Starting Small and Dreaming Big: 
Developing Collaborative Grantsmanship at Small Universities
Session 2 of the IHE Starting an Office of Sponsored Research Series 

Starting Small and Dreaming Big will offer key considerations and practical advice for developing a collaborative culture of grantsmanship at small to medium-sized organizations. During this presentation, the presenter will share her experiences developing a grants office at a small liberal arts university and growing into a collaborative model that facilitates the awarding of $1 million or more of grant revenue on an annual basis.  The presenter will share advantages and disadvantages to this collaborative model from the academic, advancement, and financial perspectives.

What you will learn:

  • Identification of key considerations for developing a grants office at an institution of higher education
  • Determination of an organization’s capacity to effectively engage in grantsmanship
  • Development of collaborative partnerships
  • Development of competitive proposals aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities


The trainers for these sessions are all credentialed grant professionals (GPCs) who agree to adhere to the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) Code of Ethics and are GPA Approved Trainers. All of the trainings in this series align with the Grant Professionals Certification Institute's competencies and skills

Length: 60 minutes

Presented by: Whitney Gray, MA, GPC, CGMS

Course curriculum

    1. Welcome: Let's Get Started

    2. IHE Grants: Starting Small and Dreaming Big

    3. Session Evaluation

    4. Quiz: IHE Grants - Starting Small and Dreaming Big

About this course

  • $25.00
  • 4 lessons
  • 1 hour of video content

The trainers for these sessions are all credentialed grant professionals (GPCs) through the Grant Professional Certification Institute, Approved Trainers with the Grant Professionals Association, and/or credentialed Certified Grant Management Specialists (CGMS) through the National Grant Management Association. All of the trainings in this series align with the CGMS exam classification system and the Grant Professionals Certification Institute’s competencies and skills, and are approved for Continuing Education Units (CEU) by GPCI and CFRE International.