GrantMind 101 — User Guide

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Overview

Finding Your Way Around

After you log in, you'll see a sidebar on the left with all the major sections of the app. Every feature is just one click away.

Sidebar Section	What it's for
Dashboard	Your home base — a snapshot of open grants, upcoming deadlines, and recent activity
Knowledge Base	Upload your organization's documents so the AI can write grants in your voice
Grant Writing	Use AI to draft a full grant application from an RFP or pasted questions
Grant Tracker	Log and track every grant you're working on, from drafting through decision
My Funders	Keep a directory of foundations, contacts, and your relationship history
My Actions	A running to-do list of tasks tied to your grant applications
My Feedback	Submit ideas or report issues directly to the GrantMind team
My Organization	View your org's settings and team members

At the bottom of the sidebar you'll find How it works (a quick overview tour) and What's New (release notes). Check What's New after any app update to see what's changed.

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Section 1

Your Dashboard

The Dashboard is your command center. Every time you log in, it gives you an instant read on where things stand across all your grant work — no digging required.

What you'll see

Widget	What it shows
Grant status counts	How many grants are Drafting, Submitted, Pending, Awarded, or Declined
Deadline alerts	Any grants with deadlines coming up soon, highlighted so nothing slips
Recent grants	Your four most recently added or updated grant applications
Knowledge Base status	Which document categories are covered and which are missing
Recent actions	Tasks that have been assigned or updated lately

Start here every morning. The deadline alerts widget will flag any grant applications due in the next few days, so a quick glance keeps you ahead of the calendar.

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Section 2

Knowledge Base

The Knowledge Base is where you teach GrantMind about your organization. Before generating any grant draft, the AI reads through these documents — so the quality of your uploads directly shapes the quality of your output.

Think of it as your org's private library: mission statements, program descriptions, financials, impact reports, and past applications. Upload them once, and the AI draws on them every time you write a new grant.

Why this matters: Without Knowledge Base documents, the AI writes a generic draft. With strong documents uploaded, it writes specifically about your programs, your numbers, and your impact — in language that already sounds like your organization.

How to upload a document

1

Go to Knowledge Base

Click Knowledge Base in the left sidebar.
2

Click "Upload Document"

You'll see an upload form appear at the top of the page.
3

Fill in the document details

Give the document a clear name, choose a category, and optionally add a short description. Then attach the file.
4

Hit Upload

GrantMind processes the document and it becomes available to the AI immediately.

Document categories

Choosing the right category helps the AI understand what kind of information it's reading.

Category	What to upload
Mission & Vision	Mission statement, vision statement, organizational overview, about us pages
Programs	Program descriptions, service summaries, curriculum outlines, program logic models
Staff	Team bios, org chart, staff qualifications, key personnel profiles
Financial	Annual budgets, audited financials, 990s, budget narratives
Impact	Outcome reports, evaluation data, testimonials, annual reports
Application	Past grant applications, approved narratives, template responses
Other	Anything that doesn't fit cleanly above — partnerships, news coverage, etc.

Best starting set: Upload at least one document in Mission & Vision and one in Programs before writing your first grant. Add financials and impact data next — funders almost always ask about both.

Accepted file types: PDF, Word (.doc / .docx), and plain text (.txt). Maximum file size is 20 MB per upload. If your file is larger, consider splitting it into sections.

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Section 3

Grant Writing with AI

The Grant Writing section is where the magic happens. You provide the grant's requirements — either by uploading the RFP document or pasting the questions directly — and GrantMind drafts a full, tailored response grounded in your Knowledge Base documents.

Step-by-step: writing your first grant

1

Go to Grant Writing

Click Grant Writing in the sidebar. You'll see a three-part form.
2

Fill in the grant details

Enter the grant name, your name as submitter, priority level, and optional details like funder name, grant amount, and deadline. Linking to an existing funder from your Funder Portal is optional but helpful for keeping records connected.
3

Add the grant questions

You have two options: paste the questions directly into the text box, or upload the RFP file (PDF or Word doc). If you upload a file, GrantMind will automatically extract the questions — you can review and edit them before generating.
4
Choose your writing tone
Pick the voice that matches this funder's style:
- Professional & Precise — formal language, traditional grant style
- Professional yet Warm — recommended for most funders; balanced and readable
- Genuine & Human-centered — conversational, community-oriented voice
5

Add any special instructions (optional)

Use the Notes field to give the AI specific direction — for example: "Focus on our youth mentoring program" or "This funder cares about rural impact — emphasize our county reach."
6

Click "Generate Grant Draft"

GrantMind will begin writing. The draft streams in live — you'll see it appear word by word. Longer grants may take a minute or two.

Working with the draft

Once generation is complete, you have several options:

Action	What it does
Continue Generation	If the draft was cut off mid-response, this picks up where it left off
Save to Grant Tracker	Saves the draft and creates a new entry in your Grant Tracker automatically
AI Chat sidebar	Opens a chat panel alongside the draft — ask the AI to revise a section, strengthen an argument, or adjust the tone
Copy	Copies the full draft to your clipboard to paste into Word or another editor

Using the AI Chat alongside your draft

The chat panel is a conversation with the AI about your specific draft. You can ask it things like:

💬 "Can you make the opening paragraph more compelling?"
💬 "The answer to question 3 feels too long — can you tighten it?"
💬 "Add a sentence about our partnership with the school district."
💬 "This funder focuses on STEM — can you emphasize that angle more?"

The AI remembers the full conversation as you chat, so you can refer back to earlier messages. If you want to start fresh, click Clear Chat.

Pro tip: The AI's first draft is a strong starting point, not a final product. Plan to spend 20–30 minutes reviewing, personalizing specific examples, and adding any details that only your staff would know. The more specific your Knowledge Base documents, the less editing the draft will need.

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Section 4

Grant Tracker

The Grant Tracker is your full pipeline of grant applications. Whether you drafted something with AI or are tracking a grant you wrote elsewhere, every application lives here — with its status, deadline, amount, and notes all in one place.

Adding a grant

1

Click "+ Add Grant"

Found in the top-right of the Grant Tracker page.
2

Fill in the grant details

At minimum, provide the funder name and a priority. Deadline, amount, status, and submitter are all highly recommended so your tracker stays useful over time.
3

Save

The grant appears in your tracker immediately. You can edit it any time by clicking into the card.

Grant statuses

Move grants through the pipeline as they progress. Update the status whenever something changes.

Drafting Submitted Pending Decision Awarded 🎉 Declined

Grant fields reference

Field	Required?	Notes
Funder Name	Required	The foundation or agency awarding the grant
Priority	Required	High / Medium / Low — helps you triage your attention
Status	Optional	Defaults to Drafting; update as the application progresses
Deadline	Optional	Shows up in the Dashboard deadline alerts when it's approaching
Amount	Optional	The grant amount you're applying for
Submitted by	Optional	Who on your team owns this application
Program / Focus Area	Optional	Which program this grant is for — helpful for filtering
Notes	Optional	Internal notes, special instructions, funder relationships
Link to Funder	Optional	Connect to a funder in My Funders to keep records linked

Filtering and sorting

The Grant Tracker includes filter chips along the top — click any status or priority to narrow your view. You can also sort by deadline, funder name, amount, priority, and more using the sort dropdown.

Keep statuses current. The Dashboard's deadline alerts and status counts only stay accurate if you update grants as they move forward. Set a reminder each week to review and update anything that's changed.

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Section 5

My Funders

My Funders is your organization's relationship directory — a structured record of every foundation, agency, or corporation you work with or hope to. It goes beyond a simple list: you can track individual contacts at each funder, note relationship history, and link funders directly to grants in your tracker.

Adding a funder

1

Click "+ Add Funder"

Found in the top-right of the My Funders page, or in the empty-state prompt if you haven't added any yet.
2

Fill in the funder details

Name is required. Type, status, website, and notes are optional but recommended — especially the notes field for tracking relationship history.
3

Save

The funder appears in your directory. You can add contacts and sub-funders from inside the funder card.

Funder types

Type	Use for
Private Foundation	Family foundations, community foundations, independent foundations
Federal Government	Federal agencies (HHS, DOE, HUD, SAMHSA, etc.)
State Government	State agencies, state departments, state grant programs
Corporate / Business	Corporate giving programs, corporate foundations
Other (Custom)	Anything else — individual donors, community groups, etc. You can add your own label.

Funder statuses

Active Prospective Past

Use Active for funders you have a current relationship with, Prospective for ones you're researching or pursuing, and Past for funders you no longer work with.

Adding contacts to a funder

Every funder entry can have one or more contacts attached to it — program officers, relationship managers, or any person you communicate with at that foundation. To add a contact, expand a funder card and click "Add Contact."

Contact field	Notes
Name Required	Full name of the contact
Title / Role	e.g. "Program Officer," "Executive Director"
Email	Their work email for correspondence
Phone	Direct line or office number
Notes	Anything useful — how you met them, their giving priorities, preferred communication style
Primary contact	Check this for the main person you work with at this funder. A star will appear next to their name.

Hierarchical funder structure

Some funding organizations are structured in parent/child relationships — for example, a community foundation with individual named funds underneath it, or a national foundation with regional offices. GrantMind supports up to three levels of hierarchy so you can mirror that structure in your directory.

When adding a funder, you can nest it under an existing funder to create that parent-child relationship.

Use the Notes field generously. The funder notes field is a great place to log things like: application windows, what they funded you for before, what they declined and why, and any personal relationship context. This turns into institutional memory that's especially valuable when staff turns over.

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Section 6

My Actions

My Actions is your personal task list — a consolidated view of every to-do item tied to your grant work. Action items can be created from within a grant, and they live here so you always know what's next across your whole portfolio.

Filtering your actions

Pending Completed All

The default view shows Pending tasks — things still left to do. Switch to Completed to see what you've already finished, or All to see everything.

If you have urgent or overdue actions, the sidebar will show a badge count next to My Actions so you can see at a glance that something needs attention — even from other pages.

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Section 7

What's New

The What's New panel shows you a running log of updates, new features, and improvements made to GrantMind. It's updated by the GrantMind team each time a new version is released.

How to check for updates

1

Look for the orange dot

A small orange indicator appears next to the What's New button at the top of the sidebar whenever there are updates you haven't read yet.
2

Click "What's New"

A panel slides open showing the latest release notes — what was added, changed, or fixed.
3

Click "Got it!"

This marks the updates as read and clears the orange dot until the next release.

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Reference

Tips & Best Practices

Getting the best AI drafts

Upload before you write. A full Knowledge Base — especially Mission & Vision, Programs, Financial, and Impact — dramatically improves draft quality. If you only have time for two documents, start with your mission statement and your most recent impact report.

Be specific in your notes. The Notes field in the grant form is a direct instruction to the AI. Vague notes produce vague drafts. The more specific your direction — "highlight the partnership with the county health department, page 3 of the program doc" — the better the output.

Use chat to revise, not regenerate. If one section isn't right, don't regenerate the whole draft — use the AI chat sidebar to target that specific section. It's faster and preserves the parts that are already good.

Staying organized

One entry per application. Create a separate Grant Tracker entry for each grant submission, even if you're applying to the same funder multiple times. That way you have a clean history for each cycle.

Link funders to grants. When adding a grant, use the "Link to Existing Funder" dropdown to connect it to your Funder Portal record. This creates a relationship between your funder history and your application history.

Update statuses weekly. Set aside five minutes every Monday to move any grants that have progressed — submitted, received a decision, etc. An up-to-date tracker is far more useful than a stale one.

Using the Funder Portal well

Add notes after every interaction. After a call with a program officer, a site visit, or receiving a decision letter, add a note to that funder's record. Over time this creates institutional memory that survives staff transitions.

Mark your primary contact. On each funder, check the "Primary point of contact" box for the one person your team should always go to first. This is especially useful for larger foundations with multiple staff.

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Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I edit the AI-generated draft directly?

The draft is displayed as a preview after generation. Use the AI Chat sidebar to request specific revisions, then copy the final result to paste into your word processor (Word, Google Docs, etc.) for final editing and formatting before submission.

What happens if the generation stops early?

If the draft gets cut off before completing all the questions, a "Continue Generation" button will appear. Click it and the AI will pick up exactly where it left off.

Can multiple people use GrantMind at the same organization?

Yes. GrantMind is designed for teams. Everyone at your organization shares the same Knowledge Base, Funder Portal, and Grant Tracker. The "Submitted by" field on each grant helps you track who owns each application.

I uploaded a document but the draft doesn't seem to use it — why?

Make sure the document is in a supported format (PDF, .doc, .docx, or .txt) and was uploaded successfully. Also check that you've assigned it a category — the AI uses categories to understand what type of information to apply to which parts of the grant. If you're unsure, try re-uploading and check the document's name and description are clear.

Can I use GrantMind for grants I didn't write with AI?

Absolutely. The Grant Tracker is designed to hold all your applications, regardless of how they were written. Add them manually using the "+ Add Grant" button. The tracker, funder linking, and action items all work the same whether or not you used the AI writing tool.

How do I report a bug or suggest a feature?

Click the Feedback button (the speech-bubble icon) in the bottom-right corner of the app. Choose the appropriate category — Bug Report, Suggestion, Question, or General — and describe what you're seeing. The GrantMind team reviews all submissions.