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New York – FreeWill, a nonprofit technology leader with over 200 employees in the United States , providing planned and non-cash giving software to more than 1500 US-based organizations, announced today that it has acquired GrantAssistant, a state-of-the-art, AI-based platform designed to revolutionize the grant proposal process. GrantAssistant is a software solution that provides nonprofits and international development organizations interested in securing grant funding with an end-to-end proposal workflow toolkit that streamlines the entire application process.
Roughly one-third of total funding for all nonprofits comes from government grants, and another $100 billion in annual charitable funding derives from grant-making made by private foundations. The process of applying for a grant, however, is cumbersome, complex and painful. As a result, many nonprofits and agencies – particularly those with limited resources – fail to secure funding they could otherwise obtain, citing administrative burden and lack of awareness surrounding grants they could be eligible for.
GrantAssistant launched in early 2024 to leverage best-in-class technology to create better grant proposals in one-third of the time by melding specialty skills with the power of AI. GrantAssistant features a straightforward, user-friendly process where organizations can sign up, onboard, upload relevant documents and requirements, and then edit – as needed – before submitting their proposals.
“The dollar value we can unlock by improving the grant proposal process and heightening awareness surrounding the availability of potential funding sources is enormous, and it represents one of the greatest unmet needs in philanthropy,” said Patrick Schmitt, co-CEO of FreeWill. “This is an area where we see strong demand today, and much more in the future. Every customer we’ve talked to has expressed interest in products that streamline the grant proposal process and help identify and utilize available funding.”
Schmitt continued: “GrantAssistant, despite being new to market, already has demonstrated profit-market-fit and a high-growth trajectory helping to secure USAID grants, which account for billions of dollars in assistance each year. Existing customers rave about how much time GrantAssistant saves them, and how they won grants they otherwise wouldn’t have even applied for. FreeWill couldn’t be more excited to welcome GrantAssistant’s team and its product into our growing suite of fundraising software.”
“When we started GrantAssistant, our goal was to help nonprofits and non-governmental organizations get as much funding as possible by making the grant writing process easier,” said Mustafa Hasnain, CEO, GrantAssistant. “We quickly gained traction and got to know the management team of FreeWill, a company with an exemplary track record whose mission, brand, and path we aspired to model ourselves after. Our relationship blossomed as we realized that merging could be a force multiplier for us, and a win for society. We couldn’t be happier.”
"Grant Assistant essentially doubles the productivity of our fundraising team, enabling us to turn over far more stones than ever before,” said Dr. Maggie Ehrenfried, Vice President of Advancement, LifeNet International. “For example, we went from program design to submission in 10 days. That’s unheard of for our team.”
GrantAssistant’s full team, located in Washington, D.C. and Lahore, Pakistan will remain part of FreeWill, whose employee footprint for the first time will span beyond the United States.
Terms of the transaction between FreeWill and GrantAssistant were not disclosed.
FreeWill is a social-good enterprise offering online tools that empower Americans to address commonly faced estate planning needs and make charitable donations in tax-advantaged ways, all for free. Through its partnerships with 1,500+ nonprofits who understand that major gifts often are part of estate plans, the company is also able to provide a comprehensive suite of estate planning and related tools to consumers free of cost. To date, FreeWill has generated more than $10 billion in planned and real-time gifts for more than 10,000 nonprofits while helping more than 1,000,000 consumers create wills and plan their estates.
Grant Assistant is an AI-enhanced toolkit designed to make the grant application process faster and easier for organizations of all sizes. By providing a simple and structured workflow from initial grant evaluation to guided program design, AI-enabled drafting support, and integrated compliance review, Grant Assistant empowers organizations to create winning proposals with confidence.
