AI in grantmaking
Sharon Golan, Head of grants at Point North Community Foundation, shared during the webinar her and the organisation’s experience in integrating AI into their grantmaking operations, using the dedicated tool from Plinth. Point North serves communities across County Durham, the Tees Valley, and the Northeast of England. In 2024–25 alone, it awarded £5.7 million across 696 organisations, directly benefiting nearly one million people. But with a small staff and more than 1,500 applications annually, the foundation was at risk of being overwhelmed.
That is where Plinth came in: a digital grantmaking platform with built-in AI tools. More than a software solution, it marked a shift in how the foundation could think and operate. Below are some key takeaways from her presentation:
- Training the AI and the team: The AI tool was not a plug-and-play solution. Early on, it tended to score most applications positively and occasionally restructured application content which made it not yet reliable. To make it work, the tool needed to be trained on real-life data: assessment records, funders’ preferences, local context, and decision criteria. Over time, it evolved to better reflect how Point North understands community
impact.
Just as importantly, the AI was never seen as a replacement for human staff, but as a support. It became an additional staff member, enabling the community foundations to process and assess a much larger volume of applications without compromising quality The foundation developed a policy that required new grants officers to first assess applications manually before using the AI features. This ensured that human expertise and ethical reasoning were developed first and always stayed central.
Enhancing quality, speed, and fairness. The platform has transformed the way Point North processes grants:
- Consistency: Every application to a specific fund can be evaluated using shared benchmarks, reducing subjectivity and variance.
- Efficiency: One fund manager can now oversee an entire funding stream, something that used to take weeks now takes days.
- Transparency: The AI provides clear rationales and data trails, which are invaluable during governance reviews and decision-making processes.
Moreover, by drawing from various external and internal datasets, the AI tool helps contextualise applications. It can flag duplications, link grantees to ongoing responses in the area, and detect patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed.
More than operations: strengthening donor relations. The system also helped with donor engagement. By mapping grant data against donor profiles and interests, the foundation can now generate tailored reports and insights. This level of personalised communication has helped deepen relationships and demonstrate impact more meaningfully.
AI in communications
The second topic explored during the meeting was how to use AI for strategic communications efforts. After a brief introduction to the basics of AI prompting, the group shared existing practices within their organisations. For some participants, AI has been a helpful tool to skilfully craft messaging for their fundraising strategy, based on the desired outcomes and targets. Other people shared that they use AI tools, like ChatGpt and Copilot, to develop surveys and analyse responses. The majority agreed that it can be a great sparring partner in the brainstorming phase for themselves and the team. One final suggestion was how organisations, especially in the private world, were using AIpowered chatbot and how they could be applied to the community foundations field as well. Of course, the ethical implications of using AI and generating AI content also featured prominently in the conversation.
What else is happening?
Community foundations and community foundations support organisations are interrogating themselves about the ethical and concrete implications of AI in their organisations and community. And they are taking steps. For instance, Stiftung Aktive Bürgerschaft is integrating and fully digitalitising its work processes, raising awareness also among community foundations in Germany on what small steps they can take in their AI journey, such as help in copywriting, grants assessment and seeking, podcasting, video and image production etc (Read the full list of suggestions here).
Some community foundations have developed clear guidelines for their potential grantees that use AI in their application, starting from sharing whether any AI tools has been used (check London Community Foundation and Community Foundation for Lancashire and Merseyside’s policies for some inspirations).
Have Something to Share?
Is your organisation experimenting with AI? We would love to hear from you! Contact Francesca Mereta at francesca@communityfoundations.eu: we can help amplify your experiences and share them with the wider community.
