Many people think of grants as “free money” and are a chance to pursue things our organizations may not be able to otherwise. Grant funding, unlike loans, is support your organization typically does not have to pay back. Grants can be opportunities to improve your facilities, provide education and training, prepare for or respond to emergencies, support social and community programs, support research, and other strategic endeavors to help organizations in their mission and goals to serve.

However, grants do not come without risk, requiring specific competencies for the Grant Manager and management that often varies from regular accounting and operational processes. Obtaining funding requires specific competencies for your grant manager and team in the preparation stages, and additional competencies to manage a program properly and keep your organization of trouble.

The goal of this series, Healthcare Grant Professional Training and Certification Prep, is to help build the knowledge and skills of those involved in seeking and managing grants within healthcare organizations. For those interested in pursuing the GPCI Certification, it will also provide a big picture overview of the areas included in the testing, as well as prep materials. For hospitals already awarded grant programs, it will be a helpful compliance check that you are avoiding grant pitfalls that could put your hospital at risk.