I jumped headfirst into the grants field, unsure of the breadth of responsibilities and expectations. My goal was to find a career that gave me purpose and variety. I wanted to feel good about the work I did, knowing in some way it gave back to my community. Similarly, I knew I needed a career that provided me continual opportunities to learn. I did not know how perfectly a career in grants administration aligned with those goals.

Starting out, I expected I would be able to neatly plan each day and complete my task list by the end of the day. As a college student, I thrived on schedules, organization, and predictability. I expected the business world and grant administration to be similar – structured and relatively predictable. After all, there is a grant lifecycle that is consistent across all projects – pre-award, award, post-award. I expected a singular, comprehensive guidance for all federal agencies and all funding sources.

As any seasoned grants professional will tell you, the grants administration profession is anything but predictable. Over time, I learned the neatly planned “to-do” list gets tossed to respond to unplanned needs and issues. There was no one comprehensive guidance. Many federal agencies had nuances in terms of compliance, monitoring, and administrative rules.

What I did find was variety and many opportunities to grow. Each day, each new grant program and new funding agency provided new problems to solve and new opportunities to expand my grants knowledge base.

Over my approximately 17 years in grants administration, even with the variety of projects and grant programs I’ve worked on, I’ve consistently focused on honing the same set of responsibilities as a grants manager. Some of those responsibilities and things a new grants manager in the profession could expect to do include:

• Administer grants and agreements.
• Negotiate terms and conditions of grants and agreements to include costs, schedules, and oversight/compliance responsibilities.
• Develop and implement grant management policies, procedures, and resources.
• Provide technical assistance to program managers, recipients, and subrecipients.
• Serve as a liaison between grantor agencies, recipients/subrecipients, external partners, and others to help interpret regulations and award documents, and resolve issues that may arise.
• Conduct risk assessments and business reviews.
• Solicit applications or proposals for funding.
• Monitor recipients/subrecipients with all terms and conditions of awards.
• Review and process payment requests, ensuring reasonability, eligibility and allocability of costs.
• Conduct final review of completed awards and process closeouts.

If you’re just starting out in grants administration, buckle up for an unpredictable adventure where you’ll get to learn federal agencies and grant programs, and delve into the Uniform Guidance. Many of your days, you may toss out your neatly planned to-do list to focus on the unexpected issue of the day.  For those days full of the unexpected, I encourage you to follow these simple steps:

• Pause.  If unexpected situations cause motivation to make quick decisions, take a pause. Take a walk. Grab a coffee.  Give yourself an opportunity to think.
• Evaluate.  Focus on the outcome. Think about resources available to you to help achieve the desired outcome.  No options are bad options. Some may be a stretch but write them all down.
• Collaborate.  Share your outcome and your options. Collaborate on the feasibility of the options. Narrow down to the best/most practical options.
• Implement. Make a final decision and commit to your choice. Implement confidently.
• Debrief. Take time to focus on the success of handling the unexpected. Evaluate your resolution of the unexpected – what went well, what could be improved next time?

If I could give one parting thought to a new grants manager, it would be to learn as much of every aspect of grants management, and to continue to seek opportunities (through training, conferences, certifications and mentorships) to further your knowledge base. The grants administration field is vast and provides a lot of variety. Find a grant program you’re passionate about and go be great!

Emily Beckham is a Program Manager at the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and a Certified Grant Management Specialist (CGMS). In her role at NCTCOG she serves as the Title VI Coordinator and oversees activities related to contracting, procurement, risk and compliance.

In March 2023, NGMA hosted the webinar “Creating a Risk Based Monitoring System” with speakers Tiffany Kesslar and Madelaine Cleghorn, attorneys specialized in federal grants management and education law. Attendees learned about risk assessment requirements under the Uniform Grant Guidance (“UGG”) and how to develop both an internal and external (or subrecipient) risk assessment. The presenters also walked attendees through the step-by-step process of creating and conducting a risk assessment using an example from the Indiana Department of Education. Missed the webinar? View the recording HERE. (Member login required)

________________________________________________________________
Risk assessments are required at all levels of grants management. Federal awarding agencies are required to conduct a pre-award evaluation of an applicant’s risk—the results of which may impact an applicant’s eligibility for an award or prompt the awarding agency to issue specific conditions with an award. Additionally, pass-through entities (PTEs) are required to evaluate each subrecipient’s risk of noncompliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the subaward for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring. However, PTEs may conduct this assessment either pre- or post-award. In addition, the UGG requires that all non-federal entities (NFEs) monitor and evaluate their own internal controls, which include a risk assessment to ensure compliance with applicable rules and progress towards program objectives. As such, at every level of the grant application and administration process, it is critical that NFEs establish a robust risk assessment framework.

The key risk assessment principles, as identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), include:
1) developing clear objectives to enable the identification of risks and risk tolerance levels; 2) identifying risks to achievement of objectives across the entity and analyzing risks as a basis for determining how the risks should be managed; 3) considering the potential for fraud; and 4) identifying and assessing changes that could significantly impact the system. See Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, United States Government Accountability Office, September 2014, at 34-43. While internal and external risk assessments include different elements, the baseline requirement is the same: are there elements within the recipient’s system that can prevent them from being successful in meeting program goals and general compliance requirements? Then the NFE conducting the risk assessment must determine whether additional action is needed to prevent those risks from occurring.

When conducting an external risk assessment for the purpose of subrecipient monitoring, PTEs should include, at a minimum, a review of the NFE’s grant systems (financial management, procurement, and inventory management) and a review of how the entity ensures the allowability of costs (or plans to review it). PTEs should also review other factors, including the amount of funding a subrecipient receives, prior monitoring or audit findings, repeat findings, staff turnover, changes in laws or regulations, new technology, financial stability, and lack of policies and procedures. Once the review is completed and a subrecipient’s level of risk is identified, then the PTE can determine how much oversight and subrecipient monitoring is required in order to ensure compliance. This could include additional reporting, desk reviews, or even in-person monitoring visits.

The goal of the internal risk assessment is to make sure there are enough controls in place to prevent any identified risks from affecting the program goals and objectives and/or ensuring corrective actions are timely taken to address any identified areas of noncompliance. In the case study presented for the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), the speakers outlined the five steps used in developing and implementing an internal risk assessment. The first step in creating a risk assessment tool for IDOE was information gathering. This step involved gathering documentation and data from IDOE, including existing policies and procedures and recent audit and monitoring reports, as well as conducting interviews with key staff who could speak to each step of IDOE’s grants administration process. Step two was the identification of the areas of risk to be evaluated. For IDOE, the areas of risk ultimately fell into five categories: operations, financial management, allowability, procurement and asset management, and compliance. Step three was the identification of additional documentation or information needed from IDOE to assess each risk factor identified in step two. Step four was the development of the scoring rubric. This scoring rubric was unique to each risk factor evaluated and factored in things such as the likelihood of the risk occurring, the potential impact, and internal IDOE priorities. Finally, step five was the scoring of the risk assessment. Using all the documentation collected and information from IDOE staff, each risk factor was evaluated using the scoring rubric developed in step four and color coded to reflect high, moderate, and low areas of risk. In one column of the completed risk assessment, the speakers also identified specific risk mitigating strategies that IDOE could use as next steps to correct the areas of high risk identified in the assessment.

Creating and conducting a risk assessment—whether internally or for subrecipient monitoring—is only half of the equation. The second half involves prioritizing highest areas of risk and taking affirmative steps to correct any areas of noncompliance. Two action items that will almost always mitigate risk for grantees or subrecipients are 1) to develop and/or update your non-federal entity’s written grants administration policies and procedures to align with current practices and applicable rules; and 2) to conduct regular trainings for staff involved with grants administration on those written policies and procedures as well as general training on requirements under the UGG. A risk-based monitoring system can be a powerful tool for NFEs to evaluate their own internal controls and/or guide subrecipient monitoring. While there are any number of ways to conduct a risk assessment, the most important step is the first one—the decision to get started!

There are 574 federally recognized tribes, each unique in size, resources, languages, and cultures. Native people are the essence of our tribal nations. Culture and traditions, new and old, sustain our societies, language, family, art, and lifeways. The land is our connection to a physical and spiritual place, which helps define who we are as a people. Tribal nations and their governments vary from tribe to tribe based on unique histories, cultures, and world views.

Like local governments, tribal governments must secure funding to provide government services to their people, such as policing, justice systems, social service programs, language preservation, land preservation, housing, and more. State and local governments fund most of their services through property and sales taxes. Tribal governmental activities are generally funded through the tribe’s enterprises, grants, and contracts. While enterprises provide funding in lieu of property tax, federal funds are still the primary source of revenue for most tribes. Tribes are eligible to receive federal funding because of treaties and other agreements from ceding land and other resources. Tribal governments began having the ability to manage their funds and apply for federal grant opportunities in 1975, long after state and local governments. We oftentimes are playing catch-up.

Due to the responsibility placed on tribal nations, their leaders, staff, and tribal citizens share the burden of providing needed services to their people and community. Because most tribal governments rely on federal funding, knowledge of grants management is vital to their success. Access to grants and successful grants management is necessary to provide those services. Unfortunately, Indian Country lacks professionals dedicated to the field of grants management. Below are a few examples of the struggles I have seen in Indian Country.

Professional grant writers in Indian Country are minimal. The lack of grant writing professionals dedicated to Indian Country oftentimes results in tribes simply not being able to apply for the more competitive funding opportunities. And with the shortage of grant writers, other factors hinder securing a grant writer. For example, if tribes have the financial means to hire an on-site position, geographic location, cost of living, and pay rate play a role in the hiring process and retention. Oftentimes, these positions go unfilled. If tribes have the means to contract out, they often secure grant writers who are unfamiliar with tribes or histories and have no ties to their land and people. This causes the potential for extremely hindering the success of submitted grant applications.

Once a grant is obtained, a new level of knowledge must be present: how to manage the funds. One notable struggle seen often is the work environment and immediate expectations placed on new hires. For example, directors of tribal programs are hired because of their expertise in fields such as education, criminal justice, human services, and environmental sciences, to name a few. One doesn’t learn grants management in high school or college. Grants management is a hands-on, day-by-day, and lifelong learning journey. This often leads to our experts being placed in sink-or-swim situations, which may cause stressful work environments if they cannot get the support and guidance necessary to succeed in their roles.

To address these challenges, below are notable efforts being made:

1. Experts are creating consulting services to enhance their ability to support Indian Country and their grants management needs.
2. Tribal governments are taking grant-writing training to the next level and providing community training opportunities to enhance knowledge of the field.
3. Tribal governments are investing back into their staff to ensure they accomplish their professional development needs in grants management as many are coming to understand that grants management is a lifelong learning journey.

Despite the many grants management challenges Indian Country has faced for so many years, progress is being made. As both the needs of tribal communities and recognition of the grants management profession are becoming more widely known, more funds are being allocated towards tribal communities and, hopefully, additional qualified and experienced grants managers will be available to successfully manage the funding Indian Country citizens need to flourish.

Sabrina Renteria is a Relationship Manager at FSA Advisory Group, an American-Indian and women-owned firm that provides financial advisory services in Indian Country.

As a grant management consultant, our daily work is broad and specific tasks will depend on the client’s needs and the project’s scope. We provide expertise and guidance to organizations or individuals throughout the grant lifecycle. Common tasks include:

• Providing technical assistance to clients to develop policies and procedures to guide how funds are managed, how applications are reviewed, how funds are allocated and how their performance is monitored.
• Monitoring performance to ensure that the funds are being used per the agreement and that the grantee meets the grant’s objectives.
• Conducting site visits to organizations to ensure that they are using the funds properly and to assess their progress in meeting the grant’s objectives.
• Staying up-to-date with relevant regulations and guidelines and ensure that the organization’s programs are in compliance.
• Providing training and support to grantee organizations to help them understand requirements and how to manage their programs.
• Project formulation: Assisting clients in defining the scope, objectives, and requirements of a project outlining the tasks, deliverables and resources needed for the project.
• Project planning: Developing detailed project plans, including the timeline, milestones, tasks, responsibilities and budget.

Your primary focus is ensuring that the organization’s programs are well-managed and that the funds are being used effectively to achieve the desired outcomes.

What Has Worked for Me

Setting realistic expectations is essential to achieving success as a grant management consultant.

• Before planning or executing a plan, you must define the client’s goal. I always ask my clients, “What do you want to achieve?”
• You must complete a realistic assessment. Consider what you can realistically accomplish with the skills, time and resources you have.
• Consider external factors that may affect your ability to achieve your goals, such as the availability of resources and unforeseen circumstances.
• You must recognize that your expectations may need to be adjusted as circumstances change. Flexibility is vital, and you must be willing to adapt your goals and expectations based on new information or changing circumstances.
• Maintain a positive attitude and focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t. Remember that setbacks are a normal part of the process, and use them as an opportunity to learn and grow.

By following these tips, you can set realistic expectations and increase your chances of achieving your goals.

What Hasn’t Worked for Me

Multitasking. While sometimes multitasking may be necessary, it’s essential to recognize the limitations of this approach and to focus on prioritizing tasks and working on one thing at a time whenever possible. This can help improve productivity, reduce stress and improve overall performance. Additionally, managing many tasks at once may lead to feeling overwhelmed and stressed, which leads to burnout and decreased job satisfaction.

Additional Tips

Being a grants management consultant can quickly make you feel overwhelmed. Below are more tips to help you succeed and achieve your grants management project goals:

• Break down your goal into smaller, more manageable steps. This can help you make progress toward your goal without feeling overwhelmed.
• Prioritize work and focus on essential tasks to meet your deadlines.
• Measure and track progress throughout the engagement.
• Communicate regularly with the client. Discuss progress and any challenges or issues.
• Be transparent about your qualifications, experience and approach to consulting. This includes being honest about your limitations and what you can realistically achieve for your clients.

Despite it being a challenging career path, the outcome of effective grants management consulting, whether indirectly or directly, can significantly impact the success and sustainability of grant-funded programs and the organizations and communities they serve, giving you a sense of purpose and meaningfulness in the work you perform.

Brian Perez is a Certified Grant Management Specialist (CGMS) and an engineer with experience in grant management with various federal programs. As a consultant, he assists clients in managing their grants effectively and in accordance with the 2 CFR 200 and applicable regulations.

In December 2022, NGMA hosted a webinar presented by Mara Ash entitled “What Do You Need in Your Grant Procurement Solicitations to Ensure Your Procurement is ‘Finding Proof?’” Below are the key takeaways from her presentation. Missed the live webinar? Past webinar recordings are available to members at no cost here.

There is so much going on in grants these days. Trillions of federal dollars have been awarded and more funding is on the way. More money means more projects, more purchases and more ways to get into trouble.
Procurement is the largest area of questioned costs in grants. The amount of information out there can be overwhelming and confusing. So where do you start?

Know Your Requirements

Yes, we always say you need to know your requirements. But how do we know which requirements are applicable? Well, you can start with 2 CFR 200, Uniform Guidance, which applies to all grants. There may be some exceptions to 2 CFR 200, and that will be in your terms and conditions related to your grant. Your terms and conditions can have additional requirements on top of 2 CFR 200. Here’s what we recommend: Take all of your requirements and create a compliance matrix to determine the requirements and which requirement trumps another requirement. As a rule of thumb, the terms and conditions of your grant will lay out which requirement takes precedence.

• For local and nonprofits:
  • 2 CFR 200 from §200.318 to §200.327
• For state entities and quasi-state entities:
  • §200.317 + §200.321, §200.322, §200.323
• Local policies:
  • Must comply with all local, state and federal laws, rules and procedures.
  • Do not need to have a separate policy for grant procurements; however, you should consider what needs to happen differently for grants.
• Terms and conditions of the grant:
  • Search for specific terms related to purchasing.

Documenting Grant Procurements

What is considered grant documentation? Well, everything in the procurement process, from your procurement policy to the vendor execution.

You don’t need to have a separate policy for grant purchases; however, you do need to understand how grant procurements are different and they must be addressed. This difference needs to be documented. The policy and this documentation get your procurement started right. Policies must reflect how purchases are made, from advertising to selection for both formal and informal purchases. Federal grantees are encouraged to use “schedules” or “co-ops” which are procurement methods performed by one agency for use by multiple agencies. Schedules and co-ops reduce burden, cost and time to selection.

Grantees must document the selection process as well as the procurement. This includes who was on the selection committee, how they scored, i.e. rubric, and how the vendor was selected. Remember to add the grant terms and conditions to your solicitation and award. This ensures your vendor will meet your grant requirements as well as ensure the project will get done on time, in-budget, and in-scope.

Boom! Procurement Done!

I’m finished now, right? No. Now begins the fun of post-award monitoring. Why is that important? Well, a good monitoring program will allow you to ensure procurement costs are allowable, especially when the grant procurement is part of forced accounts. Post-award monitoring should be done at a level to reduce the risk of non-compliance, poor performance or risk of not completion. When monitoring, don’t forget to verify all terms of your contract are being performed and integrated by your vendor.

Hot Tips!

Does the procurement documentation tell the complete “story” of the procurement – from the initial invitation to the award of the contract? Every part of the process should be documented. If you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen. Below is a quick list of things to check.

• Federal, State and Local Procurement Compliance
  • Is the procurement consistent with your entity’s procurement policy?
  • Is your entity’s procurement policy compliant with federal and state procurement compliance?
• Allowable Costs and Cost Principles Compliance
  • Are costs allowable as per the grant terms?
  • Are costs consistent with the 2 CFR 200 cost principles?
• Devil in the Details
  • Keep detailed documentation about everything from the scope of work to the selection.
  • Document post-award monitoring and how you as a “responsible” grantee are mitigating the risks posed by vendors.
  • Perform self-assessments regularly through either internal audits or regular reviews to ensure you are following your procedures and the procurement was compliant with federal, state and local policies, as well as grant terms and conditions.
• Um, I Still Need Help!
  • Managing grant and all the requirements:
    • nnnThere are many consultants out there. Using a consultant doesn’t mitigate your requirements. The biggest bang for your buck is a good compliance matrix so you can check and double-check as you go along.
  • Outsourced and co-sourced post-award audits:
    • You don’t need a certified accountant for this work. These can be performed under GAGAS or Internal Audit standards.
  • Preaudit assessments:
    • Before the auditors arrive on your doorstep, perform a pre-audit assessment. This will help you understand what or where you are deficient in your processes as well as the opportunity to fix them before the auditor shows up. You can do this on your own or hire someone to help!

Mara Ash is the CEO of BFS Strategic Partners, a client-focused management and consulting firm. She has over 25 years of financial management, compliance, audit and consulting experience serving all levels of government and nonprofit organizations.

Changing careers in mid-life is always daunting, but I’ve done it before. When I accepted a new job as the planner (a/k/a grant manager) for a metropolitan police department, I anticipated being able to draw on my research, writing and mediation skills. I had fairly extensive experience working in grant-funded programs and writing grants for various state and nonprofit agencies. While with FEMA, I worked with both the local military and state administrative agencies during pre- and post-disasters, so working in this venue felt comfortable and was an easy transition for me. However, what I was not prepared for was how dynamic, challenging and FUN this newly-minted profession of “grants management” was to become.

When I started, there was no such profession as “grants management.” An agency would apply for grants to federal, state or philanthropic grantors, receive an award and hand it over to their finance department to administer and account for the expenditures. Once every year or so, you waited for the auditors to show up and go over the books. Little did I know the system was teetering on the brink of transition.

As my feet were getting wet and I was beginning to understand the intricacies of individual grant programs and how each system worked…WHAM the whole thing changed! The federal rules were completely rewritten. Multiple and disparate sets of federal compliance, guidelines, circulars and administrative rules were consolidated and streamlined into one overarching Uniform Guidance. Additionally, a tsunami of federal funds flooded the marketplace in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As a consequence, federal oversight flipped from routine auditing of financial compliance to site monitoring for vaguely defined “performance outcomes.” The question I, as a grants manager, became accountable for changed from “Did you spend the grant money correctly?” to “What did the grant funding actually accomplish?”

It was a complete paradigm shift. Many experienced grants professionals left the field, taking their history and experience with them. As a newbie, it was an exciting time to be an active part of a new national focus on transparency and accountability. It was awesome! And now, here we are once again. Another paradigm shift is in progress. All the old rules and systems are again being revised and revamped. Another “wave of change” is offering the grants community more opportunities to learn, grow and improve our profession.

I entered this field on the crest of the wave of change in grants management. I waxed up my board (training and conferences), paddled hard (submitted lots of applications), caught the swell (systematized internal processes) and locked in for the ride. I’ve been riding that wave now for 17 years, and I still feel the rush.

A few guidelines that got me through the first few years in the field are summarized below. I would have loved to receive this advice from the start and hope it can help those who are early into their grants management career.

• Make a list of ACRONYMS.  Carry it with you. Keep adding to it.
• Do your job with ALOHA– compassion, understanding and respect. Being courteous, professional, respectful and friendly goes a long way in building relationships. For me, living in Hawaii and being able to call someone who’s a kindred spirit and located six time zones away to “talk grants” is invaluable.
• Be ETHICAL. We are in a field that is under constant scrutiny. You are the fiduciary of public funds. You hold the public’s trust to fulfill the terms and conditions of that funding.  Maintain scrupulous records and set a high bar for accountability.
• Be PASSIONATE about grants! This profession is doing good work. The projects funded are vital. You make a difference every day with each project and program, meeting community and organizational needs that would otherwise remain unfulfilled.
• Be PATIENT with yourself. There’s a lot to learn and absorb. Mistakes will be made.  Applications won’t be funded the first or even the second time around. This is a highly competitive field. Keep learning and improving and don’t give up.
• Have FUN! Every day is an adventure. The unexpected always comes up. Each challenge is an opportunity to learn something new and to grow your skillset.

The best thing I did when I was starting out was to learn to look at grants management from all sides, and to expand my skills. I approached my job as a puzzle to piece together. I enlisted help, teamed up, and together we celebrated our WINS and commiserated our LOSSES. But most importantly, we kept trying. Today is an exciting time to enter the profession of grants management. Please become part of our welcoming community. Catch your own wave, and lock in for the ride of your life!

Lynn Miller, CGMS is a grants supervisor at the Honolulu Police Department in Honolulu, HI. She has been a member of NMGA since 2007 and has served on the education and membership committees, as well as other advisory roles.

My grants management career is quite varied. I began my career in grants management over 25 years ago while working for a local municipality. In 2019, I switched gears and established my own consulting company, a minority woman-owned small business called KLR Consulting Services, LLC. As an entrepreneur, I quickly noticed the difference in my grants management day-to-day tasks and how I accomplish them. My focus and responsibilities expanded from simply completing tasks required by an organization to completing tasks for my own business and, most importantly, building trust with clients. Building trust is a key component in managing any successful consulting business. How do I go about it?

A few tried-and-true tactics that have been successful for me are:

1) Be transparent with your clients. Share good and bad outcomes. You can’t always have good outcomes, but whether the news is good or bad, a client should always be fully aware of where their project stands. Sharing bad news is never easy, but doing it in a courteous and straightforward manner and offering alternate solutions whenever possible goes a long way.

2) Regularly engage with your clients and establish an open-door approach. Keep your clients posted on a regular basis. Whether it’s via weekly emails and/or regular meeting dates, do what works best for you and your client. Maintaining regular engagement and ensuring your clients know they can reach out to you anytime is a critical step in establishing trust.

3) Ensure your interaction with the client is professional and, most importantly, sincere. Behaving in a professional way is common sense advice for anyone. But being sincere in your interaction changes the game. When working with clients, I manage their projects as if they were my own. Their success is my success and vice versa. I genuinely want the best outcome for all my clients and I make sure they know this every step of the way.

In all my projects, I provide an abundance of attention to the management and compliance issues associated with my clients’ projects. I share with them any areas of risk and give them the opportunity to correct them. I have found that being transparent with my clients gives them a sense of relief. It makes them feel good to know that they have partnered with a consultant that has their best interest at heart.

Transitioning from working for an organization to becoming a consultant in the same field of work is a challenging and sometimes overwhelming experience! Through the ups and downs, these things hold true: Service, dedication and genuine caring are the most powerful assets a consulting business in this or any field of work can have. I am proud to say that my consulting business embodies them all.

Kellie Russell is the CEO of KLR Consulting Services, LLC. She has been a member of NGMA since 2019 and currently serves on the NGMA Education and Membership Committees and is the Chair of the NGMA Atlanta Chapter.

Tribal grant managers are tasked with an array of duties. Not only do they have to be experts in their field- housing, policing, justice systems, social services, language and culture, but they also must have basic knowledge of grants management. From pre-award to post-award, a tribal grants manager should have a grasp on the ability to help draft a grant application, know how to read an award letter, budget development, budget monitoring, the ability to navigate software, rules, and regulations of their grant, and more. This is a larger task than some may believe.

Many factors play a role in why a tribal government is truly successful in the overall scope of grants management. The integrity of a tribe’s grants administration depends upon the knowledge and experience of its grant professionals, who must thoroughly understand their duties and responsibilities. With that, I offer five practical best practices for grants professionals — I’ve had to do each of these myself– who work for a tribal government.

1)    Establish grants management policies and procedures. If there are no grants management policies and procedures, advocate for their development. Grants management policy and procedures help formalize the grant proposal-seeking process, proper execution, the management of funds, and close-out processes of the tribe’s grant awards.

2)    Don’t get stuck on your “island.” Set up coffee breaks with fellow grants managers. Get to know the staff in other departments. Find out who is a grants management “champion,” and ask them to take you under their wing. Find out your contacts’ training history, how they learned to manage a grant, what tips they may have for you, and more.

3)    Establish a grants management training plan. Formalized training in grants management is highly effective. This can come from professional organizations, such as NGMA, or higher educational institutes. Take a grant writing course even if you are not responsible for writing grants. This will be very helpful in learning the “behind the scenes” efforts it takes to obtain a grant and providing insight on how to manage it once received. Be the driver of your professional development plan.

4)    Make your project officer your new best friend! Do not hesitate to reach out to your grantors and seek any resources they may have. They are there to help! Your success is their success.

5)    Leverage your resources and promote the skill. If funds are not available for grant-writing professionals, create your own. Your people are your best resources. If at least one person in your organization knows how to write a grant, offer community training to help others gain interest in the profession.

The role of a grants professional is essential in Indian Country. The work you do helps provide families’ homes, feed the elderly, provide childcare, teach the youth, promote education and career development, ensure public safety, improve infrastructure, maintain lands, restore languages, and enhance the overall quality of life for many. I hope this information helps you in obtaining the guidance and support you need to succeed in your roles.

Sabrina Renteria is a Relationship Manager at FSA Advisory Group, an American-Indian and women-owned firm that provides financial advisory services in Indian Country.

One of the greatest benefits of the National Grants Management Association (NGMA) is the wealth of knowledge we can obtain from several great resources at our disposal such as:

• Grants Management Body of Knowledge (GMBoK) Training
• Annual Grants Training (AGT)
• Current and past webinars
• NGMA Network message board

Yet, as grants specialists, we struggle with how to share with our teammates and co-workers the knowledge about guidance and regulations that is trapped in our heads and screaming to get out in a way that is effective and clearly understood.

As it’s been fondly stated many times, learning about grants is like drinking from a fire hose. While this is true, why don’t we take control of that fire hose and be a firefighter? After all, in the grants world, we are often moving from one fire to another, right? What makes a firefighter successful is the training and education they receive formally and on the job. To define it further, how a firefighter can apply their education and practical skills is what makes them successful in protecting lives and property.

In grants management, training and education provide a solid foundation for internal controls throughout the entirety of the grant cycle. A simple Lean Six Sigma1 technique known as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) can be used to find a solution for challenges in your organization. I have found using these techniques to be successful in my own practices.

Define – Identify Needs

Look within your organization to determine what your challenges are. Often, a simple self-assessment or a survey is enough to get a snapshot to understand your organization’s strengths and weaknesses.

Measure – Mapping the Process

Mapping out your organization’s processes and how the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) impacts your organization gives you a solid understanding about what is missing. As you start to analyze what your challenges are, you can find ways to improve them, like developing trainings. You can add additional “swim lanes” to determine how agency-specific guidance or state regulations and statues impact your organization and the process.

Analyze – Find Focus and Solution

Using the challenges that have been identified in your organization within the grant lifecycle, you will find a lack of formal and consistent training is often the root cause of many issues. This could be long-term employees who need to learn the changes within the CFR guidance or new employees who have never worked on a grant before.

Determine if you want to consider contracting an outside consultant to assist with training or if you want to implement training in-house. Factors such as budget, capacity, space and scheduling should factor into your final analysis.

Improve – Implement the Trainings

Take action to tackle the identified issues, come up with a plan or strategy to develop and implement these trainings.
Every organization is different and how you implement your training is up to you! Choosing the appropriate platforms is crucial and may cover a variety of methods including:

• Training courses (in-person and/or online)
• Recorded presentations
• Written manuals and materials

The attention span of the average person in a training or educational setting is very limited. It has been widely debated how long an attention span may be for the average person in a session. Below are a few tips to help keep your session lively and make the best use of your training time for maximum impact:

• Keep your sessions short. Longer trainings should not exceed two to three hours and short sessions or quick updates should be no more than 20 minutes.
• Plan time between trainings and allow attendees the opportunity to use what they learn.
• Don’t get bogged down in the details. Distill the information into short factual points. Keep it simple.
• Teach attendees where to find the answers at the source.
• Plan exercises – find methods in the training to keep the group engaged and foster teamwork.
• Make the course interactive. Don’t just lecture, involve the audience in your session by:
  • taking questions throughout your presentation,
  • giving examples and stories,
  • showing videos,
  • giving live demonstrations,
  • adding funny photos, memes and artwork,
  • calling on people to share their experiences,
  • and asking questions.
• If possible, provide snacks and water – foster a friendly and welcoming environment. Did you know that hydration is key to cognitive processes? It keeps the blood sugar levels up!

Control – Maintaining the Solution

Now comes the easy part! Set the trainings as part of your regular offerings within your organization. Make sure to budget, if needed, or secure resources to continue the program.

Take surveys to get feedback from attendees on how to improve the process even more. Listen to your audience – they are your customer!

Use Your Resources!

And finally, the last bit of advice… Remember those bullet points at the start of the article? Use these and other resources as tools throughout the process. Learn from others and discuss challenges! Don’t invent the wheel again; improve upon it instead!

Patrick Ballinger, CGMS is a grant coordinator for the Office of Management and Budget with the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners in Florida. He currently serves on NGMA’s Education Committee and the GMBoK Training subcommittee. He is the current president of the Pasco County Government Toastmasters, mentors with the Leadership Development Program and has obtained the Green Belt certification with Lean Six Sigma. Patrick works in partnership with the Pasco County Training and Development team to offer regular training courses about grants to county employees. He may be reached at pballinger@pascocountyfl.net.

¹ Lean Six Sigma is a method that uses a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. It combines lean manufacturing/lean enterprise and Six Sigma to eliminate the eight kinds of waste.

I will admit when I came into the grants administration field, I had no clue of the expectations, besides being a focal contact for awarding federal funds to the public. After working for four agencies with different public purposes, I realized one thing. Each agency awarded funds to achieve a goal that would change someone’s life. This fact alone has reminded me when times get trying of why I am in this field.  My heart and desires always keep me in grants administration. After having a successful 23 years in the field, I am always a champion to new coming grants specialists that need a guide along the way.   Whether in the public or private sector, here are five things that will help grants specialists along their lucrative career:

1.    Remember why you decided to enter the field.  Whether you are providing a public service for law, science, health, or education, know that the work will be done to serve a beneficial public purpose. While the demographic is broad — it can range from kids, students, elderly, sick, well or emergency situations — know that funds will be allotted to a specific purpose to change a current circumstance.

2.    You are a student every day! Embrace 2 CFR 200 and your agency, non-profit, for-profit, state or private companies’ regulations. 2 CFR 200 is the codified regulations and the main grant administration guidance that grant specialist learn. Once you understand and apply these regulations, you are off to a great start in your grant career.

3.    Network with grant organizations to include National Grant Management Association (NGMA) or Grant Professionals Association (GPA). These organizations provide “from cradle to grave” guidance to include knowledge from grants professionals in different organizations.  Networking is a great way to keep in touch with current grant administration practices and opens opportunities in places you may not have access to otherwise.

4.    Serve on grant committees or workgroups. Select or look for a mentor within the grants administration field. Throughout my career, senior grants administration professionals have guided me through my path. The advice always remained to keep a team or group of individuals that I could call or meet with on a routine basis to ensure that policies and procedures were compliant and/or best practices were followed for grants administration.

5.    It’s a rewarding career! You will become so excited during busy funding periods and site visits about the progress that your recipients have made. Sometimes you may even be rewarded by the appreciation of the public achieving their goals. Even when I am challenged, I smile at the rewards that my recipients receive for their work and knowing that I impacted someone.

Whether you are within the civil service or serve in the public sector, the advice above applies to all new grants management specialists. The golden rule is to be open to learn every day and to meet new connections within grants administration. It is a beneficial field that will continue to grow and thrive. My position is still teaching me something new every day and I truly hope that these tips will help you as well!

Kristee Hall is a grants management specialist with the U.S. Department of Energy / National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA). She has 23 years of experience in grants management and has worked with four different federal agencies throughout her career. Kristee currently serves on NGMA’s Membership Committee.