We’re excited to today announce the launch of Northstar Toolkit.
Our plan for Northstar Toolkit is to continue building a collection of tools and workflows that will allow nonprofit and mission-based organizations to get the most out of the incredible advancements being made in AI.
For this first launch, we have focused on building out what we believe to be the most advanced and evidence-based AI grant writing application on the market.
Our take on AI for Grant-writing
How can you maximize the benefit of using AI for grant writing while minimizing its costs? That simple question was the starting point of our design discussions when we set out to build the grant writing portion of Northstar Toolkit.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, we are big believers in the ability of AI to increase the speed of grant writing. What may be more surprising is that we are also big believers in the ability of AI to improve the quality and accuracy of grants as well.
Of course, it would be irresponsible to embark on the creation of software like this without acknowledging the potential risks and drawbacks of using AI for tasks like grant writing. We think, though, that by being mindful of the potential risks and drawbacks, we can build flows and auxiliary software that accommodate them.
Instead of seeing the role of AI in grant writing as being the sole or final author of the grant, we view the use of AI as having a place in nearly every step of the grant writing process but always in conjunction with a human grant writer at the helm.
Our priority in designing Northstar Toolkit has been to augment the abilities of a human grant writer and to always keep them in control, while providing tools and capabilities that would be impractical or impossible for a human to accomplish alone without AI assistance.
Intent to Action
With Northstar Toolkit, a human grant writer is able to gather information about an organization or a foundation with the assistance of AI far faster than they could alone. They can index and search over evidence automatically. They can write out their intentions in bullet points or short sentences and expand that into full sections while automatically pulling in evidence. They can conform to word requirements, style guides, or other restrictions effortlessly.
Let me paint a picture of what this looks like in practice. From the moment you begin a new grant, our system starts working alongside you. It can analyze your organization’s website and existing documents to gather essential information automatically – no more manual copying and pasting of mission statements or program descriptions. Past grants become a valuable resource, feeding into a smart system that understands your organization’s history and impact.
When you’re ready to tackle a new grant application, simply upload the requirements document. While you focus on strategic thinking, the system quietly organizes all requirements and helps you identify any gaps in your approach. This means you spend less time worrying about whether you’ve missed a crucial element and more time crafting compelling narratives.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve reimagined how grant writers can translate their ideas into fully-formed sections. Rather than spending hours searching through old documents for supporting evidence, you can focus on outlining your key points. The system automatically pulls relevant evidence from your organization’s history, weaving it seamlessly into your narrative. It’s like having a research assistant who knows your organization inside and out, working alongside you at every step.
In every step, our goal is not to take away control from the writer, but instead to accelerate the speed at which writing intent becomes reality. Northstar Toolkit provides you with systems and augmentations backed by AI that allow you to architect a grant and see the ideas you want to become reality on the page with greater precision and speed than is possible to do alone.
Moving Forward
We’ve designed Northstar Toolkit’s grant writing features with the goal of advancing the field of grant writing while maintaining essential human control and keeping a high standard of accuracy and quality. If you’re interested in exploring how these tools could benefit your organization we would invite you to sign up to give them a try or to reach out to contact@northstartoolkit.com to see a demo or ask any questions.