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Thursday, April 16 – Saturday, April 18

Crystal Gateway Marriott
1700 Richmond Highway  |  Arlington, VA  22202

 
NOTE: Please note that Annual Grants Training and GMBoK Training are separate registrations. If you are registering as a group, please contact [email protected]

Annual Grants Training Learning Objectives:

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Identify new requirements outlined in legislation impacting the field of grants management.

• Apply best practices in grants management.

• Analyze new concepts and strategies for improving organizational efficiencies in the field of grants management.

 View the Schedule!

Annual Grants Training Breakout Sessions:

• Implementing the Uniform Guidance: Successes and Lessons Learned:
• Illinois passed the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) requiring all grants regardless of funding source to follow the Uniform Guidance in 2014. The main objective of GATA is to streamline the grant administrative processes by removing the redundancies and duplication of effort. Mainly concentrating on subrecipients receiving grants from multiple grant-making agencies. This presentation will focus on the approach taken that ultimately resulted in identifying common compliance requirements to be centralized. The centralization allows the task to be performed once and requires all of the state's granting agencies to rely on the centralized function. The standardization and centralization have resulted in saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars. This presentation will review the successful GATA frameworks, uniform templates and business processes implemented and the lessons learned throughout the 5 year implementation period.
• Unraveling the Mystery That is Audit Resolution:
• What do you do when you expect audit findings or have already received them? Allow the auditor and lawyer to explain what you can do to protect yourself and your agency! This session will provide examples of audit findings, discuss the issues related to the regulatory noncompliance that have been identified at various agencies, and review how agencies can respond and provide effective management responses. We will review the roles that auditors and lawyers play in the audit resolution process as well as responsibilities and the expectations each has in order to provide the non-Federal entity with the assistance it needs when confronting audit findings... or worse, fraud.
• It's an Invoice, Not a Ransom Note (Subrecipient Oversight 101):
• Prime Recipients will learn how they're to design their subrecipient oversight role based on proper documentation and in compliance. This presentation provides management strategies, easy-to-adapt tools, and templates to use with your subrecipients and subcontractors.
• Choosing the Right Grants Management System:
• Choosing the right grant management system is a critical decision that requires an understanding of your business practices and processes. The goal is to seek opportunities for improvement and eliminate administratively burdensome processes. Ask yourself, “What do I REALLY need/want from a grants management system?” From here, you can draft your vision, critical requirements and constraints. Once that is complete, you can follow the steps from requirements analysis to evaluation and finally acquisition.
• Monitoring Best Practices for Pass-Through Entities and Subrecipients:
• This session provides attendees with methodology, tools, and resources for the development and implementation of an effective sub-recipient monitoring program that meets the Federal requirements of 2 CFR 200.328 through 200.331. The presentation is geared to provide information for both the pass-through entity and the subrecipient to enhance the monitoring experience and promote successful outcomes.
• Pre Award Management is What Gets the Post Award Management:
• In this discussion, join former city and county grant writers and grant manager as they discuss how to effectively research grant programs and see which funding opportunities local governments most often seek through various grant databases, while also learning how to manage the pre-award process. Furthermore, we will focus on how to begin the management process for federal, local, and private funding opportunities.
• Grant Research & Development 101 - Community-Based Nonprofit Organizations:
• Strategic and specific grant writing helps align the identified needs of a nonprofit (and its clients) with funding sources, whether foundations, government agencies, corporations or individuals. This workshop offers a guide to the technical details of grant writing, an increasingly crucial method for raising money to fund projects and programs for nonprofits and other organizations. The workshop explores the relationship of grant writing to an organization's strategy for fundraising which is critical to running the business aspects of the nonprofit organization. It also outlines the stages of grant writing and highlights grant writing best practices.
• Modernizing Public Sector Pro and Transforming Federal Grants Management:
• The program will follow my recent article for Thompson Information Services' Grants Intelligence Report: "The role of procurement in the service delivery system of federal, state and local governments, and the refinement of the methods and processes used to increase efficiency and reduce costs, has led to several bold initiatives in the past few years. Procurement, defined broadly by the National Institute of Public Procurement, is “Purchasing, renting, leasing or otherwise acquiring any supplies, services or construction; includes all functions that pertain to the acquisition, including description of requirements, selection and solicitation of sources, preparation and award of contract, and all phases of contract administration.” The combined functions of purchasing, inventory control, traffic and transportation, receiving, inspection, storekeeping, salvage, and disposal operations represent trillions of dollars in goods and services at the federal, state and local levels. It is also the single largest area of fraud, waste, and abuse in public sector governance, and has led government leaders to develop and implement some very encouraging legislation and programs to provide greater oversight, efficiency, transparency, and accountability."
• Analyzing data from $500B in Grant Funding for better decision-making: How Grant recipients can benefit from disruptive technologies:
• With the largest portfolio in grant dollars, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to optimize its grant management processes to achieve better visibility, accountability, and stewardship of public investments. By employing emerging technologies, service design techniques and a strong emphasis on end-user needs, HHS created the Grant-Recipient Digital Dossier (GDD). The GDD pulls data from across HHS and Federal Government to create a holistic profile of grant outcomes and recipient successes in their mission delivery. In this session, attendees will learn about the functionality, provide initial reactions, and understand how emerging technology can change the grants management experience for both the grantor and the grant recipient.
• Five Years of Building Tribal Grant Capacity at Cherokee Nation:
• The presentation includes information regarding building Tribal grant capacity at Cherokee Nation over the last 5 years. * Team (The Necessary Skills and Knowledge to Do the Job) * Professional Development (Keeping up with Industry Standards) * Challenges (Setbacks and Barriers) * Successes (Pre- & Post-Award) * Continuous Improvement (Keeping up with the Joneses) * Departmental Processes (Internal/External Communications) * Grant Reviews/Audits (Not Enough Time in the Day) * Q&A (Any Questions?)
• Building & Tailoring an Effective Risk Assessment:
• Grant programs face the on-going challenge of accurately assessing risk levels of its applicants and portfolios while keeping up with the continuous intake of new applications. Even with an abundance of data, determining how to effectively group, rank, or report quantitative and qualitative variables can be difficult. This presentation will showcase the critical features involved with building and tailoring risk assessment—from assessing the environment, establishing criteria and weights, and continuously improving.
• Federal Grants: Post-Award Requirements to Consider When Drafting the Grant Application:
• With federal grant funding, there are key post-award requirements about which grant writers must be aware. Learn application strategies to decrease performance risk and maximize flexibility post-award. Issues addressed will include: (i) government-wide standards on required policies and procedures for federal grant recipients; (ii) budget flexibility (and potential inflexibility) during performance, (iii) key prior approval requirements; (iv) procurement requirements (and associated impact on project timelines), and (v) federal interest and property management requirements impacting federally funded property.
• National Policy Requirements - I Agree to Them, but What Do They Mean?:
• Attached to all federal awards are myriad ancillary requirements - generally termed "national policy requirements" - designed to further various federal policy objectives. Some are targeted at providing more competitive wages and improved working conditions, some are designed to protect human and animal research subjects, some are targeted at reducing fraud in federal programs, and yet others are designed to eliminate discrimination. This presentation is an overview of the most common of these obligations.
• Federal Policy and Climate Adaptation: Moving Beyond Compliance:
• Actively adapting to withstand the impacts of climate change is of paramount importance to many communities across the country. With the US averaging a federally-declared disaster every 5 days, the need to understand how federal funds can be used to create more resilient places has never been more critical. This session will teach attendees not only how to avoid costly missteps, but how the Code of Federal Regulations allows for innovative adaptation solutions.
• Federal Disaster Assistance Overview and Hot Topics:
• This session will provide participants with an overview of the disaster management life cycle and explain how disaster assistance works. The different types of assistance, funding, and the associated grants management process as well as current hot topics including FEMA’s Section 428 Alternative Public Assistance and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities programs and HUD’s CDGB-DR and CDBG-MIT programs.
• So You Have Grant Funding, Now What? A Beginners Guide to Instituting Controls over Compliance:
• This course will help new grantees understand the controls they need to put in place to ensure compliance with their newly received grant. We will cover entity-wide controls and well as take a look at how to identify grant-specific and Single Audit compliance requirements and build controls around them.
• Internal Controls: Your First Line of Defense:
• The Federal grants community was recently stunned by several high profile fraud cases involving some of the most prominent grant implementers in the country. An adequate system of internal controls is critical to preventing fraud, waste, and abuse. Federal awarding agencies expect all non-Federal entities to have a documented system of controls that provides reasonable assurance that Federal awards are being managed in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. In this session, we will discuss the basic principles of internal controls, the key requirements in Uniform Guidance, differences between preventative and detective controls, proper segregation of duties, and common control activities related to high-risk areas in the organization.
• Demystifying Indirect Cost Recovery:
• One of the major benefits afforded by the implementation of the Uniform Guidance is the ability of non-Federal entities to negotiate rates for indirect cost recovery. Unfortunately, many organizations still have not taken advantage of this benefit. Organizations owe it to their mission and to their stakeholders to take full advantage of and recover every dollar of funding that is available. In this session, we will discuss the basic principles of indirect cost recovery including direct vs indirect costs, pools vs bases, allocation methods, cost principles, distorting items, proposal timelines, and the application of rates.
• Suspension and Debarment: Powerful Tools for Protecting Federal Funds:
• Suspension and debarment (S&D) protect the government by excluding those who pose a business risk from participating in government contracts, subcontracts, loans, grants, and other assistance programs. This training, led by two experienced S&D attorneys, will introduce the following topics: - The Nonprocurement Common Rule, 2 C.F.R. Part 180 - The elements of "cause" for S&D - Affiliation and imputation - The importance of "present responsibility" - Grant fraud red flags - Referrals to S&D
• Current State of Grants Management:
• Learn about the current state of Grants Management, uncovered by the 2019 Annual Grants Management Survey, conducted by the George Washington University, the National Grants Management Association, and REI Systems.
• A Vision of Tomorrow's Grants: Al, APls, Block Chain, and BOTs Cradle to Grave:
• We will look at the cradle to grave grants process from the perspective and use cases of innovative technology (i.e. Al, APls, BlockChain/Distributive Ledger, and BOTs). Part I - Specific examples of current implementation efforts, pilots, and new use cases will be shared with the audience. Part II - Audience participation townhall style will be expected in order to discuss and gain insights on their perspectives.
• Grants Management Realities, Pitfalls, and Common Roadblocks:
• This presentation will discuss problems and solutions to real-world scenarios that are common to grants management. Where grants management falls somewhere between the program side of the house and the executive side, grants managers are often caught between two worlds. Like a cat in a room full of swirling ping pong balls, grants managers exist in the "in-between" world where the big picture of an organization is essential, but only fragments of the whole are available. This presentation will cover topics such as budget management relative to grants, annual planning, fund maps, purchasing thresholds, automation, contracts, interagency coordination, why grants managers often quit and what new grants managers often encounter in the real world of grants management.
• Navigating Federal Grant Requirements:
• This presentation provides grant accountants and monitors the framework to understand how to navigate through the federal regulations. We sill discuss the relevant guidance that is in the monitoring universe and how to utilize them. In addition, we will highlight specific areas of importance within 2 CFR 200 and discuss their application in real-life situations.
• Using Predictive Analytics with City Financial Data to Align Grant Priorities:
• Non-profits and higher education institutions are community cornerstones, providing critical services crossing economic and political boundaries. Their outcomes intrinsically tied to the health of their host city’s financial status. Layering city financial data on education, public safety, income, and public benefits usage creates a roadmap to predict community needs. Together we will analyze the post-2008 recession recovery period to match human outcomes to financial decisions, providing unique tools for partners seeking to broaden their reach.
• The Auditor Says You Need Grant Policies and Procedures, Now What?:
• Have you ever been told to write a grants policy or procedure, but you didn’t know where to start? Often training sessions and seminars discuss areas where you should have strong policies and procedures; however, they don’t discuss the process for writing those policies and procedures. Writing policies and procedures is a process, not just putting words to paper. This session will provide you with tips and a framework that can help get you started, define the differences between policies and procedures, and help you consider the best approach to ensure success.

This is a preview of some of the Breakout Sessions that will be presented at the Annual Grants Training. A complete list of Breakout Sessions will be included in the final schedule.