2024 Thompson Grants Industry Briefing: How To Make Your Grant Application Thrive On-Demand Recording

2024 Thompson Grants Industry Briefing: How To Make Your Grant Application Thrive

There is a sinking feeling after you’ve put in the effort to apply for a federal grant, only to not be selected for an award. What steps could you have taken to better position your proposal? On March 7th, Thompson Grants hosted an industry briefing allowing grant management professionals to further delve into ways that entities and organizations can make their applications more appealing to reviewers. Three members of Thompson’s Grants Editorial Advisory Board discussed an array of pre-award issues. 

- What common mistakes do applicants make that hinder the chances for award selection?
- What tools — such as logic models — can be used when preparing an application? 
- How can applicants use subaward partnerships to improve the chances of meeting the mission under the grant?

Questions often arise over preparing budgets, understanding agency priorities and determining which unique entity identifier(s) may be required under a federal award notice of funding opportunity. Our expert panel of Advisory Board members covered these topics to assist you in understanding how to respond to the complexities involved in applying for federal financial assistance. By the end of this briefing, you should be able to take some of the lessons learned to develop top-notch award proposals.

Fill out the lead form to recieve the 2024 Thompson Grants Industry Briefing On-Demand Recording. 

Panelists

Wendi Gephart, Pierce Transit

Wendi Gephart develops organization-specific grants management tools, training, and policies and procedures to create and maintain internal control systems and compliance with ever-changing funder regulations. She has worked as a grant writer and grants manager, grounded in over 25 years of practical experience, as both a grantor and grantee. Throughout her career, she has based her practice on funder regulations, rules, and policies, most recently as the Grants Administrator for Pierce Transit, a nonprofit organization that works to improve people's quality of life by providing safe, reliable, innovative, and useful transportation services that are locally based and regionally connected. Additionally, Ms. Gephart works on projects focusing on capacity-building through external funding. Ms. Gephart has a 95% grant writing success rate, with over $115 million total in funding, from numerous federal, state, and private sources, including grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation. She has managed several state and regional large grantor programs. Ms. Gephart has served on committees for the Grant Professional Association and currently serves on committees for the National Grants Management Association and on Thompson Grants’ Editorial Advisory Board.

James Huycke, Moraine Park Technical College

James D. Huycke, MSW, is the grants coordinator at Moraine Park Technical College in Wisconsin. He has 30 years of experience in pre- and post-award related work, and more than 20 years in adjunct instruction, most of that involving research methods.

Sandra Swab, Consultant

Sandra Swab is currently an independent consultant focusing on grants, data standards and performance measurement. She most recently retired from the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, where she served as its data manager and senior advisor for grants, performance and data standards. She has worked as a consultant as a subject matter expert for companies supporting government management systems initiatives and as a senior manager at KPMG and SiloSmashers after having worked at the Office of Management and Budget as a senior policy analyst in the Office of Federal Financial Management. She has more than 30 years of government experience in grants, finance and program management.