2026-04-29 · Dooley Center (St Joseph's Villa) — 8000 Brook Rd, Richmond, VA
AI Ready RVA Nonprofit Cohort AI in Grant Writing Presented by IT4Causes AI is transforming how nonprofits secure funding. The organizations that learn to use it well will raise more money, move faster, and spend less time buried in paperwork. Join AI Ready RVA and our partners at IT4Causes for a practical session focused on how artificial intelligence can improve grant strategy, writing, and long-term funding success. This event is part of the AI Ready RVA Nonprofit Cohort, a growing community of nonprofit leaders exploring how AI can strengthen mission-driven organizations across the Richmond region. Featured Speaker Matt Leighty Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, GrantFlow Matt Leighty is a Virginia native and grant strategist who has spent more than a decade helping nonprofits build sustainable funding systems. Through his work with GrantFlow, Matt has helped organizations secure over $200 million in grant funding across the United States. His approach is simple but powerful: grants should be treated as infrastructure, not transactions. When organizations build systems around their funding strategy, grants become easier to manage, more successful, and far less disruptive to staff. Matt also teaches AI-assisted grant writing at the University of Richmond, where he helps nonprofit leaders learn how to use AI responsibly to improve research, proposal development, and grant management. What You’ll Learn During this session Matt will walk through how AI is reshaping the grant process and how nonprofits can start using it today. Topics include: • How AI can accelerate grant research and opportunity discovery • Using AI to draft and refine grant proposals • Building a reusable grant narrative library • Turning institutional knowledge into AI-ready documents • Avoiding common mistakes when using AI in grant writing • How nonprofits can build a long-term grant funding system You will leave with practical tools and strategies you can immediately apply to your organization. Who Should Attend This event is designed for: • Nonprofit Executive Directors • Development and Fundraising Leaders • Program Managers • Grant Writers • Board Members • Anyone responsible for securing funding for a mission-driven organization If your organization relies on grants or wants to pursue them more…