Nonprofit AI SkillsOpen-source SKILL.md files

Guides / 02

A field guide

Install and use per agent

Download a skill, put it in the right folder or upload it to Computer, and check that your agent can use it.

Start with one skill

Choose a task you can evaluate, such as a grant draft or an email newsletter. Read the skill's instructions and supervision label before giving it organizational data.

The steps below cover local Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor installations, plus Perplexity Computer's upload interface. Product settings can change; the official documentation is linked in each section.

Download without using a terminal

  1. Open a skill page and download its SKILL.md, or download the full library ZIP and unzip it.
  2. Find the individual skill folder, such as nonprofit-grant-writing.
  3. For a local agent, copy that folder into the destination listed below. If you downloaded only the file, create the named folder yourself and place SKILL.md inside it.
  4. For Perplexity Computer, upload the individual Markdown file instead, following its section below.

In the GitHub repository, source files live at nonprofit-skills-library/skills/<category>/<skill-name>/SKILL.md.

Keep one folder per skill, with SKILL.md immediately inside it, following the Agent Skills directory layout:

skills/
  nonprofit-grant-writing/
    SKILL.md

For the portable approach in this guide, copy individual skill folders, not their enclosing category folders. Do not assume that linking the whole category-organized library into one folder will make every skill discoverable.

Claude Code

Use .claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md inside your project, or ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md for personal skills across local projects. Claude Code skills documentation

For grant writing, the personal destination is:

~/.claude/skills/nonprofit-grant-writing/SKILL.md

In Claude Code, type /nonprofit-grant-writing to invoke the installed skill directly; Claude can also select relevant skills from their descriptions. Claude Code skills documentation

If you created the top-level skills directory after starting Claude Code, restart it so the new directory is watched. Claude Code reload guidance

Codex

Use .agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md inside your project, or ~/.agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md for personal skills across local projects. These are the current documented Codex locations used by this guide. Codex skills documentation

For grant writing, the personal destination is:

~/.agents/skills/nonprofit-grant-writing/SKILL.md

In the Codex CLI or IDE extension, use /skills to browse skills or type $ to mention one; newly installed skills are detected automatically, but restart Codex if a skill does not appear. Codex skills documentation

Cursor

Use .cursor/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md inside your project, or ~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md for personal local skills. Cursor Agent Skills documentation

For grant writing, the project destination is:

.cursor/skills/nonprofit-grant-writing/SKILL.md

In Agent chat, type / and select the skill, or use /nonprofit-grant-writing to invoke it. Cursor Agent Skills documentation

Personal local folders are not a universal cloud installation: remote and Cloud Agent sessions have separate availability and syncing rules. Cursor scope and syncing guidance

Perplexity Computer

In Computer, open Skills, choose Create skill, then Upload a skill, and select the individual SKILL.md file. Perplexity Computer Skills help

Computer accepts a .md file directly, or a ZIP with SKILL.md at its root, up to 10 MB; the file must include name and description in its YAML frontmatter. Perplexity upload requirements

Do not upload the full library download as though it were one skill. Unzip it and select the individual file you want. These instructions are for Computer's Skills interface, not a Comet browser Settings menu.

Optional terminal example

Prefer commands? On macOS, Linux, or a compatible Bash shell, this example clones the source repository and copies one skill into Claude Code's documented personal folder:

git clone https://github.com/sector-skills/nonprofit-skills.git nonprofit-skills

destination="$HOME/.claude/skills"
skill="nonprofit-grant-writing"
source="nonprofit-skills/nonprofit-skills-library/skills/fundraising-development/$skill"

mkdir -p "$destination"
if [ -e "$destination/$skill" ] || [ -L "$destination/$skill" ]; then
  printf 'Already exists; compare before replacing: %s\n' "$destination/$skill"
else
  cp -R "$source" "$destination/$skill"
fi

Run the clone command from a working folder that does not already contain a nonprofit-skills directory. For Codex, change destination to "$HOME/.agents/skills"; for Cursor, use "$HOME/.cursor/skills".

To install more skills, copy each selected skill folder separately using the same layout. Keep any existing local edits rather than blindly replacing them.

Check the installation with a small task

Select the skill where your agent supports explicit selection, then try:

Use nonprofit-grant-writing to outline a letter of inquiry for a fictional food-security program. Ask for missing requirements, mark assumptions, and do not invent impact figures.

Check the available-skills list or the product's skill-use indicator, not just the fluency of the answer. If the skill is missing, check its folder, the exact SKILL.md filename, its frontmatter, and the scope of your session.

If your product does not support skill installation, you can paste a skill's instructions into a conversation as context. Treat that as a manual, per-conversation fallback, not a persistent installation.

Keep your copy current

Download a fresh copy when you need an update, compare it with your installed version, and preserve local changes. If you use Git, updating the cloned repository does not update the separate copies installed by this guide; copy the selected updated folders again after reviewing the changes.

Before using real output, follow the skill's supervision label and your organization's data-handling rules.

Next: Pick the right skill →