search bar because here's the truth about AI. It amplifies whatever you get it.
Right? So if you give garbage and it's it's, you know, you're gonna get polished garbage out. And the polished garbage is the most dangerous because it looks great while making no sense. And it might make enough sense where if you just scan it real quick, you're like, oh, yeah. That's good.
Boom. But if you really read it, you're gonna be like, right? So you have to build your source of truth first, I believe, as a human. Your master grant application, right, that's where that comes in. And why it's like it's not like I even think you need to write the whole thing as a human.
I think you need to develop it as a human and have your brain understand, like, these are the questions I need to ask my clients. This is what I'm really getting at. This is what would make sense. Like, what AI does not do good at right now in this time of day is something called taste. And what that refers to is, like, it's almost like art or, like, it's good at making, like, whatever pictures.
But I mean more of, like, it's I can't explain it, but I've heard it I've heard it described as, like, taste in the AI world. And what that really means is kinda like having that lens. You know how, like, even Grant Writing or prospecting, there's an art and a science to it. Right? And it kinda doesn't have the art part.
It kinda doesn't have the taste. It doesn't have the discretion. It's not it's just kinda like you put it in, it puts it out. Like, you know what I mean? It doesn't it's not it's not thinking in that way, and it doesn't have your perspective.
It doesn't have your background. It doesn't have your knowledge. It doesn't have, like, the nuances of the conversations even if it has a transcripts. Doesn't have those nuances of like, oh, yeah, the eyebrow went up when my client was talking about that. So I know they're really happy about that or they were a little a little confused or there's so much that goes into being a human that's important.
Right? That could one little thing, like, oh, the eyebrow raised at that point in time, if you added that in a transcript of AI, it would probably give you a whole new output. Like, it is crazy. When you can develop as a human your master grant application, you can even put in your past winning proposals, proposals, your client's voice, your funder's priorities, then you hand it to AI to work from. I've literally had AI confuse itself on a draft because the inputs, even though they were clear, it was like there was too much going on.
So you really wanna have the human set the foundation and AI build it. I actually was just working with a client a couple weeks ago, writing a grant, and, I had a RAI build it out. RAI is really good that we've built out for our clients. And even so, she when she was reading it, and she was like, I feel like this is confusing itself. And she knows we use AI.
That's why she was saying it in that way. But she even told me, she's like, Holly, I don't care if AI is here or not. Like, people are always like, we're gonna still need you as grant writers because you're still understanding all of the changes that keep coming out, and then you're you're updating that. And she'll even send me, like, here's what AI said about this part. Like, do you think this is a good fit for this?
Like, it's interesting. If you think your clients don't need you because they have AI, you're so wrong. And I love the clients who realize that, yes, if they wanna use AI too and work with you and realize they need you still, like, because a lot of them will. Because especially they're gonna put garbage in or even if they put good stuff in, it might not necessarily be the best stuff out. So establishing your source of truth, like making a great MasterGut grant application from your human brain first is going to help with your output tremendously.
Alright. Let's get to the a, the a in ready. AI policies and accountabilities. Now a lot of you have already said, Holly, I understand what you said on r and e. I score myself a 100% in that, but AI policies and account abilities.
And even we went over this readiness framework on my renewal webinar recently, and this is where even a lot of people were already using AI in their grant writing business, but this is where what they scored low on. K. So this is a grown up business step, and nobody almost nobody's doing it, which is your opportunity. You need two policies. One that's client facing, how and whether you use AI in your work and in their work, what data you will and won't feed it, and how you disclose it.
And you also need a policy that's internal, how AI runs in your operations and where you draw the line. And I love using in our business, we developed a twenty sixty twenty rule where 20% is human thought and input upfront, 60% if you can find AI to run it and you can train it, and 20% is human review on the back end. And you you decide, right, we decide in our business too, who verifies the output and protects confidentiality. So a heads up, if you're using free public AI, that content can get scooped up. So know what you're feeding it.
Like, if you're using it for your clients, I'd highly recommend you to pay for it so you have privacy. And if you don't use AI, write that down too. Every word is written by a human strategist. Right? It's a genuine competitive advantage with a lot of funders actually.
Either stance works once again if you are gonna use AI, if you're not, but you have to develop policies, AI policies and account abilities for either side. Like, even if you're not using it, don't pretend it doesn't exist. You're still gonna have sales calls or just people reading your website that may have this, like, I wonder if they use AI. Right? Right?
I wonder what they do. So I would rather you be very clear and forward with it. Like, yes, we do, and this is how we use it, or no, we don't, and this is why. And the and you're almost gonna be more competitive if you don't, I feel like, at this point in time. Potentially.
Right? Potentially. D, discuss your difference. This is the d. Now you've decided and set your policies.
You have to market them. And this kinda goes into what I was just saying. If you use AI so this would be like, now you take your account your policies and you put them into marketing. If you use AI, say something like, I use AI the way a sharp accountant uses software. It speeds up research.
I write the first draft, then it comes in. It helps fine tune it, catches anything that I may have missed, lines up eligibility. But the strategy in every final word on mine written for your mission and reviewed by a human who knows grants, I follow clear AI policy so your data stays protected. See how that builds trust instead of hiding it? Oh, I don't wanna talk about it.
And when a lead says, should why should I hire you when I could just use AI? Don't get defensive about it. Instead, redirect to your value as a strategist. Right? And once that'll bring us to our next point.
But if you don't use AI, once again, and and discuss your difference here, the d of ready, say that too. I don't use AI. I don't use AI every, you know, word is written by a human and developed by a human touch. That's why we only take four clients at a time or whatnot or write the highest aligned grants. Right?
You can say something like that and see how, like, either way, like, I would be like, okay. This person does, but they have this thing or this person doesn't. Okay. And that's interesting. Right?
So know how to market what you what your decision is this year and what your policies are. Alright. The why to ready. Your human edge. This is what AI cannot touch.
Relationships, judgment, and what the AI world actually calls taste. Grant Writing is part formula, part art. And AI is great at the formula and terrible at the art. It can't sit on a discovery call and feel what an executive director is saying isn't saying. It can't build a relationship with a program officer in the way that you can.
It can't catch outcome, the misaligned budget, or the organizational readiness gap, not the same way a seasoned human can. And if you say, well, AI is actually great at that, it can be, but I have also seen it make a lot of mistakes. Right? The value of a grant writer I mean, just for one thing, like, I'm organizing my whole fiftieth birthday. Was, like, vacation this year.
So side I'm gonna go side for a second here. But and it was, like, giving me my whole like, even on something like that, you know, it's supposed to be great at, like, your trip and your logistics and all that. And it was, like, giving me all this, like, okay. This many nights here in this area then here and then blah blah blah. But it was, like, missing the the travel time in between from place to place.
It wasn't actually aligning the days up correctly. I had to tell it that, Oh, but you're telling me I have four days here but I really don't. I only have two days because one day is getting there and the other day I have to leave early to get to the airport. So really, I only have two days and then you want me to do a day trip here, so really I only have one day. Like, it's still not perfect, you guys.
And it looked great. It was like, da da da da. And I was like, perfect. This is great. And then I was like, oh, wait, let me think about this for a second.
Right? It's not doing that type of thinking, that type of judgment. And it's the same thing in your grants. I can tell you that. As I said, we're using it in of our grants too, and I'm catching the same things.
I really gotta be like, no. But, you know, that doesn't make sense for this budget because it doesn't align with this. Like, it still doesn't do that part. The value but more than that, the relationships, the one on one monthly calls with your clients. Right?
Yes. You can use Fathom to take notes, and it's great. You have transcripts, but it's still not, like, showing up in the right way. And even Gwen was like, Holly, even the transcripts you're sending me, like, I had to go back and watch it because it was telling me things that weren't actually there. Literally, yes, it can be helpful, but there's still a lot.
It's almost like the part that saves you time is the part you need to do quality control and keep fixing things and keep working on it, which is fine, like, if that's what you wanna do but the value of a grant writer is no longer just writing it's diagnosing so you become the person who asks better questions that's your edge and it's getting more valuable, not less. Okay. So here's the fun part. Let's score. Okay.
So for each letter, I want you to give yourself a zero if you haven't started, a one if you're working on it, and a two if you're locked in. 10 possible points. Ready? Do you have a clear AI stance you can state out loud? Give yourself a zero, one or two.
E. Have you built a real source of truth, your MGA, your past proposals, that AI can work from? Score it. A. Have you written your AI policies and decided who reviews what?
Score that zero to two. D. Can you confidently answer why hire you when I use AI? Score it. And another question for that could even be like, hey.
What if a funder says they will not take AI written proposals? And why your human edge. Right? Are you leaning into strategy, relationship relationships and judgment? The things AI can't replace.
Score it. Add it up. If you're a zero to three, no shame, you're reactive. That's okay, you just started. Four to six, you're emerging, building it with gaps.
Fine. Seven to eight, you're ready. Nine to 10, you're using AI intentionally or intentionally not, and you communicate that value with total confidence. Wherever you landed, now you know exactly what to tighten. Because one more thing, it's a mistake I am watching people make all the time in real time, that AI really does feed things up.
It can raise your output dramatically. More grants out the door. But here's the lot, your output goes up, your capacity to review does not. Not Just because AI can write 50 grants instead of your 10, doesn't mean you should send 50 grants. Review becomes the bottleneck.
Remember the old days of blasting the same LOI to 100 funders and crossing your fingers and hoping? We do not want AI to drag us back there. Protect your capacity. Quality control is the whole game. Alright.
So if you just took that quiz and you felt some gaps, that's fine. That's clarity. And it's exactly what we're building inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy this year. Let me tell you what's new because I'm generally excited about it. First, we're adding AI tools and bots built right on our frameworks.
So before you submit something to a human coach, you can run your change statement or your pricing through a bot that's built on our frameworks directly from that lesson. That's going to give you immediate on brand feedback, built on the exact methods we teach. Instant clarity any time of day. Second, a full AI and Grant Writing series. Not generic, here's the chat GPT stuff, I mean the real thing.
How to build custom AI agents trained on your client's voice and a funder's priorities, whether at Master Grant application. The prompts that are actually working, how to write your AI policy, how to talk about AI in your marketing with monthly updates as a technology emerges because it's moving so fast and you shouldn't have to be the one to keep up alone with it. Third, and this is a little teaser. Gwen and I because Gwen's been an AI for years now. Like, she is the one who's way ahead of me.
Right? So let's be real. But we're building out, some grants stuff, grant writing tools, and maybe some other little fun stuff inside the academy. That means that maybe you don't have to pay for some of the grant software you're currently using. That alone could save you thousands a year.
So more on that soon. All of this is living inside our Summer Curriculum Sprint as well. We're instead, and if you're listening to this, this is happening right now, I'm recording this June 2026. So we're having a live summer curriculum sprint for 2026. Where instead of going through all the curriculum alone, we go through it together as a group with three live calls where you can still go through the curriculum on your own time, but you get reminders every week on what we're going through as a group.
You can build your business, learn some of our AI tools, and you can earn our certified grant writer and grant consultant, designation by the end of summer. I'm so excited about this. The here's the timing, though, that it matters. The doors to the academy are open right now, but they do close Sunday, June 21 at 11:59PM. And this is so good.
We also have this as the last price ever. So if you're listening in this in the future, sorry y'all. You missed the lowest price the Academy will ever be because the price is going up. So if you've been on the fence, this is your moment. And the most we've ever packed into it, it's amazing.
So let's let's go ahead and wrap this up. AI is not coming for your grant writer job. But the grant writers who decide their stance, who build their systems, and who protect their capacity and lean into being a strategist, those are the ones who win in the next decade. Right? And, like, notice, I didn't say those who use AI.
I'm saying those who decide their stance, who build their systems, whether that's AI or not, who protect their capacity, whether that's AI or not, and who lean into being a strategist, that's all of you, they're the ones who will win the next decade. 100%. You're not behind. You are just bracing and you don't need a brace anymore. You just need to decide.
Be AI ready. If this helped you, please share with a grant writer friend who needs to hear it. Take the quiz seriously, and I'll see you inside the freelance grant writer academy. Until next week, keep on changing the world one grant at a time over all you change makers out there. Alright.
I'll see you inside the academy, and we may have a couple more bonus episodes this week. Let me see what we got.