Ode to Grant Professionals

Have you ever had a run of unexpected events that seems to leave you knocked down?

But you get up again. And again. And again.

And when you get up, if you are lucky enough to be a grant professional, you’ve often got someone pushing or pulling you up.

Here are my top 5 reasons why.

1. Grant Professionals collaborate. The nature of the grants process means that you’ve got to work with at least one other person to get anything done. And even if you’re a one-person shop, you’re part of a professional network to bounce ideas around to find the right solution.
2. Grant Professionals know when and how to ask for help. Because we have to collaborate, we know and understand that deadlines pop up, subject-matter expertise may be in someone else’s brain, and that outside editors are our friends.
3. Grant Professionals try new things. At some point in every grant professionals career, we were something else. So when someone says, “Have you heard about this opportunity,” we’ll listen. And we’ll see if we can make it work.
4. Grant Professionals understand that it’s in the details. So when we’re trying to figure out how to make it work, most of us are automatically thinking about the execution if we win – from reporting to staffing to the next proposal. Managing grants is a complex and often bureaucratic business.
5. Grants Professionals are nice. I find myself reading more and more articles on the importance of employee engagement and positive workplaces. I’ve been lucky thus far to find that this is the case with grant professionals. We’re a group to celebrate the wins and learn from the losses, even when having to slog through many different projects.

I hope that most of you have been enjoying International Grant Professionals Week. Please check the www.grantprofessionals.org website for more information. And if you’re reading this in time, and you’re in Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 10, meet the National Capital Area Chapter for breakfast at the Hamilton downtown at 8:30 am.