How TechChange leveraged FreeWill’s Grant Assistant to streamline proposal processes and win competitive contracts

The Opportunity

TechChange, a D.C.-based social enterprise, delivers technology-enabled training and event services to international development organizations around the world. With a business development team of just three people, TechChange regularly manages complex, high-stakes proposals under intense time pressure.

The team was presented with an 80-page request for proposal (RFP) from a major multinational relief agency seeking hybrid and virtual event services across multiple countries. The opportunity aligned perfectly with TechChange’s recent investments in production capacity—but the timing couldn’t have been worse. The bid dropped during the end-of-year rush, overlapping with holiday closures, annual reporting, and limited staffing.

Not only was the timeline tight, but the program itself was completely new. “Even though we had solid past performance, the requirements were structured in a way that we couldn’t just ‘recycle’ our past proposals,” said Sheerin Vesin, Vice President of Business Development. 

Compounding the challenge, the RFP required multiple slightly modified versions to be submitted for different geographical regions—a heavy lift for a lean team. The stakes were high, but the team needed help to stay on track without burning out.

The Solution

Facing a blank page and an 80-page RFP, TechChange turned to FreeWill’s Grant Assistant—a generative AI-powered tool designed to simplify and accelerate proposal development. Even while the product was still in beta, Grant Assistant’s support team guided TechChange in using the platform’s flexible templates to meet the agency’s complex requirements.

The tool’s guided prompts and compliance matrix helped TechChange quickly structure their proposal. What once took weeks became a streamlined, collaborative process—allowing the team to submit on time and save their holidays.

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“As a small team, we already have amazing people doing great work,” Vesin shared. “Grant Assistant doesn’t replace us—it layers on top of what we do to make our proposals more winnable.”

And it wasn’t just one proposal. With Grant Assistant, TechChange was able to quickly generate the necessary region-specific versions of the proposal, reducing redundancy and ensuring consistency while adapting content as needed.

The Impact

TechChange successfully submitted the proposal in just three weeks, cutting writing and formatting time by a third—and won the contract.

Since then, they’ve integrated Grant Assistant into their ongoing workflow, using it to reduce proposal drafting time by up to 60% and pursue more complex opportunities with confidence.

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