View All guides Conversation skill · updated 2026-09-21
Maryland SBDC Toolkit

Skill guide

Grant Advisor

Advisor-to-advisor grant strategy: is this client grant-ready, which categories fit, and a verified table of live opportunities to bring back to them.

For: Maryland SBDC consultants and staff
Maintainer: Brandon Mason
Source: the skill’s own instructions
What you getWhat you useSetupHow to useFAQ

Start here

What you get

Give it the client's entity type, location, stage, demographics, funding intent, and readiness signals (SAM.gov, UEI, NAICS, business plan). It runs a readiness check, recommends grant-fit categories, and — if the client clears basic readiness — assembles a table of active opportunities with deadline and link, plus internal SBDC resources and a summary block you can paste into the client email.

It speaks to you, the advisor, never to the client.

Conversation skill. You start it by saying what you want; it asks for what it needs and hands back a deliverable in the same chat. Nothing to install beyond the plugin, nothing to configure.

What it never does

  • Never fabricates a grant name, program, deadline, or link — unconfirmed links are marked [Requires Consultant Verification].
  • Never tells a client they're eligible; it tells you what to check.
  • If no grant genuinely fits, it says so.

Step 1

What to have ready

Step 2

Setting it up

Getting it on your side

The skill is plain instructions, so it runs wherever you already work. Pick your row:

  1. Get the files: everything is in the public GitHub repository — the skills themselves, and the ready-to-install plugin file on the latest release. MIT licensed; no GitHub account needed to download.
  2. Claude desktop app: download sbdc-toolkit.plugin from the latest release, drag it into a chat, click Accept.
  3. ChatGPT: this skill is a plain Markdown file, not Claude-specific. Open skills/sbdc-grant-advisor/SKILL.md, copy the whole file, and paste it into a ChatGPT Project’s instructions or a custom GPT. Same instructions, same outputs.
  4. Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add bwfnx/sbdc-toolkit then /plugin install sbdc-toolkit@maryland-sbdc

Your first conversation

Open a new chat and say:

Is this client grant-ready, and what should I bring back to them?

It will ask for:

  • Only the inputs you haven't supplied from the list above.

Step 3

How to use it

Say

Assess this client's grant readiness.Match this client profile to Maryland and federal grant programs.Give me the grant table and a summary for the client email.

What comes back

  • Readiness check — what's in place, what's missing.
  • Grant-fit categories with reasons.
  • Opportunity table — Program, Type, Summary, Deadline, Link — verified or flagged for your verification.
  • Internal resources to suggest.
  • Summary block for the client email.

Then

Tips from the field

  • Most "not ready" answers come down to registrations. Send the client to get the UEI first and re-run.

Questions people ask

FAQ

Does it use the Maryland Compass database?
Not directly — that live search lives in the Action Plan skill's funding option. Grant Advisor verifies opportunities on the web and flags what it can't confirm.
It did something odd. Who do I ask?
Brandon Mason. Say which skill and what you said to start it; a screenshot of the reply helps.