The conversation around AI in philanthropy has shifted over time. Foundations are no longer asking if they should use artificial intelligence. Instead, they’re asking where it can add the most ethical and operational value.

While early buzz focused on whether algorithms would one day make funding decisions, the reality of AI in grantmaking is much more practical. Today, modern grants management software uses AI to streamline funder workflows and address one of philanthropy’s oldest challenges: the administrative burden on grantees.

In this guide, we'll explore the real-world applications, risks, and solutions for integrating AI into your grant cycle. Here’s what we’ll cover:

• How do grantmakers currently use AI?
• Why is the grantee burden the perfect problem for AI to solve?
• What are the risks of AI in grantmaking?
• Upgrading your grant management software for the AI era

Platforms like Temelio are leading this shift by infusing purpose-built AI directly into the grant management lifecycle. By eliminating repetitive data entry for applicants while delivering instant portfolio intelligence to staff, Temelio enables funders like you to improve outcomes, save time, and deepen trust-based relationships.

How do grantmakers currently use AI?

For foundation staff, AI acts as a co-pilot, surfacing insights and handling the tedious administrative work that often bogs down the grant cycle. Grantmakers also use it to make it easier for nonprofits to apply for opportunities. Here is how forward-thinking funders are leveraging AI today:

Grantee summaries for faster review cycles

Program officers spend countless hours reading lengthy narrative proposals, financial audits, and annual impact reports. AI tools within your grants management software can instantly synthesize these documents into concise, objective executive summaries alongside historical applicant context. This makes it easier for staff and board members to digest complex grant applications without forgetting historical relationships.

Automating due diligence and compliance checks

For your review committee, AI can perform a comprehensive check on an organization's overall health. Rather than manually parsing tax filings and financial audits, grantmakers use AI to automatically evaluate factors such as:

• Financial health: Revenue composition, operating reserves, and overall financial health scores.
• Ecosystem landscape: How an applicant’s reach and model compare to similar organizations in the field.
• Leadership context: Relevant background on organizational leadership and prior experience.

Conducting due diligence ultimately protects your foundation’s reputation, ensuring you’re only funding organizations that have proper tax-exempt status, operate with financial integrity, and deliver meaningful impact in their communities.

Data and trend analysis

Extracting insights from legacy grant databases used to require complex, manual reporting. Now, with Temelio’s MCP connector, your staff can use your preferred AI assistant (Claude or ChatGPT) to query grantmaking data while keeping sensitive information protected. By asking straightforward questions like, "What were our top funding areas last year?" or "Show me the funding history for this organization," your team can instantly generate charts, spot portfolio trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Meeting preparation

Preparing for a site visit or board meeting typically involves hunting down fragmented information across emails, payment logs, and scattered notes. Temelio solves this through its automated grantee history summary. Powered by AI, it automatically aggregates an organization's entire background (including past awards, recent communications, payment statuses, and relevant news coverage) into a single, comprehensive briefing on their CRM profile. This way, staff can walk into any check-in fully prepared.

Why is the grantee burden the perfect problem for AI to solve?

While boosting your foundation’s efficiency is important, AI can also transform the grantee experience.

Nonprofits are already pressed for time and resources. When applying for grants, they shouldn’t have to re-enter information they previously submitted to your organization. Examples include their mission statement, organizational history, demographic metrics, financial information, and previous awards. 

To cope with these slowdowns, many nonprofits have turned to external generative AI tools to draft proposals. While this speeds up submission, nonprofits’ reliance on tools that aren’t purpose-built for grant proposals creates a new issue for funders: an influx of generic narrative responses that obscure an applicant’s real-world impact and make evaluation harder.

The solution isn't for applicants to use third-party bots to generate fluff. Instead, grantmakers should implement native, purpose-built AI inside their intake portals.

When you choose grants intelligence software that offers AI tools, you solve this problem at its root through intelligent data recycling. Built-in AI assistants can make suggestions based on uploaded documents, past applications, and a grantee’s profile.  Grantees simply review, refine, and submit.

This approach delivers a clear win-win: nonprofits save time while retaining their authentic voice, and funders receive higher-quality data.

What are the risks of AI in grantmaking?

If your foundation has concerns about leveraging AI in grantmaking, you’re not alone! It’s best to understand common risks, so you can deploy purpose-built technology and AI policies to combat them.

Some risks of AI in the philanthropic sector include:

• Algorithmic bias: AI models trained on historical data might favor well-funded, legacy organizations while penalizing non-traditional, grassroots, or first-time applicants. If not caught, this could lead to unfair funding outcomes.
• Data privacy and security: There are concerns that sensitive, proprietary grantee data or financial audits could be leaked when using public large language models (LLMs).
• Loss of relationship building: Automating the grant cycle could erode the human connection, empathy, and trust that are central to effective philanthropy if you’re not intentional about human-to-human interactions.

Combatting these risks

Responsible AI adoption is all about choosing the right technology and directing it thoughtfully. To navigate the above challenges, try these foundation practices:

• Take a human-in-the-loop approach. Use AI as your assistant, never a decision-maker. Your grantmaking AI should handle data retrieval, summarization, and compliance checks, but the final funding decisions and relationship management should always rest with human program officers and boards.
• Prioritize closed data environments. Use grants software with enterprise-grade privacy, ensuring that applicant data is never used to train public LLMs.
• Implement clear governance policies. Lay out specific policies your team must follow, such as auditing AI summary outputs for equity and bias and enforcing strict data privacy standards.

Upgrading your grant management software for the AI era

If your foundation is looking to replace a legacy system or integrate AI into its workflow, you need a platform that balances funder efficiency with a grantee-first design. Key criteria to look for include native AI capabilities, bank-grade security, robust reporting, and a centralized CRM.

Temelio is modern grants intelligence software designed to streamline the entire grant lifecycle while keeping relationships at the center of your grantmaking.

Temelio's core AI features include:

• Grantee AI assistant: Temelio auto-suggests answers to grant proposal questions. Recognizing that grantees often face similar queries in various forms, the platform centralizes past responses, enabling users to effortlessly retrieve and apply relevant information. Through an AI assistant, grantees can efficiently complete grant proposals by copying and pasting previously provided answers, eliminating the need to start from scratch each time.
• AI-powered due diligence: Powered by Complēre, Temelio instantly analyzes an applicant's mission, financial health, leadership, and other important factors. This way, you can evaluate organizational stability and risk before applications move to committee review.
• Conversational data analysis: Choose your preferred AI assistant—Claude or ChatGPT—to query your grantmaking data. Your team can ask questions about grant history, funding patterns, operational efficiency, and more.
• Instant grant summaries: Auto-generate proposal and partnership summaries. Get an automated overview of a grantee’s profile, including points of contact, award cycles, payment history, recent touchpoints, and news coverage. You can also view an interactive timeline that synthesizes proposal details.
• AI-powered language translation: Further improve the grantee experience through automated translations. Applicants can submit proposals and communications in their native language, introducing greater equity into your grantmaking.

All of these features combined result in smarter, quicker decision-making and a better grantee experience. Check out the short video below for a demo of how Temelio’s AI Assistant saves time for your grant applicants:

By bringing these intelligent features directly into your foundation’s workflow, Temelio transforms your grant process from an administrative chore into a strategic driver of impact. Experience how easy it can be to lighten the load on your grantees while empowering your team with real-time portfolio intelligence.

Conclusion and helpful resources

The future of AI in philanthropy is all about removing administrative friction so funding reaches impact faster. By leveraging AI in your grantmaking, you can improve the grantee experience, accelerate review cycles, and spend more time building the meaningful, trust-based relationships that drive real change.

To continue refining your grantmaking efforts, explore these resources:

• Customer Spotlight: Kapor Foundation Modernizes With Temelio: Read about how one foundation upgraded to our grants intelligence platform to automate its workflows.
• 9 Best Grants Management Software for Smarter Grantmaking: Explore some of the leading grants intelligence tools, like Temelio, so you can make an informed buying decision.
• What Is Grants Management? What Your Foundation Should Know: Return to the basics of grants management so you can pinpoint your foundation’s opportunities for introducing AI into its grantmaking.

About the Author

Maya Kuppermann is the Co-Founder and CEO of Temelio, a modern grants management platform built for small and mid-sized foundations and philanthropic organizations. With experience spanning nonprofit leadership, family philanthropy, and technology, Maya brings a practitioner’s perspective to building software that simplifies and strengthens grantmaking. She has worked closely with over one hundred funders to modernize their operations and improve the grantee experience. Maya is passionate about leveraging technology to increase the effectiveness and accessibility of philanthropy.