I was talking recently with someone interested in the Unlock-Grants course, but they were intimidated by the course’s cost. I can understand that. This course is not something you purchase on a whim, or without giving it much thought — or because you think the instructor is dreamy! It’s an investment, a professional development expense that you are using to build your resume, or your credentials, or your standing at the office.
Our conversation went something like this:
Question: There’s so much free content online, can I get what I need from that instead of the Unlock-Grants course?
Answer: I suppose so. Might take a while, though.
Looking up, sorting through, reading, absorbing, and then testing your knowledge of free content found on the internet might be tempting. There’s so much out there!
But yes! THERE’S SO MUCH OUT THERE! How do you sift through what’s relevant, how do you gauge who to trust, how do you even know if it’s vetted content, and how do you know if what you find is cutting through so you can be assured you’re capturing the content properly?
How many hours will you be down there in that rabbit hole?
(That’s why the Unlock-Grants course doles out just enough information at a time, and then pauses to give you periodic skills assessments. Quick quizzes help ensure you’re clear on the delivered content, and that you are ready to build on what you’ve learned and move on to the next info byte.)
OK, maybe instead you can get the professional development you want through some sort of subscription, or membership.
That would be much the same way I earned my CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) designation. I took, and passed, the test in one go. How?
By going to (actually showing up, no virtual offerings back then) monthly AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) chapter meetings, and LISTENING!
So sure, you can piecemeal it, you can Google it, or you can ask AI — if you know what to ask. I’m sure that will make you an expert.
Or you can do like I did — go to monthly meetings and take notes and eventually get to the point you can pass the CFRE exam.
But do you know how long that took me?
NINE YEARS!
Going to monthly GPA (Grant Professional Association) chapter meetings “only” took me SIX YEARS to be ready for, to take, and to pass the GPC (Grant Professional Certified) exam and earn that designation!
Question: Can I just purchase and take one module at a time?
Answer: I can certainly see why you would ask that. Instead of buying the whole 6-pack, you want to buy one can at a time. I get it.
In this case, it would be closer to buying one room instead of the whole house.
Unlock-Grants was designed to be a layered experience, one that builds on itself. The learner grows their knowledge layer by layer, until by the end of the course, they realize they’ve become confident and knowledgeable at grants. The layered effect is evident in how the Unlock-Grants materials and concepts covered in past modules are referenced throughout the course’s content.
Using the house analogy, the Unlock-Grants course basically lays the foundation, puts up the stud walls, adds the roof, hangs the drywall, and outfits the place with the fixtures — IN THAT ORDER. You can’t slap a roof on if you don’t have walls, and you can’t have walls until you pour your foundation. You can’t paint until you put the drywall up.
And even that house-building analogy has to start with a PLAN, a design. You can’t stand there in the middle of your lot arguing about whether we put a wall here — or here??
In the same way, Unlock-Grants was designed. It was planned out so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Cherry-picking a module at a time would be like building one bedroom, but no kitchen or living room. Not a whole house.
Or to look at it another way, purchasing and taking one Unlock-Grants module at a time would be like starting a movie in the middle. You would miss so much material — the exposition (where we learn the setting, the characters, the conflict), and how and why the plot is set in motion — that what you were hearing and watching in the course’s recorded content would lose its context.
Question: Is there a way to get my boss, or my board, or my community foundation, to pay for the Unlock-Grants course?
Answer: Yes!
We’ve developed a Why Invest in Grant Training? document that makes that easy for you. Basically the document outlines the ROI of building your skillset and ability to win grant awards, versus the agency taking on the risk of having someone not properly trained in grants, or having no one at all.
The document also includes an Unlock-Grants course syllabus, a list of the tools included with the course, a little about your instructor (me), and highlights the ONE YEAR of weekly live group calls I include to field your questions.
(Unlock-Grants does not just hang you out to dry. You can go through the course at your own pace, try out what you’ve learned in real-world situations, and come back and submit questions – for a YEAR! You can even submit draft proposals for review!)
You can use the Why Invest document’s language in a conversation with your boss, in a memo to your board, or in a grant application to your community foundation. The community foundation in your area likely has “capacity building” grants — grants that build the capacity of your organization to grow and fulfill its mission. And what better way to grow and fulfill your mission than by having a trained and experienced grant writer bringing in and managing more grant dollars! I encourage you to call your community foundation to discuss this strategy.
Question: Can I purchase one Unlock-Grants course for the whole office, and share amongst ourselves?
Answer: YES!
I just ask that you SWEAR you will ALL take and pass all the periodic quizzes. Take the material seriously! I am on a mission, and the Unlock-Grants course is supposed to make better grant writers out of everyone that takes it! I designed the course so that “cheaters” were discouraged, so use this course to make all your staff better at grant writing!
The one thing you will have to figure out ahead of time is, whoever registers is who will get the CFRE and GPC points, and get the GPA membership discount. No trades-ies! Winner takes all!
So duke it out and get your whole department on board!
For more information on this topic and others please visit my blog.
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