Eastern Grants Forum 2024
- Start: August 15, 2024 7:30 am
- End: August 16, 2024 4:30 pm
The Eastern Grants Forum returns to Baltimore for 2024! Stay on top of the latest developments in Federal grants management, including the much anticipated updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance (the UGG), when you attend the Eastern Grants Forum in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 15-16, 2024.
The Eastern Grants Forum returns to historic Baltimore in August 2024 with an all-new agenda. This year’s program will feature a detailed exploration of the Office of Management and Budget’s updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance (2 C.F.R. pt. 200). The 2024 revisions are only the second comprehensive updates to the Uniform Guidance but represent the most significant changes since the UGG was first published just over a decade ago. Our opening session will be double-length to allow more time to discuss these important updates and what they mean for grant-funded organizations. Following the opening session, the first day will then look at ethical and compliance issues in managing Federal grants and how to avoid common problem areas.
The second day of the exclusive conference will begin with an overview of risk for grant-funded organizations with a focus on implementing a program of Enterprise Risk Management and minimizing risk through effective internal control. The second day will also include a discussion of the benefits of logic models and how to create them before concluding with an explanation of conflicts of interest standards for grantees and subrecipients. Eastern Grants Forum 2024 will help you stay up-to-date with the quickly evolving grants management landscape.
When you attend the Eastern Grants Forum 2024, you will learn about important changes to grants requirements and how to keep your organization in compliance as funding sources implement these changes. However, registration opportunities to attend this year’s conference are very limited. Make plans now to arrive on August 14 and then join your fellow grants management professionals at the Eastern Grants Forum in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 15-16, 2024.
TOPICS
During this special two-day conference, you will learn about the latest changes to the Uniform Grants Guidance as part of the OMB’s 2024 comprehensive updates. This year’s agenda will also feature sessions discussing risk management and ethics for grants professionals. By attending, you will learn about the following:
- Comprehensive revisions to the OMB’s Uniform Grants Guidance.
- Key changes to cross-cutting definitions.
- Changes to grant applications and the pre-award process.
- Revised post-award administrative requirements.
- Updates to standards for grant-funded purchases.
- Changes to indirect costs and the de minimis indirect cost rate.
- Reduction of prior authorization requirements.
- Updates to Single Audit standards.
- Ethical challenges in managing Federal grants.
- Recognizing and preventing conflicts of interest.
- Identifying and reducing risks in Federal grant programs.
- Implementing effective internal controls and preventing weaknesses.
- Creating logical logic models.
- Avoiding liability under the Federal False Claims Act.
The 2024 edition of the Eastern Grants Forum will discuss these important topics and more to help ensure that your organization remains compliant with current Federal grants management requirements. In addition, you will have multiple opportunities to ask our expert presenters your individual questions throughout the conference.
AGENDA
This year’s Eastern Grants Forum is scheduled for August 15-16, 2024, in charming Baltimore, Maryland. We have two full days of enlightening educational sessions planned, and we recommend that attendees arrive a day early on August 14 so as not to miss any of the conference. (Please note that the schedule is subject to change.) Our agenda for each day is as follows:
Day One (Thursday, August 15, 2024)
Sign-in for the day and enjoy a Continental breakfast before the first session.
The opening session of Eastern Grants Forum 2024 will examine the Office of Management and Budget's updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance. The 2024 updates represent only the second comprehensive revisions to the Uniform Guidance but go further than the previous update. Attorney Brian Tipton will explain the changes and what they mean for Federal grantees and subrecipients. The discussion will address revisions to key definitions, general requirements, pre-award considerations, post-award administrative requirements, cost principles (including indirect costs and the de minimis indirect cost rate), and audit standards. Following this double session, you will be able to identify and outline the major changes to the updated Uniform Grants Guidance.
Enjoy a 15-minute coffee break between the morning sessions of the Eastern Grants Forum.
The opening session of Eastern Grants Forum 2024 will examine the Office of Management and Budget's updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance. The 2024 updates represent only the second comprehensive revisions to the Uniform Guidance but go further than the previous update. Attorney Brian Tipton will explain the changes and what they mean for Federal grantees and subrecipients. The discussion will address revisions to key definitions, general requirements, pre-award considerations, post-award administrative requirements, cost principles (including indirect costs and the de minimis indirect cost rate), and audit standards. Following this double session, you will be able to identify and outline the major changes to the updated Uniform Grants Guidance.
Join your fellow attendees for an informal networking luncheon. Lunch will be provided as part of the conference. (Please note that because of venue space limitations, the luncheon is only open to registrants and speakers.)
The boss has done it again, making a questionable decision that is likely to lead to tons of questions by the auditor—or the Inspector General. What to do, what to do? Tell someone? Keep quiet? Ask the boss? The CFO? Bury your head in the sand or start a new career in food service?
Attend this session led by Johna Rogers, GPC, to find out. She use a bit of humor to address the issues of everyday ethics and job security we face when decision-making turns ugly. Following this session, you will be able to identify ethical issues in managing Federal awards and the proper responses.
Enjoy a 15-minute break between the afternoon sessions of the Eastern Grants Forum.
The Federal False Claims Act (or FCA) is often cited as the government's primary tool in fighting fraud, waste, and abuse. Although use of the Act has changed throughout its long history, the government's reliance on the False Claims Act is not expected to change anytime soon. During this session, attorney Brian Tipton will explain the current application of the FCA in the context of Federal grants and subawards. By attending, you will learn about the FCA's history, its enforcement mechanisms (including qui tam actions), and its potential penalties. You will also learn about recent cases interpreting the False Claims Act. Following the session, you will be able to identify the elements of a false claim under the Act, describe the key mechanisms for enforcement of the FCA, and outline strategies for avoiding possible false claims liability.
The first day of the Eastern Grants Forum will conclude at 4:30 pm on August 15, 2024.
Sign-in for the second day of the Eastern Grants Forum and enjoy a Continental breakfast before the first sessions.
Join attorney and risk management expert Melanie Lockwood Herman for this overview of Enterprise Risk Management (or ERM). The session introduces ERM and explores its relevance to grant-funded entities. Enterprise Risk Management is an approach to risk management that can help grants management professionals achieve a "bird’s eye view" of risk and uncertainty. The ultimate goal of ERM is risk-aware decision-making, a capability that all organizations need in a world full of uncertainty. This workshop explores ERM fundamentals and opportunities to fashion ERM concepts to best meet the needs of your grant-funded organization.
By attending this session, you will:
- Learn key concepts in ERM and their relevance to grant-funded entities;
- Discover how ERM can be adapted and implemented without causing an undue burden on an organization; and,
- Learn ERM fundamentals relevant to your mission and programs.
Enjoy a 15-minute coffee break between the morning sessions of the Eastern Grants Forum.
Federal financial assistance recipients and subrecipients are required to implement effective internal controls, but how does an organization actually satisfy this important requirement? Join Melanie Herman, attorney and veteran risk management professional, as she discusses internal controls for grant-funded programs. During this session, you will learn about effective internal control structures, areas of internal control posing the greatest risks, and ways to minimize risks while strengthening key controls. After attending this session, you will be able to identify common risks (and potential internal control weaknesses) for grant-funded entities as well as describe effective internal control strategies to address those risks.
Explore Baltimore's thriving lunch scene on your own during this 90-minute break between the Eastern Grants Forum's morning and afternoon sessions.
More and more funders—especially Federal funders—are requiring a logic model as part of the application process. But what is a logic model? And why should we care? Truth be told, a logic model is just a set of lists that paint a picture or your project and its outcomes. However, the logic model process is one that can guide the development of critical parts of your program and guide you in the creation of your grant proposal. In this fundamental (and fun) session, Johna Rogers, GPC, will look at both aspects of the logic model and help you realize the simplicity of the process. After attending this session, you will be able to create logic models for your own organization (and others).
Enjoy a 15-minute break between the afternoon sessions of the Eastern Grants Forum.
Conflicts of interest can lead to serious problems for grant-funded organizations and those involved, including financial penalties and even prison. During this session, attorney Brian Tipton will explore the many aspects of conflicts for recipients and subrecipients of Federal financial assistance. You will learn about individual and organizational conflicts as well as problems arising from nepotism and fraternization. The discussion will focus on real-world examples and the consequences of unchecked conflicts. After attending this session, you will be able to identify potential conflicts of interest and list strategies for avoiding them.
The Eastern Grants Forum will conclude at 4:30 pm on August 16, 2024.
When you attend this year’s edition of the Eastern Grants Forum, you will learn about not just the Office of Management and Budget’s new 2024 updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance but also other important topics affecting Federal grants management and grant-funded entities. After attending the training, you will be able to:
- Outline the OMB’s 2024 updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance.
- Recognize changes to key definitions in the Uniform Grants Guidance.
- List changes to indirect cost requirements and the de minimis indirect cost rate.
- List revisions to the procurement standards.
- Identify updates to Single Audit and other Uniform Guidance thresholds.
- Outline the components of a logic model.
- Recognize at least three common ethical issues in managing Federal grants.
- List the elements of Enterprise Risk Management.
- Distinguish common internal controls and when to use them.
- Identify the elements of a claim under the Federal False Claims Act.
- Distinguish between personal and organizational conflicts of interest.
AUDIENCE
Eastern Grants Forum 2024 is intended for all members of the grant-funded community: governing body members, officers, executives, managers, fiscal staff, program staff, and other grants management professionals. This course is recommended for a total of 14 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit in the field of specialized knowledge. The experience level for this training is overview. No prerequisites for attendance exist and no specific educational background is necessary. No advance preparation is required.
SPEAKERS
Melanie Lockwood Herman, Esq., has served as Executive Director of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center since 1996 and has held senior management positions in the nonprofit sector since 1987. Melanie is the principal author of more than 20 books on various risk management topics; Melanie’s most recent book was published in Fall 2017: “World-Class Risk Management for Nonprofits.” She is an eleven-time member of The NonProfit Times “Power and Influence Top 50.” In one NPT announcement Melanie was described as “one of the most prolific writers and lecturers on the topic of nonprofit risk,” and “the architect of the risk plans of some of the nation’s largest’ nonprofits.”
Melanie earned a BA in Urban Affairs from American University (Washington, DC), and a JD from George Mason University School of Law (Arlington, VA). She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association and currently serves on three national nonprofit boards (American Foundation for the Blind, Camp Fire, and the National Human Services Assembly).
Johna Rodgers, GPC, serves as Principal Consultant and National Trainer of Johna Rodgers Consulting, LLC—a firm she launched almost ten years ago. She works with organizations of all types and sizes as she has for 25+ years. A federal grants specialist, Johna has secured over $200 million for schools, educational groups, and nonprofits. She is a nationally-recognized trainer and one of fewer than 50 Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Approved Trainers. She also serves as a trainer and technical assistance provider for the Kentucky Department of Education and develops training curricula for clients nationally. Johna works tirelessly to improve grants and the grants profession for employees/consultants and the public. She is a member of the GPA Board of Directors, currently serving as President. She is also an original Grant Professional Certified (GPC, 2008) and former Board Member of the Grant Professionals Certification Institute, which provides the nation’s only nationally certified credential in grants.
R. Brian Tipton is a practicing attorney with more than two decades' worth of experience working with nonprofits, governmental units, and other grant-funded organizations across the United States. Currently, Brian is the Managing Director of Tipton KPCL in Atlanta, Georgia, where he heads the firm's tax-exempt and grant-funded solutions practice. He is a summa cum laude graduate of the Louisiana State University and the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. Brian regularly represents grant-funded entities of all types in the areas of regulatory compliance, audits, funding source disputes, administrative appeals, and litigation. Brian also consults with organizations on governance, human resources, programmatic, and corporate matters, and develops and presents training programs for nonprofits and grant-funded organizations.
Join us in historic Baltimore for the Eastern Grants Forum 2024. The conference will be held at the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court Baltimore, conveniently located on Baltimore’s famous Inner Harbor. Rooms are available for special conference rates starting at just $159 per night (plus applicable tax). These special rates are available for August 14 through 17, 2024, and may be offered for additional days before and after the conference subject to hotel availability. Hotel reservations may be made by calling the Royal Sonesta Harbor Court directly at 1-410-234-0550. Please ask the reservations agent for the special group rate for “The Private Client Law Group” to receive the discounted rate. However, the easiest way to book your room is online by clicking on this hotel reservations link. The room reservation cut-off date is July 25, 2024, or until the block is exhausted. (Please note that the cancellation deadline for this event is before the hotel cut-off; cancellation requests must be received by 5:00 pm EDT on July 19, 2024.) Because of the limited number of rooms available, we advise making your reservations as soon as possible.
Just click the “REGISTER” button to register for the Eastern Grants Forum. Note that the cancellation deadline for the conference is 5:00 pm EDT on July 19, 2024. Please review our cancellation policy.