How to review an AI-drafted grant proposal
By Wesley Stevens, Founder of Quillify.
How do I review a grant proposal drafted with AI?
Review it the way a strong grant office reviews any draft, with one added pass for the funder’s AI rules. Someone who did not draft it checks that every figure and citation traces to a source, that the proposal answers every question in the announcement, that the details match from section to section, and that it sounds like your organization. A named person signs off before it goes out.
Last reviewed November 4, 2026.
The review checklist
Trace every figure and citation
Check each number against the report or budget it came from, and open every citation. A wrong number costs a reviewer’s trust faster than anything else in a proposal.
Hold it against the announcement
Go through the funding announcement question by question. Confirm each one is answered in the order asked and within the page and word limits. Confirm every required attachment is on the list.
Read for consistency
Names, dates, dollar amounts, and counts should match everywhere they appear. The budget narrative should describe the same budget as the spreadsheet. Long documents drift, and reviewers notice when they do.
Make it yours
Replace any sentence another applicant could have written with a detail only your team knows. Keep the program’s real history, including what changed and why.
Check the funder’s AI rules
Some funders ask applicants to disclose AI help, and a few restrict it. Read the instructions before you submit. How each funder treats AI.
Sign off
One named person approves the final text and owns what it says. Put that step in your AI-use policy so it outlasts staff changes.
Who should do the review
- Someone who did not draft it
- The person who assembled a draft reads what they meant to write. A second reader sees what is on the page.
- A program person for the facts
- Whoever runs the work knows whether the numbers, timelines, and outcomes are right.
- A grant professional for the fit
- An experienced grant writer reads for what the reviewer will score. That outside eye is worth the most on large and competitive requests.
Where Quillify fits
Quillify builds the review into the work. It drafts from your own documents, so the facts start from your records. It turns the announcement into a requirements checklist your team works from together. Before you send, it scores the proposal against the announcement the way a reviewer would and hands back what is weak, in the order worth fixing. The final read and the signature stay with your team.
Funders teaching AI to grantees can use this checklist for the checking step of a session. The free workshop kit.
Who asks this most
The answer above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.
Related
- Will a funder know if I used AI?Will a funder know if I used AI on my grant application?
- What to say when a funder asks how you used AIHow do I disclose AI use in a grant application?
- Write for the person who has thirty-nine others to readHow do grant reviewers actually read proposals?
- Grant application checklistWhat should be on a grant application checklist?
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