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NGP- Overview of Training & Certification for Grants Professionals: Federal Training & Certification, GPCI and NGMA
Credentials
Gail Vertz, CEO of the Grant Professionals Association (GPA)
October 19, 2010
Certificate of Attendance or Participation
Provided to individuals (participants) who have attended or participated in classes, courses, or other education/training programs or events.
Demonstrating accomplishment of the intended learning outcomes by participants is NOT a requirement for receiving the certificate.
Assessment-Based Certificate Programs
Provides instruction and training to aid participants in acquiring specific knowledge, skills, and/or competencies associated with intended learning outcomes.
Evaluates participants’ accomplishment of the intended learning outcomes.
Awards a certificate only to those participants who meet the performance, proficiency, or passing standard for the assessment(s) (hence the term, “assessment-based certificate program”).
Professional Certification
Time-limited recognition and use of a credential to individuals who have demonstrated that they have met predetermined and standardized criteria for required knowledge, skills, or competencies.
Primary focus on assessment (as opposed to providing education/ training); independence of the assessment process from any education/training program or provider.
Linkage of the assessment to predetermined standards for knowledge, skills, or competencies, rather than to the learning outcomes of a particular education/training program.
The ability of certificants to use a credential or letters following their names to indicate they have satisfactorily met the requirements for certification.
Standards
Furthermore, in accordance with NOCA and ANSI standards pertaining to testing and credentialing, a professional credential must be developed following rigorous psychometric protocols.
These protocols dictate, among others, that an educational program cannot also issue a professional credential upon completion of coursework; that the psychometric protocols used to design and implement the certification tool, including validity and reliability outcomes, must be published; and that the test’s content must be validated, in part, through a statistically designed task analysis that canvassed the profession.
Remember…..
A professional certification or credential is an objective measure of a person’s level of experience and expertise in the profession — as defined independently by the profession as a whole.
Why Certify?
A field in great demand and a significant contributor to the gross national product.
More than 850,000 charities, 500,000 churches, 725,000 nonprofit organizations and 23,485 educational institutions.
National gross product of charitable work of more than $1 billion annually.
More than 100,000 individuals serving as “brokers” between grant seekers and funders.
Grants Field today-The Bad
No formal broad-based regulation of the fieldNo education needed to be one of these brokers (no standards)
As a result:
escalating midnight infomercials and websites espousing that anyone can “get free money”
training programs advertising “find a new profession–become a “certified” grant writer in a week
“ hired-gun” grant writers proclaiming 95% to 100% success rates
Grants Field Today-the Good
Steamrolling to full professionalization
Professionals who make up field operate within strong ethical and moral standards
Certification. Without recognized academic degrees, certification is the only authoritative, independent measure to determine person’s experience, skill and knowledge base as defined by our collective peers.Certification goes far beyond the grant professional who receives the credential.
It benefits grant seeking organizations and the beneficiaries and clients of those organizations, funders, government and would-be government regulators.
Benefits to the Field and You
A professional grant credential affords the same benefits as the
CFRE and other professional certifications. Among others:
For The Field
Certification brings..
recognition of grant development as a distinct accountable profession with specialized domains, competencies and skills;
utilization of the domains, competencies and skills to guide standardized academic instruction;
Additional Benefits to you..
possession of a psychometrically sound authoritative measure which attests to one’s ability to apply those domains, competencies and skills;
a proactive stance for guiding the direction government takes toward regulation; and
further movement along the professionalization continuum toward society-wide recognition of the grants field as a bon a fide profession.
For You as a Grant Professional
Certification Provides..
a greater understanding of and ability to publically promulgate the skills and ethical standards that underpin the grants profession;
a concrete demonstration of your ability to apply these professional tenets both skill and ethical;
a shared understanding between you and your employers and other stakeholders regarding your role as grant professional;
Benefits to Private and Public Sector
Through certification, administrators will have the knowledge
and tools to…
better assess an individual’s grant knowledge, performance abilities, integrity and ethical standards.
And, through the grant professional’s recognized expertise:
make informed decisions regarding funding opportunities; and
have an enhanced capacity to identify, develop, implement, accomplish, evaluate and report on its goals.
WHO IS GPCI?
Pronounced “gypsy”
Grant Professionals Certification Institute
501 (c)(3)
Affiliate of GPA
Inside the GPC exam
Twelve years in the making, beginning with AAGP.
Goal: develop an exam that psychometrically valid, reliable and legally defensible as a minimum standard.
To achieve that standard AAGP formed GPCI, an independent body to develop and conduct certification.
Exam Development History
Over a concentrated 7-year period, three independent entities (AAGP, GPCI and USF) provided knowledge, data and psychometric expertise to identify and validate competencies and skills.
Utmost importance -- the test be developed within the guidelines of NOCA – National Organization for Competency Assurance and eligible for accreditation.
To this end, GPCI enlisted the services of the University of South Florida to oversee all psychometric protocols.
What the Exam is…
Generalist test
For the individual who demonstrates mastery and experience, not considered entry-level
Measures individual’s ethics, proposal planning, resource knowledge and research, grant construction, professional development and grant management skill
The GPC states that a candidate has passed the exam. It does not certify that a person is ethical, well educated, or a productive member of the community.
Competencies & Skills
Knowledge of how to craft, construct, and submit an effective grant application - 25%
Knowledge of strategies for effective program and project design, development - 20%
Knowledge of how to research, identify, and match funding resources to meet specific needs -15%
Knowledge of organizational development as it pertains to grant seeking -10%
Competencies & Skills-Cont.
Knowledge of nationally recognized standards of ethical practice - 10%
Knowledge of post-award grant management practices sufficient to inform effective grant design and development - 8%
Knowledge of methods and strategies that cultivate and maintain relationships between fund-seeking and recipient organizations and funders - 8%
Knowledge of practices and services that raise level of professionalism of grant developers - 4%
Who can sit for the exam?
Only eligible candidates based on specific criteria:
Post secondary education
Experience (three years of demonstrated work in the field)
Five successful grants in the past five years
Engagement in professional development
Service to Community
Measured on a point system. At least 120 points needed for eligibility.
Candidates must sign an affidavit attesting to truthfulness of information.
Random audit checks are conducted.
About the Exam
Multiple Choice (80% of score)
150 questions
Four hours of test time
Standardized questions
Scantron “bubble” sheet
More than one version of the test
Writing Prompt (20% of score)
Includes instructions for completing the exercise
You will not write an entire proposal
Completed on laptops or PCs
90 minutes, designed for 60 minutes
The writing prompt will include all information you will need to complete the exercise.
GAIL VERTZ-CONTACT INFORMATION
Grant Professionals Association 1333 Meadowlark Lane, Suite 105 Kansas City, KS 66102 (913) 788-3000 Phone [email protected] E-Mail
