24 Jun The Grant Professional Certification Institute Receives Accreditation of Its GPC Credential from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies by AGS Staff
Overland Park, KS (June 24, 2019)— The Grant Professional Certification Institute received accreditation of its Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). The GPC is the first professional credential for individuals working in the grants field to be recognized by a national credentialing body.
Grant professionals are individuals who develop, write, submit, and manage grant proposals and funding on the behalf of nonprofits, governments and other agencies. According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 Census of Governments, there are 1.56 million nonprofits and 90,126 federal, state, and local government units in the United States. Within these organizations are grant professionals who work exclusively with grants and organizations who have grant professionals that conduct grant activities alongside a variety of other activities for their organization.
“This is a huge accomplishment for our field,” said Julie Assel, president of the GPCI Board of Directors. “NCCA accreditation validates the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, thousands of grant professionals, and the field in general.”
Founded in 2007, the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI) is a professional certification organization dedicated to measuring and promoting competency and ethical practices within the grantsmanship field. GPCI accomplishes its mission through identifying grant professionals who display outstanding expertise and ethical practices as measured by a psychometrically valid and reliable assessment tool. Currently, 348 grant professionals are certified to use the GPC designation.
The GPC is the first professional credential for individuals working in the grants field to be recognized by NCCA. The GPC credential, which has been in use since 2007, is the only experienced-based exam of its kind. GPCI maintains the ongoing validity of the credential through its job analysis, psychometric review, and ongoing monitoring of the GPC exam. It enables employers to make informed decisions for their hospitals, nonprofits, governments agencies, universities, and other grant funded agencies.
The GPC credential certifies grant professionals based on key competencies and discrete skills that include grant research, organization development, program design, grant application construction and submission, grant management, ethics, professionalism, and funder relationships. Click here to review the eligibility criteria and determine if you are eligible to sit for the GPC exam.
GPCI applied for and received NCCA accreditation of its GPC credential, demonstrating the program’s compliance with the NCCA’s Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. NCCA is the accrediting body of the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) (formerly the National Organization for Competency Assurance). Since 1977, the NCCA has been accrediting certifying programs based on the highest quality standards in professional certification to ensure the programs adhere to modern standards of practice in the certification industry.
There are more than 315 NCCA-accredited programs that certify individuals in a wide range of professions and occupations including nurses, financial professionals, respiratory therapists, counselors, emergency technicians, crane operators, and more. Of ICE’s more than 370 organizational members, 130 of them have accredited programs.
ICE’s mission is to advance credentialing through education, standards, research, and advocacy to ensure competence across professions and occupations. NCCA was founded as a commission whose mission is to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs that assess professional competence. NCCA uses a peer review process to: establish accreditation standards; evaluate compliance with these standards; recognize programs which demonstrate compliance; and serve as a resource on quality certification.
GPCI is located at 10881 Lowell Avenue, Suite 190, Overland Park, KS 66210; telephone 913/788-3000; website: www.grantcredential.org
ICE and NCCA are located at 2025 M Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036-3309; telephone 202/367-1165; fax 202/367-2165; website: www.credentialingexcellence.org.
Competency 7: Knowledge of practices and services that raise the level of professionalism of grant professionals. Skill 1: Identify advantages of participating in continuing education and various grant review processes.