Deanna Parker Knapp, grants coordinator for the Wichita State University Center for Community Support and Research, has received a newly recognized national certification for professional grant makers.
Knapp is a co-founding member of the Kansas Professional Grant Association. She is among the first 170 people to receive the title of Grant Professional Certified. Co-founding member Robert Hull, vice president of the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation of Kansas Research Division, also received the certification.
The Grant Professionals Certification Institute Inc., an affiliate of the American Association of Grant Professionals, awards the GPC in recognition of proficiency in standards, such as tenure, education, achievement and commitment to service for public and private philanthropy.
“The past decade of activity by the American Association of Grant Professionals shows this field now requires skills far beyond just the staff-level ‘writer’ role,” said Marcia Ford, GPCI president.
Beyond meeting eligibility requirements, GPC professionals master standardized competencies defined by nine skill sets. In partnership with the University of South Florida’s Tampa-based Institute for Instructional Research and Practice, the GPC exam was established using a test development process that includes a series of statistical standards, also known as psychometric testing. The seven-year process involved numerous interactions with grant professionals, employers, the funding community and other stakeholder groups throughout the country.
“Today, grant professionals are held accountable not just by their employers, but especially by charitable and corporate foundations and governments,” said Ford. “They are called upon to negotiate elaborate collaborations between groups that can leverage more productivity than a single agency or advocacy group could manage on its own. They come from many walks and are more likely to have nonprofit management and program development skills than the typical proposal writer from the last generation.”
In 1996, Knapp and Hull co-founded the Kansas Professional Grant Association to promote a better understanding of grant development. The association strengthens the role of public and private sector grant developers through networking, collaboration, education, public awareness and maintaining the integrity of grant development.
Meeting quarterly in Wichita, the association provides instructors for a grant writing course at Wichita State University Center for Management Development, supports an annual conference hosted by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, and provides professional resources on its Website, www.kpga.us.
More information about the Grant Professionals Certification Institute can be found at www.grantcredential.org.