08 Mar

Posted at 11:30h in Competency Five, Competency Four, Competency Seven, Competency Six, Competency Three, Competency Two, Courses, Grant Training Series, Grants 201

    Cost: $50/session or $300 for the full series Grants 201 Series by GPCI Competency To register for the complete series or for individual sessions: Register Now     View our 2022 Grants 201 Live Session Training Schedule The average nonprofit professional needs more than just initial grant training. Anyone working with grants...

29 Jan

Posted at 14:37h in Competency Five, Competency Four, Competency Seven, Competency Six, Competency Three, Competency Two, Courses, Ethics, Grant Training Series

    Cost: $50/session or $400 for the full series Ethics Series Sessions by GPCI Competency To register for the complete series or for individual sessions: Register Now     If you would like to arrange a custom scheduled training for your organization, please email us to speak to one of our Training staff....

28 Jan

Posted at 14:27h in Competency One, Competency Six, Competency Two, Courses, Ethics, GPC, GPCI Competencies, Grant Writing, Julie Assel, GPC, Uncategorized

    Ethics: Grant Ethics for Prospect Research and Funder Relationships Session 2 of the Ethics Series Have you ever been uncomfortable applying to a foundation which didn’t seem to really match your organization’s profile? Many nonprofit professionals are pressured into writing to foundations who don’t match their giving...

25 Oct

Posted at 18:00h in Competency Four, Competency Six, Ethics, Leah Hyman, Research, Writing
The topic of ethics in grants is incredibly broad, as there are often many moving parts and people involved with grant awards. The fund-seeking agency might have a variety of staff members contributing to the process: the executive director, program staff, finance staff, a grant writer, maybe even the board of directors. And then, of course, if the agency receives an award, there are ethical considerations for managing the sometimes very large sums of money. Once again, there might be a host of individuals carrying out the program activities, reporting progress, expending the funds, and so on. In other words, the agency is responsible for ensuring ethical practices across many levels of a grant award. But for the purposes of this discussion, I want to back up a bit. What about some of the ethics that go into researching and writing the proposal?

19 Oct

Posted at 16:39h in AGS Staff, Competency Six, Ethics, Grant Reporting
Do you remember the first time you wrote a report for a funder and had to explain away an undesirable outcome (or more)? Picture it: coffee on drip. Report questions pulled, outcomes and program-related questions sent to program staff. Me, a rookie grant professional at the time, ready to tackle the report…or so I thought. And then I got the email: one of the program’s stated outcomes fell significantly short of the goal. As in, the targeted outcome was 80%, but the actual outcome was 40%. *Insert appropriate amounts of rookie-level panic here, then breathe.*

12 Oct

Posted at 14:27h in Budgets, Competency Five, Competency Six, Ethics, Whitney Gray, GPC
We live in a world where, as consumers, we can purchase literally anything with a quick search and a few clicks. The rise of online shopping and next-day delivery has made it easier than ever to go on a shopping splurge without seriously weighing the costs and benefits of the newest gadget or the impact it will have on our personal finances. When a grant is awarded to an organization, the program staff may enthusiastically load up their online shopping carts with everything outlined in the grant budget. There is certainly a time and place for efficient procurement of approved supplies and services. In fact, federal law requires grantees minimize the time elapsing between the receipt of grant funds and the payment for allowable expenditures (2 CFR 200.305(b)). It is important for program staff to quickly implement the grant award, and typically, this means doing a little shopping.

04 Oct

Posted at 12:22h in AGS Staff, Budgets, Competency Six, Ethics, Funding
It’s normal and often encouraged to seek multiple funding opportunities for a single program, often referred to as braided funding (see Braiding Funds without Getting Tied Up In Knots – Approaching Budgets with Pre-Award and Post-Award In Mind by Julie Alsup, GPC). You might even request more funds than you need to run a program with the expectation that one or more proposals will fall through. As nonprofit organizations that belong to and are supported by the public, we should always be looking for new funding streams in case an existing source should dry up. But what if you ask for more than you need, and all the funders decide you shall receive?