Are You Using AI in Your Fundraising? (You Might Already Be)
A Veteran Grant Writer’s Practical Guide to Ethical AI—for Environmental Fundraisers Who Care Where the Power Comes From
Let’s talk about the genie in the room
Not the “three wishes, poof, done” kind. More like the genie that escaped the bottle, whether you rubbed it or not—now running spreadsheets, drafting proposals, and building donor prospect lists for your colleagues. AI is embedded in nearly every tool we use. Pretending otherwise won’t make it go away. It’ll just leave you holding a hand-drawn map while everyone else is using GPS.
I say this as someone who has spent 25 years in the grant trenches, raising millions for environmental and conservation organizations. I’ve written thousands of proposals, cultivated hundreds of relationships, and lost sleep over more than a few funding cliffs. I also have real concerns about AI—especially the energy and water it guzzles. Fellow environmentalists, I see you.
But my pragmatic take: AI is already shaping our field. The question isn’t whether to engage—it’s how to do it responsibly.
Quine by Larva Labs, Zero10 Digital Art Exhibit, Art Basel Miami Beach © Hennessey
The Environmental Elephant in the Room
Let’s name it. Training and running large AI models consumes enormous amounts of energy and water. Data centers are energy hogs. This is a legitimate concern, and no amount of productivity gains makes that disappear. If you’re raising money to protect watersheds while your AI tool is draining them somewhere else, the irony is not lost.
So what’s a values-aligned fundraiser to do?
Use AI with intention. Choose fewer, more purposeful prompts over constant, sprawling conversations. Favor tools that publish sustainability commitments. And use AI to do more with less—because efficiency itself has an environmental upside. Think of it as the Uncle Ben principle: with great power comes great responsibility. (Yes, that’s a Spider-Man reference. It applies.)
Why You Can’t Afford to Sit This One Out
Fundraising software is already AI-integrated. Prospect research tools use it. Grant databases flag it. People are writing proposals, newsletters, and impact reports with AI assistance right now—your funders’ program officers included. AI slop is real, yes. Generic, soulless, over-polished content is everywhere. That’s actually your advantage.
Your years of relationship-building, your instinct for what moves a board member, your ability to read a room—those are not replicable. Lean into your humanness. Let AI handle the first draft of the boilerplate. You bring the soul.
Where to Start: Three Tools Worth Your Time
Perplexity.AI is my research workhorse. It cites its sources—essential for grant writing—and lets you build organized project spaces. Think of it as a research assistant who actually does their homework.
ChatGPT shines for shorter content: social media posts, brainstorming session starters, quick email drafts. Its image generation is impressive. (Fair warning: it hallucinates contact info. Double-check every email it produces.)
Claude.AI is remarkably creative—great for longer-form writing, editing feedback, and structured thinking. The Cowork feature is a genuine productivity multiplier for document-heavy workflows.
Monthly subscriptions start around $20. On par with streaming subscriptions.
Prompting: The Skill That Changes Everything
Learning to “prompt” well—giving AI clear, specific instructions—is the new copywriting literacy. Specify your audience, your tone, your word count, what you’ve already said, what you don’t want. The better your prompt, the less cleanup you do. Copywriting coach Nick Usborne (www.nickusborne.com) offers affordable AI writing courses with real sample prompts. He’s got a fun AI-related Substack newsletter, too: https://substack.com/@nickusborne.
Your Ethical AI Checklist
Be transparent. If AI helped draft a piece, you don’t need to announce it—but don’t misrepresent your process to funders who ask.
Always edit. Every AI draft goes through your human filter. Every. Single. One.
Don’t outsource your relationships. Use AI for content. Keep the relationship work entirely yours.
Question the data. AI can confidently state wrong things. Verify facts, statistics, and citations before they land in a proposal.
Choose purposeful use. Ask: Is this saving real time, or am I just poking the machine out of curiosity?
The genie isn’t going back in the bottle. But you get to decide how you use your three wishes. Use them wisely, keep your values close, and remember—the human in the room is still the most irreplaceable thing in the building.