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Congratulations to the GPF 2021 Spring Membership Scholars

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As part of our mission, the GPF supports education that provides knowledge to grant professionals, advocacy that gives them greater access to funding and credentialing that establishes and promotes excellence in the field. To support our partner – the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) – and grant professionals nationwide, the GPF offers membership scholarships every spring and fall.

We would like to congratulate the following scholars who received membership this spring:

Ashley Taylor – Scot & Tracy Scala Early Career Membership Scholarship
Rebecca Allen – GPF Membership Scholarship
Marta Maietta – GPF Membership Scholarship

If you would like to apply for future membership scholarships, which are open to all grant professionals, the fall application period will open on September 1, 2021. Read the Membership Scholarship Guidelines and apply online.

Congratulations to the GPF 2020 Conference Scholars

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As part of our mission, the GPF supports education that provides knowledge to grant professionals, advocacy that gives them greater access to funding and credentialing that establishes and promotes excellence in the field.

Throughout the year, the GPF offers several scholarships that are open to all grant professionals. We are excited to announce the latest scholarship recipients for the 2020 Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Annual Conference, which will take place virtually from November 4-6.

We would like to congratulate the following scholars who have been awarded full scholarships to attend the 2020 GPA Annual Conference Online:

  • Molly Peterson – Arizona Founding Chapter Jerry Dillehay Scholarship
  • Sara Wagner – Arizona Founding Chapter Jerry Dillehay Scholarship
  • Lynda Weigel-Firor – Arizona Southern Chapter Conference Scholarship
  • Jennifer Deering – Arkansas Chapter Conference Scholarship
  • Georgia Carvalho – New England Chapter Chuck Howard Scholarship
  • Mivsam Yekutiel – Oregon & SW Washington Chapter Michael Wells Scholarship
  • Anna Bilyeu – GPF Scholarship
  • Amy Luby – GPF Scholarship
  • Kara Peterson – GPF Scholarship
  • Alexandra Rudolph – GPF Scholarship
  • Jenna Trisko – GPF Scholarship
  • Bethany Watson – GPF Scholarship

Scholars will submit an essay about their attendance at the conference, its value to them as a grant professional, and the impact of the GPF scholarship. All scholar essays will be posted on the GPF blog soon after the 2020 GPA Annual Conference. 

Many thanks to all the GPA chapters and individuals who continue to donate to help these scholarships advance the grant profession.

If you would like to apply for future GPF scholarships, the fall application period for Membership Scholarships begins September 1, 2020. Read the Membership Scholarship Guidelines and apply online.

Congratulations to the GPF 2020 Membership Scholars

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As part of our mission, the GPF supports education that provides knowledge to grant professionals, advocacy that gives them greater access to funding and credentialing that establishes and promotes excellence in the field. To support our partner – the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) – and grant professionals nationwide, the GPF offers membership scholarships every spring and fall.

We would like to congratulate the following scholars who received membership this spring:

Trish Bachman, DC Metro & Delmarva Chapter
Agnes Saint Preux, Florida South Chapter
Dane Sosniecki, Heart of America Chapter
Terri Vourganas, SE Texas Chapter
Seante Johnson, SE Texas, Chapter

If you would like to apply for future membership scholarships, which are open to all grant professionals, the fall application period begins September 1, 2020. Read the Membership Scholarship Guidelines and apply online.

Why International Grant Professionals Week Matters

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By Danny Blitch, MPA, GPC

Founder of #IGPW and #IGPD

 

The Grant Professionals Association didn’t exist when I drafted my first grant proposal. The Grant Professionals Certification Institute wasn’t incorporated either. Heck, my first grant proposal was written, awarded, and implemented more than five years before those 22 famous attendees met at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza for the first GPA national conference. Maybe I would have gone, but I wasn’t invited.

 

Back then, I didn’t know anyone working on grants in the Midwest. Few of you who are reading this article know what it was like to see your colleagues return from professional conferences energized and eager to show off their new found skills – knowing you had no conference in your field. Only a few of us had a network of more than a handful before the #grantchat community existed. We discovered RFPs on our own, searched the card catalog at the library, and happily attended every grantor workshop we discovered. It didn’t matter if the grant opportunity was a perfect fit or not. We learned from the grant-makers. Yes, we soaked it all up, but we longed for the peer affirmation, too.

 

That’s why I worked with so many of you to start #IGPW and #IGPD. International Grant Professionals Week is for us, for you, for all grant professionals. It takes a special breed to raise money for a good cause. Like you, my eyes have gone blurry staring into the blank space beneath the questions, with little idea of what to type. Collectively we know how emotionally challenging it can be to ask our friends, family, and strangers for money. I also remember the euphoria of giving every penny of those funds away to other people!

 

It takes great fortitude to muster a community around a common goal. The pain we feel is real when our passion does not get us funded. Somehow we still feel obligated to schedule the meeting to share the bad news. I have stood there wiping away the tears of my partners before dabbing my own eyes. Why do we do this work? Our passion for good causes and great people knows few bounds.

 

My fellow grant professionals, you are amazing, every day. You will do it again tomorrow, all of March, and every day next year. We are in “this” together. We are writers, program staff, grant-makers, accountants, executive directors, employees, consultants, and volunteers. Together grant professionals make social change happen, and without you, the world would be a lesser place.

 

Join me every day, March 14-18, 2016 as we educate, engage others, acknowledge our partners, and celebrate the grant profession. Why? Because #IGPW matters… to all of us.

 

Giving Thanks for the GPA, GPCI, and GPF

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Giving Thanks for the GPA, GPF, and GPCI

By Pamela Sophiajohn, CFRE

 

Are you a heart-centered grant professional?

In Grant Writing Revealed, author Jana Jane Hexter defines heart-centered grant development as when are our technical skills and spiritual beliefs are married as we pursue personal, organizational, and community growth. Based on 10 core concepts, heart-centered grant development is a holistic way of approaching all grant-related activities that allow us to have a deeper connection to our work and the meaning behind it.

 

The concept of integrating our work and spiritual life is not a new one. But it is totally refreshing to me to have a book that so beautifully weaves together the humanity and spiritually of the grant profession. And as a result, I found myself being exceptionally thankful for Jana as well as the many other GPA members who have enriched my life with their work.

 

I don’t know who was the first person to envision a membership association or foundation for grant professionals. I also don’t know the many people who pioneered the incredible standards of excellence behind the grant professional certification process. But I do know that my life is so much richer because of the dynamic work of GPA, GPF, and GPCI – three sister organizations who collectively impact thousands of lives each year through award-winning grants written by GPA members!

 

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am taking the liberty to start this list of reasons about why I am thankful for GPA, GPF, and GPCI. And you are warmly invited to continue to add to the list in the comments below, and spread the good cheer!

 

  1. I am thankful to have experienced GPA colleagues who generously share their grant experience with me when questions arise.
  2. My heart is thankful for all the benefits of GPA membership.
  3. I have great thanksgiving for the standards set in GPA’s Code of Ethics, which have helped me to navigate challenging employee and client relationships.
  4. I welcome the insightful conversations we can have – in sessions and in hallways, at lunch and out on the town – with our fellow GPA members.
  5. I treasure the opportunities the GPA, GPCI, and GPF afford me as I grow as a person and a professional.

 

What are you thankful for?
P.S. If you, too, are grateful for GPA, GPF, and GPCI, please consider making a gift to the Grant Professionals Foundation. As a member of the GPF Board, I know firsthand that your gift will help us to empower grant professionals – new and old – in their ability to strengthen the impact of the nonprofit sector. GPF may be small in resources, but we are big in vision. And with your support, we will grow our foundation’s capacity to strengthen the work of grant professionals who make the world a better place, one grant at a time.