For Grant Writers ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a repeatable process for briefing yourself on any new potential funder in 15 minutes — their priorities, giving history, red flags, and how to position your organization — using Claude (free or Pro) instead of a 90-minute manual research session.
What you'll need
Go to claude.ai and sign in (or create a free account). Click New conversation.
You'll be on the main chat interface — a text input at the bottom and Claude's responses above.
What you should see: An empty conversation with a text input box at the bottom.
Type your first prompt. Be specific about what you want:
"Give me an overview of the [Foundation Name] — their stated grant priorities, typical geographic focus, average grant size if known, any public information about their program officers or application process, and any known preferences or red flags for applicants."
Press Enter.
What you should see: A paragraph or two summarizing what Claude knows about the foundation. For well-known foundations, this will be detailed. For smaller family foundations, Claude may have limited information.
Troubleshooting: If Claude says it doesn't have reliable information about the funder, move to Step 3 (fetch their website directly).
In the same conversation, ask Claude to help you analyze the funder's website:
"Here is the text from [Foundation Name]'s grant guidelines page: [paste the text you copied from their website]. Based on this, what are their current grant priorities, eligibility requirements, and any stated preferences or exclusions?"
Copy and paste the text directly from the foundation's "Grant Guidelines," "What We Fund," or "Apply" page. Do not summarize it yourself — paste the raw text and let Claude extract the key requirements.
What you should see: A structured summary: what they fund, what they don't fund, geographic restrictions, organizational eligibility, average grant size, and the application process.
In the same conversation, follow up with a fit analysis:
"Given those priorities, does [your org type] serving [your population] in [your location] seem like a reasonable fit for this funder? What would be the strongest angle for our application? What concerns might we need to address?"
What you should see: A candid assessment of your fit, including the strongest alignment points and any gaps or concerns. Claude will flag things like geographic restrictions, organizational size preferences, or program focus mismatches.
Ask Claude to summarize the research into a one-page brief:
"Summarize everything we've discussed into a brief funder profile I can share with my executive director. Include: funder overview, key priorities, our alignment, potential grant size to request, application process, and your recommendation on whether we should apply."
Copy the output into your grant tracking document or notes file for this funder.
Save these for reuse:
1. Cold funder overview:
"Overview of [Foundation Name]: priorities, geography, typical grant size, application process, any red flags for applicants."
2. Website analysis:
"Analyze this grant guidelines text: [paste]. Summarize: priorities, eligibility, grant size range, application requirements."
3. Fit analysis:
"Does [org type] serving [population] in [location] with [budget] seem like a fit for this funder? What's our strongest angle?"
4. Executive brief:
"Summarize this funder research into a one-page brief for my executive director with a go/no-go recommendation."