Nonprofit scenario: Funding research and grant proposal writing
Available with: Microsoft 365 Copilot Scenario level:
KPIs impacted
Fundraising ROI
Value benefit
Cost savings
Employee experience
Using Copilot to funding research and grant proposal writing
1. Identify funding sources
Discover potential funding sources by identifying potential grants that match your nonprofit’s needs.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat1
Example prompt: Search for government agencies, foundations, and corporations that offer grants for [your nonprofit’s mission or project type]. Provide details on eligibility criteria, application deadlines, and funding amounts.
2. Conduct market research
Use Business Chat for Web to search for relevant data sources such as industry reports, government statistics, and market analysis articles.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat1
Example prompt: Search and summarize recent reports on funding trends and donor preferences [your industry] and summarize findings.
3. Analyze data
Use Copilot in Excel to analyze donor preferences and generate insights. Organize donor data into an Excel sheet with columns for donor name, donation amount, frequency, preferred causes, and demographics.
Copilot in Excel
Example prompt: Create a PivotTable to summarize donor preferences by cause and average donation amount.
4. Create data visualizations
Use Copilot to analyze the data and create visual reports to summarize your findings.
Copilot in Excel
Example prompt: Create a bar chart to visualize the distribution of donor preferences across different causes over the last five years.
5. Draft your proposal
Prompt Copilot in Word to create a grant proposal, incorporating key insights and data visualizations.
Copilot in Word
Example prompt: Create a grant proposal for [your nonprofit’s project], including an executive summary, needs statement that references insights from /[project plan.docx], project description, budget, and organization information.
6. Craft customized emails
Craft compelling emails to send to potential funders with the details of your proposal.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat2
Example prompt: Draft an email to [funder’s name] introducing my nonprofit and expressing interest in their grant program. Highlight key points from /[proposal in Word].
1Access Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat at m365copilot.com or the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat mobile app and set toggle to “Web".
2Access Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat at m365copilot.com, the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat mobile app or the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat app in Microsoft Teams, and set toggle to “Work”.
3Copilot agents allow Microsoft 365 Copilot to access your organization-specific apps. In the past, this would have required an API call to get data from a system of record. The content in this example scenario is for demonstration purposes only. You should evaluate how Copilot aligns with your organization’s business processes, regulatory requirements, and responsible AI principles.
The content in this example scenario is for demonstration purposes only. You should evaluate how Copilot aligns with your organization’s business processes, regulatory requirements, and responsible AI principles.
