Aidy: AI-Assisted TurboTax for Federal Grants

Hey everyone, we are Max, Peter, and Greg, and we’re building Aidy.

In our past roles at The Rockefeller Foundation and the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, we saw how difficult it is for organizations to apply for federal grant funding. Determining eligibility and competitiveness for federal grants typically involves sifting through confusing criteria scattered across multiple documents, which are usually challenging to navigate and difficult to understand. The application process itself requires tons of paperwork and can cost up to $18k and 100 staff hours per grant. After watching our former employers invest millions in helping folks apply for federal grants, we realized the enormous potential of AI in making the process more accessible. From there, Aidy was born!

Solution

Aidy guides organizations through the entire federal grant application process. To start, we’re focused on Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants, which provide $80k-$1M to rural small businesses and agricultural producers. The program recently received a $2.1B investment under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Eligibility and Competitiveness Assessment: After a few quick questions, Aidy evaluates your organization's competitiveness for grants by navigating eligibility requirements and scoring criteria.

Clear Instructions: Aidy helps steer you through every step of the application process to make sure you have everything you need to apply.

AI-Assisted Form Filling: Aidy takes a first pass at drafting documents and filling forms. Once your application is complete, Aidy fills in all the appropriate forms with your answers.

Grant Writer and Technical Assistance Platform: We’ll soon roll out a collaborative tool for grant writers and applicants to work together. Grant writers can manage multiple applications and request documents from applicants through the platform.

Check out our full demo!

Our Vision

• Comprehensive Federal Grant Search: Build a comprehensive federal grant search platform, complete with eligibility and competitiveness checkers for each federal grant.
• Support for all federal grants: Quickly support applications for all 1,000+ federal grant programs.
• Beyond Federal Grants: Expand to include state, local, and philanthropic funding opportunities.

Our Asks

• Please send our REAP Eligibility and Competitiveness Quiz to anyone you know in the rural energy sector, especially rural small businesses, farms, or renewable energy companies.
• Connect us with any grant writers or other organizations you think may benefit from Aidy.
• If there are federal grants your company is interested in applying for, let us know!
• Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Thank you!