How Australian Grant Writers are using AI in Grant Applications

Throughout June, we have run a mini-series of polls to find out how Australian grant writers are using AI in grant applications. The 3 key questions were:

1. Do you use AI to help you write grant applications?
2. Would you willingly tell a funder you used AI to help you write your grant application?
3. Are you allowed to use AI for grants applications (i.e. does your organisation allow it)?

The results have ranged from fully embracing AI for grant application preparation, to rage that we're even asking the questions.

While response counts across the board have been low given the size of our community, the response ratio for each question remained consistent throughout the week each question was open. For example, if the breakdown was 60:40 as a yes:no on day one, that ratio remained stable despite the number of responses received.

The overarching findings are:

• 66.3% of respondents are using AI to help write grant applications
• 44.7% of respondents would willingly tell a funder they had used AI to help them write their grant application
• 80.5% of respondents are allowed to use AI for grant applications
• Smaller, grassroots organisations are finding AI an incredible time saver for grant applications
• AI is very useful in the pre-application stage - for understanding grant guidelines and researching funders
• AI is widely praised for helping stick to word counts, editing, and finding contradictions in application drafts
• A common theme that anything produced by AI needs to be checked for accuracy, as well as re-writing sections so that grant applications still reflect the grant applicant - particularly getting their 'heart' across
• Cookie cutter AI applications don't work.

Here's the full summary.

#1 Do you use AI to help you write grant applications?

Amazing statistic! 66.3% of respondents are using AI to help write grant applications. This is incredible to see, and we’re all for it.

#2 Would you willingly tell a funder you used AI to help you write your grant application?

While 44.7% of respondents would willingly tell a funder they had used AI to help them write their grant application:

• 31.8% wouldn’t
• 23.5% only would if it was a life and death situation and they absolutely had to.

We hear from business-based/corporate funders in particular that they’re all for using AI to increase the efficiency of grant applications for organisations. BUT, we know this isn’t the case for all funders. We’ve even read in some guidelines that AI is banned.

One problem is that funders aren't keeping up with AI developments. The Policy on Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Grant Applications and Peer Review from the NHMRC, for example, haven't been updated since June 2023. That's a significant timeframe given the rapid development of AI.

The vast diversity in funder policies on AI usage makes it difficult for grant writers, and I can't help but feel adds to the administrative overhead of grant applicants. If every grant opportunity now also needs to be checked for its AI application policy, that's yet another task added to the ever-growing list for organisations.

And then there are the situations we've been told of grant writers who did not use AI to write their grant application, but were grilled by the funding provider to prove it, as AI detection tools flagged AI usage. It's a minefield and an ever-evolving space.

#3 Are you allowed to use AI for grant applications (i.e. does your organisation allow it)

We had the smallest engagement from this question, which could be put down to a myriad of reasons including poll fatigue, end of financial year deadlines which are always hectic for grant writers, or even people not knowing whether they're allowed to use AI for grant applications  - in hindset I should have added a "Don't know" response option.

Despite the lower response number, the overwhelming majority of people are allowed to use AI for grant applications (80.5%).

And this where things get really interesting, because while many people still seem to think that using AI in grant applications is either an all or nothing (according to some people unhappy with us asking these questions), that is far from the truth.

The quotes from respondents throughout this post demonstrate some of the many diverse ways AI can truly help not only grant application writing, but also during the pre-application and draft checking stage. Not one respondent said that AI can write their applications in full. And even if it could, there was a resounding sentiment that AI just can't get the heart of an organisation across that a grant writer can.

While grant applications are an excellent use case for AI, AI tools are still a way off being a 100% replacement grant writer. Bar some government grant programs perhaps, requesting money from funders is not just about words and numbers on a page (which is essentially how AI works - it's all a batch of numbers interacting with each other).

While grant applications do need to stack up logically with clear project plans and budgets, the majority of not-for-profit funders we know care so deeply about what their grant recipients are doing, that incorporating an organisation's heart into the grant application helps an application stand out in the field and leave a lasting impression on grant assessors.

AI for increasing grant application efficiency, reducing administration on organisations and ensuring application eligibility accuracy? Heck yes.

AI to fully replace the heart that goes into grant applications? We're a way off that.