How Can You Benefit From A Grant Writing Certification And Is It Really Important To These Days?

Here's a video blog I did today! The whole transcription is on this page with some additional resources to help you.

• The Advantage Of A Grant Writing Certification
• Ways Of Actually Getting Trained

Hey, guys, Rodney Walker here and I'm here to address the issue with you of how can you benefit from a grant writing certification? Can you benefit from grant writing certification? And why would it be important? I want to talk to you about this issue.

If you see some of the other videos that I've done on this topic, you know, I've been looking at what a certification is and we've been talking about that from from top to bottom. And I want to share with you some ways that you can do this. But before that, I want to share with you right now, like, how can you benefit? Can you actually benefit from a grant writing certification? And if so, how so? 

The Advantage Of A Grant Writing Certification

So come on in. Let's grab a seat and let's talk about this. So we looked at the fact that a grant writing certification is something that is literally coming from the word remember. Do you remember I said it's coming from a Latin word "Certus". And that word "Certus" literally means to be fixed, indisputable.

We said that it was settled, that it was attested to our shirt that you are who you say you are. And it's like you've gotten up a stamp of approval from an organization or institution or that someone is backing that you are actually who you say you are and what you say you are and that you've gone through either some training to get to the place that you're at.

So how can you benefit from that? And I just want to talk to you about that for a second, because this is important, because remember, at the end of the day, it all gets back down to what are your goals? What are you trying to do? And based upon whatever you're trying to do, it may really impact how you use this to your benefit or even if you choose to use this to your benefit.

So let's look at this. First of all, here's the thing. If you are doing grant writing and you're thinking about doing this as a long term career or even as a short term career, and I say short term, I mean, like if you're looking to do this for a few years, a couple of years at least, the certification may be helpful. 

So let's look at it from two perspective. First of all, I share with you, if you're going to write a grant, it's helpful to know how everything is supposed to take place. It's very important to understand the process. So a grant writing certification, meaning that if you go and you take some classes in this area and you start learning what it takes, that can be extremely helpful because it will allow you to know what it means to do this at a very high level, okay? So that's where getting professionally trained... can help you.

Now, there are a lot of ways to get training. I've talked about in some of my other videos about, you know, internships. I've talked about mentorships, I've talked about apprenticeships, programs that you can go through. And those are different ways of actually getting trained as well. And those ways can be very helpful and can be extremely effective if done right and if trained by the right person or within the right institution. You also have on the job training where somebody that may have been doing this for a number of years comes alongside of you and shows you, hey, this is how you do that, okay? So there are a number of ways of being able to learn a skill. But in terms of the certification, the certification can hit a couple of things. I remember. Here's what's really important to know.

Ways Of Actually Getting Trained

When you talk about certification, you actually have the certifying of a training. So maybe you have been certified that you've gone through a particular system are a set of training, okay? So that's more of a certifying that you've gone to that trainee, okay? You have another aspect that could be the certification of the entire process of grants that you learn certain required elements such as how to do effective research, such as how to actually approach funders, how to write the actual physical proposal, how to develop a compelling narrative, how to develop an effective budget, how to develop an effective need statement. So now we're getting into the intricate details of the actual grant proposal. 

So you may get a certification in one of those specific areas to help you to know those specific elements. Now that becomes important and that in that sense, a grant writing certification are taking a grant, writing a certification class that can be helpful to heighten your expertize in an area. And I always encourage people, regardless if they are doing it on their own study learning that you learn.

I'm an advocate of education because when I was first starting out learning how to do this, the first time I started just riding on my own and I made the big mistake of not knowing exactly how to do it, and I literally fell flat on my face. I said "Hey, there's a smarter way to do this thing." And that's when I chose to take classes, to hear what I say, to take classes with an S and also bought books, not a book... Books. And then I also looked at videos as much information as I could get my hands on because I wanted to be well versed in what I was doing. 

And so in that sense, getting, going through a training to help me get the knowledge was crucial, okay? The second thing that I want to share with you about this is the aspect of how can it be beneficial. Now let me share with you a number of ways that getting a grant writing certification can be beneficial to you. Number one a certification.

And let's look at it from the standpoint that here are the criteria of things that you need to do in order to be given a stamp of approval certification, okay? So once you have that list then of things that you are going to be certified in, such as those things I talk to you about a little earlier. Now, what becomes important, let's say, for example you get the certification.

After you've gotten a certification, how do you benefit from it? This is the way you benefit from it. You you tag it on information, you place it on information, and you let people know, hey, I'm certified in this area now. Now, it becomes beneficial in that in our society, our society looks for clues. Our society really looks for shortcuts. There's so much information out here.

Most people that are looking for a grant writer don't know if you're qualified or not. So this certification, in essence, is like a shortcut for them that lets them know that somebody, some institution has vetted you, okay? We all look for shortcuts. When you go and travel out of town to a particular area, you often are looking for some of the name brand restaurants because you've experienced them and their brand now is there. And when you see that brand say, oh, I know, I know what I can expect when I go over there, okay?

So that's where the certification and using that tag showing people that, yes, you have indeed been certified by some organization, some institution, that's where it becomes beneficial. Now, with that being said, let me also state something else that's really important for you to know. 

You may want to know do employers ask you if you're certified as a grant writer, okay? Some employers, we all want to know that you are certified, okay? But let me tell you the real reality about this. Most want to see your area of success in doing grant writing more so than the actual certification. Because if you've gotten results, the results speak for themselves. Does that make sense? So in that in that way, the certification is proven in the results and if you have the results, then the certification almost becomes second nature. If you have both of them, it can present a much fuller picture. 

So I want to be honest with you and give you a clear picture. So as you are making whatever decisions you are making about becoming certified are not to become certified, that you know what you're dealing with. And again, it all comes back to you at the end of the day.

What is your goal? What are you trying to accomplish? And that helps to answer a lot of things about whether you do this or not. Now, in addition to that, I want to say one last thing. Your certification is a tool that you can use and you want to put it out to certain people, let people know. But you also want to get those results and use it in an effective manner. So there are some definite benefits. It's a shortcut for people to have them know that. Yes, indeed. You have been validated in that sense. 

Now, remember, with all you do, be brave, be bold, be brilliant. In my next video, I'm going to be sharing with you some other information is going to help you to know about how you can go about doing this quickly, all right? Talk to you real soon. 

Remember, be brave people, be brilliant, and take charge.

Rodney Walker is today’s leading expert in Grant Development Systems™ and President of Grant Central USA - Grant Writers Association. Learn more about his online grant writing courses today.