A note about AI 

​​I don't use AI. 

 

To be very clear, there's no judgement here. If I still worked in a full-time permanent role, trying to juggle multiple areas of fundraising and stewardship and managing staff and doing ten thousand other things, I'm pretty sure I would use AI for some things. 

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But, not for Grant Writing. Do you know why? 

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There are A LOT of reasons. Here's just some of them: 

 

I LOVE grant writing. Why would I give a machine the job I like the best - and that I am very good at?!

 

AI is terrible for the environment. I just can't justify using it for something I can do myself. 

 

I don't trust it. It's not regulated, it's changing very rapidly, and having seen how social media has changed, I'm a little more guarded with these things than I was 20 years ago!

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It steals. And I've spent a long time honing my skills and my craft and I don't want to give them away for free - or quite honestly, abandon them for someone else's work - especially knowing that work may not have been given voluntarily. 

 

While AI can speed up the writing process, it's not yet able to add the personality or tone of voice that makes people feel special.

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Fundraisers are often privileged guardians of other people's most personal stories and experiences. What happens to these stories if I share them with AI? I don't know. And they're not my stories to share.  

 

I am being paid by my clients to write their grant applications - not use an AI writer that they could use themselves. If you pay me to write your grant applications, I will write them!  

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If you prefer to use AI instead of a human, please be sure to proofread and edit before sharing with your communities (or book me in for some 'me time' and I'll do this for you). 

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I would also kindly ask any clients not to run any of my work through AI either

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(written on 15th October 2025. If this changes, I will update and tell you all publicly!)

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