scout-grants

name: scout-grants description: Find grant opportunities, evaluate eligibility and fit, and create a clean opportunity brief. Use when starting from zero, triaging new calls, or deciding whether an opportunity is worth drafting.

Scout Grants

scout-grants is the front door of the pipeline. It combines opportunity discovery, eligibility screening, funder-fit profiling, and proposal kickoff prep into one top-level skill.

When to Use

• You are starting from zero and need a shortlist of grants.
• The owner says "find me grants", "evaluate this call", or "should we go after this?"
• A promising call exists and needs a go / no-go recommendation.
• The owner wants the opportunity captured in GitHub when possible, or in the conversation if not.

Outputs

This skill should leave behind:

• an opportunity brief with: funder, amount, deadline, eligibility, official URL, fit rationale, risks, and recommendation
• a priority decision: go, watch, or discard
• if GitHub is available: a grant-opportunity Issue with the brief and labels
• if GitHub is not available: the same artifact in the conversation
• if the owner says go: the proposal folder path and kickoff notes for chrome-navigate

Workflow

1. Search and shortlist.

   • Search live funding opportunities.
   • Dedupe by funder, URL, opportunity ID, and cycle/year.
   • Favor real opportunities over broad "funder directory" pages.

2. Screen hard before falling in love.

   • Eligibility: org type, geography, sector, partner requirements, application format.
   • Disqualifiers: expired calls, academic-only when you are not eligible, nonprofit-only if inapplicable, impossible compliance requirements.

3. Run the fit pass.

   • What does the funder actually want?
   • Which of your products, services, or evidence lines fit?
   • What budget range and duration look realistic?
   • What would the winning narrative angle likely be?

4. Write the opportunity brief. Use this shape:

   # Opportunity Brief — <Opportunity Name>
   
   - Funder:
   - Official URL:
   - Deadline:
   - Typical amount:
   - Eligibility:
   - Submission type:
   - Why it fits:
   - Risks / gaps:
   - Recommendation: go | watch | discard
   - Recommended next move:
   

5. Persist the result.

   • If GitHub is available, create or update a grant-opportunity Issue.
   • If GitHub is unavailable, emit the same brief in the conversation and write locally if a workspace exists.

6. If the owner says go, prepare the handoff.

   • Propose CARPETA and NOMBRE_KEBAB.
   • Create the proposal folder if the grants repo or local workspace is available.
   • Leave kickoff notes for chrome-navigate, including the official URL and what to extract first.

GitHub Fallback

If gh or the grants repo is unavailable:

• do not block the skill
• emit the opportunity brief in the conversation
• say explicitly that no Issue was created
• continue with local folder preparation if the user still wants to proceed

Pitfalls

• Treating a well-branded opportunity as eligible without reading the actual eligibility section.
• Recommending go before checking partner requirements and geography.
• Creating a weak brief that says "good fit" without naming the product line or value proposition.
• Starting proposal drafting before there is an official URL and a clear recommendation.

References

• skills/chrome-navigate/SKILL.md — next step for source extraction and form mapping
• skills/develop-proposal/SKILL.md — first drafting pass after the source pack exists