The context document.

Eight fields, one or two sentences each, that turn generic AI output into output that sounds like your organisation. The first thing any team should build, whatever stage they're at.

THE EIGHT FIELDS
1

Organisation

Name, type, and scale. ie. "A family foundation giving $15M a year, team of eight" or "a nonprofit school network, 200 schools across three countries."

2

Mission

The change you're working toward, in one sentence. If it takes two, that's worth noticing.

3

Who you serve, both layers

Who you fund or run programs for, and who they ultimately reach. "We fund 40 early-stage orgs; together they reach two million learners in East Africa."

4

What you offer beyond money

Why a grantee or partner chooses to work with you. Unrestricted funding, patient timelines, networks, hands-on support. For operating orgs: why your model over the alternatives.

5

Peers

The three funders or organisations you're most often compared with, co-fund alongside, or benchmark against. This calibrates what "normal" looks like in your corner of the sector.

6

Portfolio and scale

Current numbers. Active grants or programs, annual budget, geographies, staff size.

7

What you're measuring right now

The two or three outcomes your board actually asks about this year. Cost per outcome, learning gains, coverage, whatever it truly is.

8

Voice

How you sound. Warm or formal, plain language or comfortable with sector jargon, and anything you never say.

One rule the startup version of this doesn't need.

Build this document only from information you'd be comfortable seeing quoted back in an output. No grantee-identifying details, no unpublished partner financials, no personnel matters. The context document is the public-shaped version of who you are.

Where it lives.

On a Claude Team or Enterprise account, set it once in a Project's instructions or your profile preferences, and every conversation inherits it. Pasting it into each prompt works on any tool, and costs more. Refresh it each board cycle; a stale context document produces stale output.