American Association of Grant Professionals Southern CA Conference
by Lisa Garcia-Ruiz on December 4, 2009
in Uncategorized
I had the opportunity to attend the AAGP Southern California Conference this week at the California Endowment in Los Angeles . This was an excellent training and networking opportunity. We had several speakers who
shared their wisdom with AAGP members, who are grant writers and development staff from nonprofits organizations throughout the country. The AAGP has added 5 new chapters in Southern California just this year alone. I am excited to be the Treasurer of the new San Diego chapter, which was recently formed. We will meet next on January 21, 2010. The first speaker at the conference this week was Fred J. Ali, President and CEO of The Weingart Foundation . He offered his thoughts on the future outlook for charitable giving, asserting that he doesn’t see charitable giving levels improving until 2012. This is why I believe it’s so important to have a well-thought-out plan in place for your efforts to secure grants. Next we heard from Ann Ronan, a professional grant writer who has been very successful in securing grants for healthcare and human services. Her company is called GrantRight . She shared insights and tips for independent grant writing consultants who are looking for ways to make their businesses be successful. She encouraged us to run our consulting practices like a business. Gail Vertz, CEO of AAGP, presented the lunch plenary and shared her plans for growth for the organization in 2010. She believes that in the near future, all grant professionals will be required to have attained the GPCI or Grant Professional Certification. I plan to sit for this certification exam at my next opportunity. I think it is a great opportunity to show grant writing is a true profession and that we are concerned with standards and best practices. Finally I attended a social media for nonoprofits presentation from David Gershwin of Cerrell Associates who shared an overview of social media strategies for nonprofit organizations and professionals.
This is a great blog. Thanks for keeping us all updated on legitimate grants Lisa!