For Development Directors ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a Claude Project loaded with your organization's foundational documents — mission, programs, impact data, logic models — so every grant proposal starts from a complete, accurate organizational foundation. You'll never again spend 30 minutes re-explaining who your organization is before writing a single word of funder-specific content.
What you'll need
Documents to gather (non-confidential organizational information):
Go to {{tool:Claude.url}} and sign in. In the left sidebar, click Projects → New Project.
Name it: "[Your Organization Name] Grant Writing Assistant" Description: "Organizational reference system for grant writing — mission, programs, impact data"
In the Project Instructions field, paste and customize:
You are a grant writing assistant for [Organization Name], a [mission description, e.g., "workforce development nonprofit serving unemployed adults in [city]"].
Your knowledge base contains:
- Our mission statement and organizational overview
- Detailed program descriptions
- Most recent annual report with impact data
- Logic model and theory of change
- Key outcome statistics
When I ask you to write grant content:
1. Ground every proposal in our actual programs, populations, and outcomes
2. Adapt organizational language to match the funder's stated priorities and terminology
3. Flag where I need to insert specific data points that you don't have
4. Keep language donor/funder-appropriate — compelling but evidence-based
5. Never invent statistics or outcomes — only use what's in the uploaded documents
My role: I provide the funder's requirements; you draft the organizational narrative.
Click Add content → Upload files. Upload each document:
Wait for each to fully upload (green checkmark appears).
Start a conversation in your project and ask:
What you should see: Accurate, specific answers grounded in your uploaded documents — not generic nonprofit language.
Now add the funder's requirements to the conversation:
"I'm applying to [funder type, e.g., a local community foundation] with a priority focus on [funder priority]. They want: 1) Statement of Need (500 words), 2) Project Description (750 words), 3) Evaluation Plan (300 words). Draft the Statement of Need first, adapted to their priority language."
Claude will draft the section using your organizational materials as the foundation and adapting the framing to match the funder's stated priorities.
Continue through each required section: