Artificial Intelligence Fundraising and Grants Use Cases for Extension Professionals Workshop Series
Up Next
AI in 2026: The Fundraiser’s New Power Tool
Thursday, January 15 2026 • 2:00 – 3:15 PM ET
Kick off with a practical, jargon-free tour of AI’s current capabilities, limitations, and opportunities for Extension fundraising. Learn the basics of prompting and see real-time demonstrations of AI accelerating grant-related tasks, from background research to drafting funder-ready language.
Research Power Moves with AI for Stronger Proposals
Thursday, February 19, 2025 • 2:00 – 3:15 PM ET
Funders expect clear evidence and strong data. Discover how AI can dramatically reduce time spent on research and analysis, from cleaning messy spreadsheets to summarizing dense reports, giving you funder-ready material that strengthens proposals and reporting.
Grant Writing & Fundraising with AI: From Prospecting to Reporting
Thursday, March 19th, 2025 • 2:00 – 3:15 PM ET
Explore how AI supports the entire fundraising lifecycle — identifying new funders, drafting tailored proposals, and creating polished progress reports. See how to maximize efficiency without compromising funder trust or credibility.
Smarter Fundraising Communications & Marketing with AI
Thursday, April 16 2026 • 2:00 – 3:15 PM ET
Learn how to use AI as a communications partner to engage funders and donors through email, social media, press releases, and event promotion. See how one piece of outreach can be repurposed across multiple channels to build funder confidence and visibility.
Organizational Efficiency: Freeing Up Time for Fundraising with AI
Thursday, May 21st, 2026 • 2:00 – 3:15 PM ET
Administrative demands often crowd out fundraising. Learn how AI can streamline meeting prep, scheduling, SOPs, and project planning — giving you back critical hours to focus
Leading Fundraising Strategy & Creativity with AI
Wednesday, June 18th 2026 • 2:00 – 3:00 PM ET
Move beyond tactics to strategy. Learn how AI can act as a devil’s advocate, idea generator, and strategic coach for building fundraising campaigns, developing case statements, and preparing board/stakeholder presentations that secure funding.
Future-Proofing Fundraising: Tracking AI Trends & Adoption Choices
Thursday July 16th, 2026 • 2:00 – 3:15 PM ET
AI is evolving rapidly, with new tools offering opportunities for prospecting, donor engagement, and reporting. Learn how to evaluate these tools, understand emergent capabilities like AI agents, and make adoption choices that align with your institution’s fundraising goals and compliance standards.
This special series is presented by: Nate Birt
Nate Birt is the founder of Silver Maple Strategies, a communications and fundraising consulting firm that serves nonprofit executives advancing climate-change solutions. His latest book, “7 Secrets of Highly Effective Social Impact Communicators,” debuted as a No. 1 new release in business ethics on Amazon. Nate is the former vice president of Farm Journal’s climate-change division, Trust In Food, where he spearheaded the strategy, coalition-building and authorship of a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant proposal selected in fall 2022 by USDA for a $40 million award. Nate holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. He and his wife, Dr. Julie Birt, homeschool their four children on a small farm near St. Louis.
