14 Oct

Posted at 18:00h in Budgets, Competency Eight, Competency Five, Competency Four, Funder Relations, Funding, Grant Reporting, Grants Management, Professional Development, Roxanne Jensen, ED. SPEC., Strategy
Before I began working as a grant consultant, I did not understand all the details and intricacies of grant budgets, including the difference between restricted and unrestricted funds. I remember working with one nonprofit that was thrilled to receive a significant grant for program staff salaries, only to realize later that they could not move those funds elsewhere when a staff member unexpectedly left the position, and it took three months to find a replacement. They could not use any of that money for other programming or general operating expenses, which made the organization feel they had missed out on money on which they previously budgeted. This experience taught both me and the nonprofit the benefits and challenges of having restricted funding in their budgets. If you are working with grants as a consultant, or even working as a grant professional within a nonprofit, getting a handle on the differences between restricted and unrestricted grants is going to make a big impact on how you approach funding and budget development.

16 Sep

Posted at 13:30h in Grants Management, Kellie Brunguard, Strategy
If you have ever flinched at the mention of policies and procedures, conflict of interest, or grant reporting, we may be able to help take the fear out of grant management. Too often, grant management is seen as scary and messy, with staff hesitant to learn because they may uncover more than they know how to handle. In the nonprofit field, it’s common for staff to be put in a role where they manage grants but might not have the knowledge or resources to understand what that entails. With this grant management series, we aim to outline some of the commonly seen issues and provide resources to learn more. Check out the previous post on conflict of interest policies and procedures! Now, we are diving into time and effort reporting and staff allocation.

04 Sep

Posted at 08:55h in Competency Five, Grants Management, Kellie Brunguard
Too often, grant management is seen as a scary, messy aspect of grant funding, and we have a vague understanding of the requirements or components. In the nonprofit field, it’s common for staff to be put in a role where they manage grants but might not have the knowledge or resources to understand what that entails. These are common scenarios, and while they may be new or unknown, taking steps to understand how grant funds should be managed is critical to the nonprofit’s success.

01 Feb

Posted at 12:00h in

Strategies for Effective Time and Effort: Estimation, Monitoring, and Reporting Throughout the Grant Lifecycle   Register Now       Accurately managing staff salaries across multiple grants is a challenge for grant-funded organizations. Do you have staff working on programs supported by multiple grants? Are you worried about over-allocating staff costs...

17 Apr

Posted at 16:18h in Competency Five, Competency Three, Courses, GPCI Competencies, Grant Funding Basics, Grant Management, Grant MGMT, Grant Writing, How-To, Julie Assel, GPC, Uncategorized

    Basic Grant Management Session 11 of the Grant Funding Basics Series Grant management is a continuum directly related to grant readiness. It points to an organization’s ability to follow through on what it said it would do and follow established best practices for financial, data, and records management. This...

12 Dec

Posted at 11:46h in

Federal Grant Management - Financial Requirements Session 11 of the Federal Grant Development Series Register Now       The most common concerns related to federal grant management are around the financial requirements. These requirements include paying staff, contracting for services, travel, and purchasing materials. This session will discuss the most common...

11 Dec

Posted at 19:53h in

Basic Grant Management Session 11 of the Grant Funding Basics Series Register Now       Session Description: Grant management is a continuum directly related to grant readiness. It points to an organization’s ability to follow through on what it said it would do and follow established best practices for financial, data, and...

28 Oct

Posted at 23:17h in Competency Five, Courses, Federal Grants, GPCI Competencies, Grant Management, Grant MGMT, Grant Training Series, Grant Writing, How-To, Julie Assel, Julie Assel, GPC, Professional Development, Uncategorized

  Grant Management: Allowability and Cost Principles Session 4 of the Grant Management Series One of the most common questions during program implementation is whether a particular expenditure a program would like to make is allowable with federal funds, especially if the budget in the grant proposal was...