E-001 Welcome to the Grant Talks Podcast

compliance federal grants get started grant management podcast Jul 07, 2019

EPISODE 1: START YOUR JOURNEY HERE...

I’m your host Lucy Morgan

Click on the Podcast Player Below to Listen to the Grant Talks Podcast!

Envisioning a New Grants Community

You know when you come to someone’s house for the very first time. You walk up the walk and you are forming an opinion, an opinion about the neighborhood, the home, the color, the landscaping and all those little touches that make a house a home.

If you are visiting someone in a new subdivision, often times the space around that house is still under development. You may travel streets with empty lots, contractor trucks and lots of partially finished homes.

Maybe there are some of those roll-off dumpsters or loads of lumber sitting by the side of the road.

Visiting a brand- new development requires the skill of vision. You have to envision "What are the possibilities?" based on just seeing a subset of the total.

And I bring up this example because in the grant profession we are building new communities.

Do You Feel Alone with Grants?

When I started in the grant community 15 years ago, I felt like the Maytag repairman.

All alone managing grants.
No one to talk to.
No community to bounce things off of.

Now my daughter reminds me I have to specify which Maytag repairmen I am talking about, right?

The old lonely one with the dog, or the young buff ones. 😊

And I mean the lonely one.

But then I discovered, I'm not alone.

So, if you have ever felt that way, I want you to know there is hope.

And I’ve been there too.

Do You Feel Overwhelmed by Grant Rules?

When I got into grants, I didn't know anything about grants.

Now I'm a CPA, so I took lots of accounting classes, but there wasn't really anything for grants.

I had one class in college, it was called fund accounting, (not f-u-n, but f-u-n-d.)

And the very first night, the instructor got up in front of the room and he said: "Welcome to accounting from the 1800s and if you don't go to work for a government, you'll never use any of this!"

(That's really a ringing endorsement to pay attention in class.) :D

And then's here's what happened...

I went to work for a nonprofit.
We were grant funded.
And I felt overwhelmed.
I felt confused.
I didn't know anything about how to manage grants.

And I was too embarrassed to raise my hand and ask some questions.

And I was nervous.

(Are we going to go to grants jail?)

Maybe you can relate to some of these feelings as well.

We're Here to Support Grant Professionals

So, let me introduce you to this new creation called the GrantTalks.com Podcast

In it, I’ve assembled national grant leaders from all walks of life and all different types of funding to have some conversations about grant topics in a fun, entertaining and I hope, relevant way to you as well.

These podcasts are people like you who are making a difference in your communities.

They are for people who understand working with grants can be hard, but also be very worthwhile.

I know you are fighting that good fight every day.

And I hope these talks will inspire to continue to do that valuable work that is funded by grants.

Because you are doing important work and I want to support you with that!

OK, let me get off my soapbox and take a little deep breath here...

Here's the Grant Talks Roadmap

And now I'm going to get back into the nuts and bolts of building a new community and give you a quick tour around, let's call it "Lucy's house of grants.

"First of all, in each interview, we are going to start with some “fire-away” questions so you can get to know these leaders better.

(You know the fun types of questions, like "What’s your favorite out of town restaurant?" or "What Star Wars character would make the best grant manager?"

Then we’ll launch into a discussion of real-world issues for grant professionals with practical solutions.

Each month in addition to our interviews with grant leaders, I'm going to share a “Hot Topics" episode about topics that are getting a lot of discussion in the grants community.

And maybe even a bonus episode like “Grants in the News”

Finally, I’m going to share some coming attractions. In addition, I'm going to highlight some of the upcoming episodes and some of the ones you might have missed. Just in case...

Oh, and I almost forgot, at the GrantTalks.com website, each episode will have the transcripts, as well as some bonus infographics, mini-guides, and other types of grant resources available for you to download and help you in your grants journey.

Click here to download one of our FREE resources that maps out the roles and responsibilities of grant writers and grant managers.

Join the Grant Talks Community

So, thanks again for checking out the GrantTalks.com podcast!

You can find all the episodes at GrantTalks.com.

Oh and one more thing...

If you'd like to hear about my personal journey into grants, I hope you will tune in to episode #4 as I discuss how I became an "accidental" grant manager, as well as covering some "Hot Topics" issues with federal grants and how the rules around non-competitive practices are evolving for grant recipients.

So thanks for tuning in and I hope to see you on a future episode.

-Lucy

Lucy Morgan, CPA

Director and Founder MyFedTrainer.com

P.S. If we were sitting down to a piece of pie and a cup of coffee, what would your #1 challenge be with grants? Share your biggest grant issues by emailing me at [email protected] and we may feature your challenge on an upcoming episode.

You can hear more about Lucy's journey into grant management in Episode 004