NGMA Virtual Summit 2020 Recap


The National Grants Management Association (NGMA) held its annual training conference, rescheduled from April and redubbed the Virtual Grants Training & Summit, on May 18-20, 2020, in an entirely virtual format, due to COVID19 restrictions. For longtime attendees of the conference, the new format was a refreshing change. Although we missed seeing our peers in person, there were advantages to the virtual platform, including the ability to chat with other attendees during live sessions and to save and download all personal conference notes from within the platform itself. The virtual format allowed more than 700 attendees to register for the event.
The Summit provided 40+ training sessions, covering subjects such as:

    •    Selecting a grants management system
    •    Disaster assistance funding
    •    Indirect costs
    •    Risk assessment and internal controls
    •    Internal grants policies and compliance requirements

Monday’s motivational speaker, D.J. Vanas, spoke on “Victory By Design.” He discussed using the resources that you have to create success, including maximizing your energy through sufficient sleep and making the most of your skillset.
As in other years, the grants policy highlight of the conference was the OMB speaker. This year Rhea Hubbard updated attendees on Tuesday about recent activities within OMB related to federal grants, including the recent OMB grants memos related to coronavirus (M-20-11, M-20-17, M-20-20, M-20-21). She explained that OMB has received over 1,000 comments from the public and federal agencies regarding the proposed changes to the Uniform Guidance in 2 CFR, and is currently working to adjudicate the comments, aiming to release final revisions in August or this fall.

As always, Management Concepts had a presence at the conference, surveying attendees and interacting via the virtual platform. We enjoyed chatting with our current students and Grants Management Certificate Program™ alumni about our lockdown hobbies and other challenges brought on by current restrictions.

For more than 20 years, Ruth Famojuro has been an instructional designer and Subject Matter Expert for Management Concepts, developing portions of the Grants Management Certificate Program™ and other custom curricula. She holds a BA in History from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a Graduate Certificate in Library and Intellectual Property in Distance Education & eLearning.