[NOTE: This is the start of a new seven-part series of blog posts based on Dr. Drew’s answers to the most urgent questions time-strapped executive directors are likely to ask about leveraging ChatGPT to improve their grant writing.]
ChatGPT can save you time on grant writing—it can accelerate your grant writing process. To be sure, it will work best if you are already really smart and well-trained. No matter what, I can assure you that it will reduce writer’s block, produce polished content faster, and build on your existing personal strengths.
Here’s how it accelerates your performance as a grant writer:
1. Kickstarts the Writing Process
One of the most time-consuming parts of grant writing is starting from a blank page. ChatGPT eliminates this hurdle by generating high-quality first drafts of grant sections, such as needs statements, program descriptions, goals and objectives, and evaluation plans. In my view, the greatest grant writers have been those who can write confidently about things they know nothing about. ChatGPT will open up this form of greatness to almost everyone.
2. Adapts to Your Style and Guidelines
Once you’ve shared a sample of your past writing or your preferred tone, ChatGPT can mirror your voice and formatting. That means less editing and rework. It can also remember funder requirements and help tailor your proposal to match their priorities, which is a major time-saver.
3. Implement Your Strategic Plan
The basic rules of winning grant writing still apply. As you have done previously, you need to continue to identify the winning theme for your charity based on an analysis of who else is competing for the same grant money. Your theme needs to accentuate your strengths, distract attention from your weaknesses, and subtly highlight your competitor’s strengths while drawing attention to their weaknesses. Once you have completed this exercise to your satisfaction, share this winning theme with ChatGPT so that it shapes its drafting towards implementing that strategy.
3. Improves Clarity and Focus:
ChatGPT excels at organizing information and improving readability. If you have rough notes or a messy draft, it can restructure the content for clarity and flow. That means less back-and-forth between drafts and a stronger final proposal. Dump in the mix what is most important to you, give it a word limit, and allow it to reorganize your work into a simpler and easier-to-follow format.
4. Kicks in Quickly
ChatGPT won’t write a championship proposal without your thoughtful guidance. As indicated above, you still need to provide the strategy, the data, and the story. Unlike most powerful tools, ChatGPT has a short and abrupt learning curve. But the return on investment is fast: most users see time savings immediately.
5. Don’t Waste Time On It
To make the greatest use of ChatGPT, keep using the Lightning Fast Grant Writing techniques we have recommended all along. Don’t revise anything on the same day you create it. Focus like a laser on embellishing your winning theme. Maintain your existing grant subsections. Use voice recognition while using ChatGPT to speed it up even more.
Bottom line:
ChatGPT accelerates research, simplifies drafting, and boosts productivity. If you combine it with your existing knowledge and good grant writing habits, it will start kicking down doors for you. So yes, ChatGPT really can save you time on grant writing. And once you’ve used it to write faster, organize your thoughts, and create many more high-quality applications, you will hate writing without it. Hate it.
ChatGPT won’t replace you, but a person using ChatGPT will. And that person will be combining ChatGPT with existing Lightning Fast Grant Writing principles.
