Writing grants can be time-consuming and detail-oriented—taking nonprofits 25 hours or more to complete.

A new product, GrantMachine, developed by Oregon students through their company ChangeFinder, aims to save nonprofits time and money.

ChangeFinder cofounder and CEO Ian Winbrock, a flex MBA ’24 candidate specializing in innovation and entrepreneurship, saw the need for a software service that reduces the amount of time nonprofits spend writing grants.

It works like this: using machine learning technology (the same used by popular tool Chat GPT), ChangeFinder customers import their grant questions into GrantMachine and then write answers. GrantMachine compares the customer-entered questions and answers to its data-informed model, and provides immediate suggestions for improving grant success.

“Basically, we are Grammarly, but for grants,” said Winbrock, referencing the popular online grammar-checking tool.

Winbrock said ChangeFinder got its start at the Ducks Disrupt Silver Linings Pitchbook—making it all the way to the final and taking second place.

Oregon MBA students Winbrock, Steven Paasch (MBA ’23), and Madeline Tomka (MBA ’22), along with Harry Herzberg of Oregon State University also won the 2022 Rio de Janeiro Regional Hult Prize for the concept.

The Eugene Chamber of Commerce additionally recognized Winbrock with inclusion on its 20 Under 40 list.

Next up for the team: ChangeFinder won the TiE Oregon regional global pitch competition and is advancing to the semifinals May 3-5 in Santa Clara, California.

—AnneMarie Knepper-Sjoblom ’05, Lundquist College Communications