With the American Association of Grant Professionals' annual conference approaching, and the joint AAGP & NOZA Prospect Research Webinar next week, I decided to get together with the Executive Director, Gail Vertz, to find out what member benefits AAGP provides. Vertz offers quality insight into AAGP, and how a grant professional from amateur to highly experienced can gain from becoming a member.

Interview with Gail Vertz, Executive Director of the AAGP

NOZA: I understand the American Association of Grant Professionals is an organization that provides nonprofits and consultants resources for grant funding and writing. What would you say are some of the benefits to becoming a member of the AAGP?

VERTZ: AAGP is not just for nonprofits and consultants. About 40% of our members are in education. We also serve healthcare, local governments, nonprofits and consultants. AAGP offers the opportunity for people to network with other grant professionals. We offer professional development through our annual conference and Webinars. In 2009 we are doing 12 Webinars, the second Friday of every month. We also publish an educational journal for members and it will be published next month for 2008. It focuses on different aspects of grantsmanship, for example, how to approach funders, social entrepreneurship, and various ways to better yourself in the grants profession.

We also just created SIGS, Special Interest Groups- it’s a forum on our Web site with several different tailored areas. For example, if you are in K-12 education, that’s one area. If you are in healthcare, that is a separate area. Members can go in, sign up on the forum and communicate ongoing with other grant professionals in their specific area. It is tailored to specific causes and fields. If they want to talk to each other about funding opportunities, grant submissions, etc- they can communicate other people within their special interest groups. We are also, during this year’s conference, holding a workshop focused on each special interest group. In each session, attendees will be asked the same type of questions- "what do you need for professional development?" as an example. We will evaluate their answers and use this information to better tailor our services to our members.

Other member benefits include:

• Supplemental insurance with AFLAC.
• Members can sign up for healthcare insurance. AAGP now contracts with a company that is able to offer health insurance in all 50 states and is especially good for consultants and independent grant professionals.
• Discounts at FedEx Kinkos.
• Discounts at all of our professional development opportunities.
• Corporate discounts
• Much more! Visit www.grantprofessionals.org

NOZA: What kind of support do you provide throughout the grant writing process?

VERTZ: We are a membership association, so our goal is provide professional development and social networking for our members. We try to make their job easier through all types of membership benefits.

We just implemented a credentialing program, which is huge news for the grants world. It’s called the GPC- Grant Professional Certified. It is an actual credential. It took us six years to develop the test. We worked with the University of South Florida and had multiple subject matter expert panels throughout the U.S. What we ended up with is a test of 150 questions and a writing prompt. People are given three hours to complete the multiple choice section and 90 minutes to complete the writing portion of the exam.

The next time the text will be offered is in Long beach in conjunction with our annual conference next month. The last day to sign up is Friday, September 26th. We have over 200 people that have received their GPC and we expect to have a total of 300 before the end of 2008. If people want to go to www.grant credential.org they can learn more about it.

There are a lot of people that can take a 3-day or 5-day class and get a certificate of completion, but with our test, they can actually obtain a credential. There are eight different competencies that are included in the test- and it’s a pretty intense test, but it is absolutely what our field needs. Within a few years I do believe that this will be preferred or required in grant professional hiring practices.

NOZA: Do you have many members that are new to the grant writing process, and if so, how does becoming a member benefit those who are still green?

VERTZ: Probably the biggest benefit is all the opportunities to network with other grant professionals. Many times, a grant professional is the only person in their office working with grants. If you are new to the field, you are going to want to learn how to better yourself, the best ways to search for funders and enhance your application and you can do that by attending our conference, attending our webinars, and through the variety of benefits we provide.

We are also in existence for people who have been in the field for a while. We offer workshops, webinars and benefits for people who are seasoned and also for those who are just starting out.

NOZA: What about benefits to those who have been in the profession for years? What do they gain from a membership?

VERTZ: At the conference we offer different tracks- some for those in education, consultants or healthcare. We have something for each area of expertise.

NOZA: Tell us a bit about your upcoming AAGP Conference. Is it open to members and non-members, and what benefits could a member gain from the conference?

VERTZ: We have over 50 workshops, a keynote presentation from Steve Gunderson, who is the President and CEO of the Council on Foundations. We have three featured speakers this year: Paula Van Ness, the CEO for the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation in Los Angeles; John Kobara, Senior VP of California Community Foundation and Paul Brest, President of the Packard Foundation.

We are also celebrating our 10th anniversary this year- so we have some special things lined up for that. There is opportunity for people to network throughout the conference, with specific times to do so. And, of course there will be sponsors and exhibitors for members to browse, as well.

Our regular registration ends on September, 30- so you can sign up for the conference at www.grantprofessionals.org.

NOZA: How many grant professionals attend the conference, and what kind of workshops, classes and lectures do you offer?

VERTZ: We are expecting over 500 this year. There are keynote presentations, featured speakers, over 50 workshops, annual meeting and many opportunities for networking.

NOZA: AAGP and NOZA are working together to bring AAGP members an informative and resource-rich Webinar soon. Can you tell me a bit about that, and why AAGP felt it was beneficial to its members to collaborate with NOZA?

VERTZ: Our members are always looking for new resources. I think NOZA has a great product and I have been pleased with the alliance we have had- allowing our members to get a feel of your product. I want to provide members with as many benefits as possible and NOZA is one avenue of doing this.