By Pari Sabety and Saad Asad
In a recent webinar hosted by the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, experts explored how small communities can use AI to navigate the complex federal grants landscape. The session, "Responsible AI for Federal Grantwriting and Reporting," brought together:
- Pari Sabety, Senior Grants Adviser, USDR
- Helena Merk, CEO, Streamline Climate
- Anthony Townsend, Senior Research Associate, Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
As highlighted in the webinar, securing federal grants is a complex process for small communities with limited staff and resources. With sufficient support, these communities can access funding for essential projects that strengthen infrastructure, public services, and community resilience. Many towns need help navigating the confusing language, eligibility criteria, and reporting requirements tied to these grants. USDR’s “No Front Door” research highlighted key barriers these communities face and offered recommendations to make funding more accessible.
While many of these recommendations require more structural changes by the federal government, generative AI (gen AI) can help address some of these barriers and complement existing federal grant-seeking strategies. Of course, using gen AI comes with risks and tradeoffs that must also be assessed as you use the tools.
Key barriers to accessing grants
Based on USDR’s research, here are a few key challenges small communities face when applying for federal grants (find a more detailed review of the recommendations in the full report):
1. Complexity in identifying and evaluating grants
Small communities often need help to sift through and interpret multiple grant opportunities. Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs)—the detailed documents that outline eligibility requirements and other grant details—can be lengthy and complex. With limited staff time, community leaders may struggle to review these opportunities thoroughly, leading to missed or unsuitable matches.
2. Resource constraints in preparing competitive applications
Successful grant applications require more than just eligibility; they also need a strong narrative and organized data to support the community’s needs. Many small towns lack the full-time staff needed to pull together these narratives and gather relevant data effectively.
3. Ongoing staff burden from reporting and compliance
After winning a grant, communities often face additional work in tracking and reporting on their use of funds. This administrative load can overwhelm small teams, leading some communities to opt out of applying altogether due to the long-term commitment.
How gen AI can support these goals
Gen AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini offer practical ways to reduce some of the manual workload associated with these challenges. Prompting gen AI with the specific request can help simplify these reviews, the key is giving the tool direction for what to deliver.
1. Simplifying NOFO review and grant discovery
NOFOs can be dense documents, often 40 to 100 pages long, filled with eligibility rules and technical requirements. For a community with limited staff, reading and analyzing these documents in detail is a significant challenge. Gen AI can help by scanning these documents and pulling out essential information, like eligibility criteria, deadlines, and funding amounts.
- Example prompt: “Summarize the eligibility requirements, funding amount, and deadline from this NOFO in bullet points.”
- Refinement tip: If the summary misses a key detail, refine your prompt with: “Please include specific deadlines and any matching fund requirements in the summary.” This iterative approach encourages gen AI to provide more tailored answers.
2. Assisting in application preparation and data organization
Creating a competitive grant application requires a clear narrative and well-organized data that align with the grant-making agency’s priorities. Gen AI can assist by gathering community demographics or statistics and organizing them in agency-friendly formats.
- Start with data collection using a gen AI tool that can search the internet (e.g. Gemini or ChatGPT Plus). Example prompt: “Gather population data and recent economic impact statistics for our community to use in a grant application. Cite your sources.”
- Refining language: Improve phrasing with gen AI. Example prompt: “Rephrase this section to improve its readability.” This can help align the tone with the agency's expectations.
3. Streamlining reporting and compliance tasks
For awarded grants, reporting can be a substantial workload. Gen AI can structure data into compliant templates and draft progress reports, saving time and helping teams meet reporting standards.
- Example prompt: “Organize these project milestones and budget details into the required quarterly report template for our infrastructure grant.”
- Verification tip: For key metrics, prompt gen AI to “double-check” calculations. Example Prompt: “Recalculate total expenses and ensure it matches previous submissions.” This can help maintain accuracy in compliance reporting.
Considerations and tradeoffs of using gen AI in grant-seeking
While gen AI offers clear benefits in simplifying certain grant-related tasks, it also comes with limitations and risks. Here’s what communities must keep in mind:
Data privacy: Gen AI tools may retain input data, so it’s essential to avoid including sensitive or personally identifiable information. Anonymizing data wherever possible helps protect community privacy and minimizes security risks.
Potential for bias: Gen AI models are built on large datasets that may contain inherent biases. To ensure fair representation of community needs, it’s important to review AI-generated content carefully, especially in sections discussing community impact or project goals.
Human oversight is essential: While gen AI can handle data organization and draft narratives, complex tasks—such as budgeting, policy alignment, or meeting specific legal requirements—require human review. Gen AI is a support tool, not a replacement, and its outputs should always be refined by grant writers and city leaders to ensure accuracy and alignment with grant-making agency expectations.
Gen AI’s role as a complementary tool
Gen AI offers practical advantages for small communities, particularly by reducing the workload associated with reviewing NOFOs, organizing application data, and handling compliance reports. However, it is most effective as part of a balanced toolkit that includes human expertise, traditional grant management practices, and careful manual review. When used thoughtfully, gen AI can help communities make the grant process more manageable, improving their chances of accessing funds that support growth and resilience.
At USDR, our mission is to support responsible technology adoption that enhances government effectiveness. Through our partnership with Google.org, we’re piloting gen AI solutions to streamline public-sector processes while upholding community values. To learn more about USDR’s work, contact us.
