It’s been about two weeks since the 2022 Annual Grant Professionals Association Conference finished. In these weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to tell my peers about my experience and to reflect upon what I learned and experienced during my few days in Louisville, Kentucky.

My biggest takeaway was that the Grants Industry is much more robust than I had ever imagined. I learned so much from all of the wonderful presenters and practitioners that were in attendance. I’m grateful for the opportunity to gather information about the realm of consulting and to connect with my peers on topics such as ethics, client relationships, proposal development, and grant management. As the Senior Manager of Programs for the Alaska Native Heritage Center I am continuously engaged with all aspects of the grant lifecycle, stewarding funds from federal, foundational, and corporate entities. The conference allowed me to expand my understanding of topics such as the federal appropriations process and the production of charts for data visualization.

The scholarship from the Grants Professional Foundation was critically important for me to attend the conference. The organization I work for does not have an allocated budget for things like this, and we can only attend if funding is available based on our social enterprise activities. The scholarship made it so that this was accessible for me, as COVID had negatively impacted our organization’s revenue streams.

The GPA conference is such an important professional development opportunity for those who engage in the craft of grants. This conference is so valuable because it helps individuals grow through the improvement of skills and deepening of knowledge surrounding the field. By the end of the conference, I had made several new connections, found someone from my local community who I aim to collaborate with, and so many documents, presentations, and hand outs that will advance my ability to fundraise for my organization.

I found it particularly interesting to see how individuals responded to my contributions in conversations. I work for an Indigenous institution that focuses on the advancement and preservation of culture, and part of our mission is focused on advocacy. Wearing the advocate hat is a part of my everyday job, so when I was able to participate in conversations by contributing information about cultural responsiveness, awareness of backgrounds and identities, and the systemic inequities which are a part of the systems of government and philanthropy, it was received very positively. This was heartening, as many individuals in the field are not very aware of the unique circumstances which may impact individuals who do not fit comfortably into the American cultural landscape.

I can’t wait for next year, and I’m hopeful to remain engaged with the Grants Professional Association throughout the next twelve months to learn from this incredible group of peers.

This year was my first time attending the Grant Professional Association Conference. I attended virtually participating in all available online options including attending session and the exhibitor booths.  The online platform used for the conference was very user-friendly allowing me to easily navigate all aspects of the conference.

Attending the opening sessions on Thursday set the tone for the remainder of the conference. I found the opening session to be engaging and inspiring setting me up for a two-day immersive learning experience.

I chose sessions that were relevant to my current role as both a Grant Administrator and manager of a team of grant writing professionals. The first session I planned to attend was 7 Methods for Grant Professionals to Prioritize Proposals for A Grant Team. I was excited about this session, but due to technical difficulties, I had to leave the session. The session I attended instead Grants Management 101 was very informative and relevant to the current discussion amongst our team. The key takeaway from this session was engaging third parties. We work a lot with subawards and the process to determine the difference between a contract and a subaward is something we encounter on a regular basis. The guidance Scott Scheffler shared from a federal compliance perspective reinforced the way we evaluate these relationships to determine the correct classification, subaward vs contractor.

The next session I attended was Grants QSMO Will Improve the Grant Experience. While there was no practical application for my current work, it was interesting to learn how the QSMO is operating at the federal level to support federal agencies in managing and deploying grant management systems. My impression is that like all of us they are charged with an uphill battle in terms of organization size and funding, yet their scope of work includes addressing multiple stakeholders with significant barriers to conforming to common principles and grant technology platforms. Despite their limited funding, size, and time on the project they have made significant progress given the multidimensional federal agencies they work with. I will be following the work of the Grants QSMO to see how it will impact the federal grant application process in the future and their ability to migrate agencies to uniform platforms for grant applications and management.

I then attended the Donor/Scholarship Recognition online event. This is the first time I have ever attended a virtual recognition event.  I thought it was very well done and positioned within the conference. I had already attended some great sessions, so I came into the recognition event grateful for receiving the conference scholarship and a deeper appreciation for the Grant Professionals Association.

In the next session, How Numbers Tell A Story, I served as a moderator. Having never volunteered in this capacity before, I enjoyed my experience. It allowed me to support the presenter by monitoring the chat and sharing resources, such as the link to the OMB uniform grant guidance. I re-typed the links shared on slides so that participants could check out the links live while she was presenting. This session reinforced the need to pay attention to detail and ensure that the narrative coincides with the proposed budget. She shared real case studies that demonstrated how easily details can be missed.

Attending the Friday morning session was a great start to my day and the second day of online learning. Growing up in the 90s and being a fan of Salt N Pepper, hearing the event emcees do a parody of “What a Grant, What a Grant, What a Mighty Good Grant” was an absolute treat. I have never been more entertained at a conference and appreciate how they incorporate fun and humor to prepare you for another day of learning. Conferences can get long when it is solely focused on education, and I appreciate that this conference recognizes that and incorporated ways to keep the event fun and engaging yet full of resources, tools, and information.

Following the Friday morning kick-off, I moderated the OMB update. Gil Tran weaved in elements of humor with the OMB informative OMB updates which kept the session engaging. Everyone attending this session left with a better understanding of the impact of COVID funding and the changes under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. I am sure most of the participants are now using the expression Gil taught everyone “Same, Same but Different”! The video from this session is one that everyone should go back and watch. As a moderator, I served in the same capacity as I did before, posting links in the chat and monitoring questions. This session was easily my favorite session I attended.

The next session I attended was the Latest Census Bureau Data and Tools for Your Grant Applications. It was a great overview of the different census data surveys that are collected. What I found most helpful was the demonstration of how to extract data from the website. I have already put this into practice for a grant that I am working on. I could have wasted a lot of time looking for the data had I not attended this session.

The last two sessions I attended Is the Form Flawed? Grant Reviewer Perception of Narrative vs Form Applications and Two Bachelor Fanatics: A Case Study in What the Franchise Will Teach You About the Grant Profession were interesting but didn’t produce information or inspiration that I could apply to my daily work. There were also technical issues in both sessions making it challenging for the online participant. I think these two sessions were probably better suited for in-person only rather than being offered online.

I would summarize my first-time attending the Grant Professionals Association National Conference as impactful and educational. I left with tools and resources that I can use in my work and share with the team of Grant Administrators that I manage. I would attend again online but would like to attend in person someday. The vibe that I got from this conference is one where you can build a strong network of support in a matter of days. This isn’t easy to achieve online, but they did their best to ensure the conference was meaningful for everyone whether in person or online.

What a joy and privilege it was to gather together in Seattle for the annual GPA conference. With the assistance of the Grant Professional’s Foundation scholarship, I attended my first in-person conference since the pandemic and it was an amazing opportunity to learn from industry leaders. I left the conference invigorated about our profession and ready to finish the year strong and embrace all that is to come in 2022. So many societal norms and the way we all do business has changed in the past two years that this year’s conference was even more valuable.

One of the advantages of the hybrid conference offered in person and online is that the sessions that were recorded are available after the conference itself. Whether I want to supplement my notes or view a session I could not attend, the recordings are valuable resources. I often use information I have gathered at the conference in my prospect research and being able to go back and cite a source or replay recommendations helps me better prepare for new funders and/or guidelines. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at GPA for providing this dual format.

The GPA conference is the best professional development opportunity for those serious about honing their craft. I value this conference because it helps me learn how to improve my skills and deepen my knowledge. By the end of the conference, I had numerous notes, new connections, and recommendations for technology to enhance my work.

The heart of the conference is the people. The planning committee and GPA staff included many opportunities to connect in informal and formal settings. In addition, there are those grant friends that I only see in person at the conference itself and catching up with them personally and professionally is a treat. Due to the online conference last year, I met in person many of those contacts that had been online only until now. The people are the heart of our organization and they illustrate the genuine care for each other and interest in welcoming newcomers. If you have not attended (in person or online) I encourage you to join us next year.

Grant Professionals Foundation Scholar

This was the first year I have attended the Grant Professionals Association conference and is also my first year as a GPA local and national member. I have attended several professional conferences in the past.

I appreciated that there were options for people to go virtually and go in person. I am spending the Thanksgiving week to go back through and watch classes and download handouts for those online sessions I wanted to see – but there were several ones to go to in person and online, and I knew I could go back and watch online after the fact.

I volunteered at the GPF silent auction table. It was nice to get to know the team, their goals and how grant professionals could support the work the team does, which was nice to understand. Our San Diego Chapter of GPA was also able to get together for dinner Thursday night and most of us had never met in person.

I believe some of the best experiences at the conference was the time networking with others during sessions and during meal times, getting to hear that you are not alone, other people go through the same struggles and how they address some of those needs.

I suggested in the after conference survey, it might be a really great idea to get groups of people together by the type of work they do – like a DOJ networking group, USDA grants etc. – not a workshop, but a time to network and share with each other.  The support from others is invaluable.

The biggest challenge in any conference is how to take all the information in to use it in your work. I find it challenging because work still has to be done, grants still have to be written while you also go to a conference all day and learn new tools – it is very overwhelming. There is really no fix for this or way to make it not so overwhelming. How do you ever get to the work, changing things or utilizing resources to do a better job at your job?

One of my favorite workshops was on the Lean Six Sigma process for grants. This is an incredible idea for our team at my place of employment and would really be beneficial but I have the same concern as others – everyone at everyone’s place of employment is so overwhelmed with their current workload, a new process is something else to learn and no one has the time for that. Regardless of the fact that it would support, make things easier and allow for increased effectiveness, now, there is no time to learn something new. This was the thought of many things learned at the conference, how do you get your team on board to implement something new? I also know this is not specific to my organization, but similar to everyone.

One reason I applied for a scholarship was, especially during the time of COVID, that funds are so limited to ask for professional development funds at this time. Regardless of COVID, I felt the conference cost was expensive. If not for the scholarship, I would have been looking at around $2,000 for costs for the conference, which is hard to ask for. In the future, if the cost stays the same, I might look at a virtual option instead – which I hope will continue to be an option even when COVID is over.