Class Title: Hit by a Bus: Writing a budget that tells a story long after you’re gone!

Class Format: This is a recording of a 90-minute, interactive teleclass held via conference call on November 21, 2008. Since we recorded the class, you can listen to it in the convenience of your home or office.

To take this class, add it to your cart, provide your credit card information, and go through the checkout process. Immediately on registering you will automatically be taken to a classroom page where you will download the class materials and listen to the class via streaming audio from your web browser. The controls on the player enable you to listen to, or re-listen to, any part of the class. You may log out and come back at a later time or times time within 90 days from the date you registered for the class. In other words, you can decide when to listen to a class, even breaking it over over different days. Even better, you replay portions that you'd like to re-hear.

As soon as you register, you will also be sent emails providing you with your username and password, in case you need to log in again, good for 90 days. You'll also receive an electronic receipt, in case you need it for reimbursement or for tax purposes.

Class Topic: In 2001, the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative hired its first grant writer. Seven years later, the organization has more than quadrupled its staff (from six to 35) and its budget, from $300,000 annually to $5+ million each year.

But in writing for multiple partners to multiple funder agencies, telling the story to meet the specific needs of each reader becomes even more of a challenge. That’s where the budget and budget narrative come into play. Learning to mingle the math with the language of money, you can quickly write a descriptive grant that helps funders see and colleagues implement your project. And, best of all, you get more room to demonstrate to the reader a) your professionalism, b) your understanding of the project, and c) the good things your project will accomplish!

But wait! Aren’t budgets supposed to be scary, intricate financial sheets that only an accountant could love? No. A budget is just another part of the grant story. In a reader-friendly format, a good budget will keep the boss and your stakeholders on the straight and narrow.

Johna Rodgers will guide participants in program-based budget development – detailed, professional budget writing that’s as simple as making a grocery list. Specifically, she will:

• Walk participants through a project-focused budget design.

• Share tools for working with multiple stakeholders (and money grabbers).

• Provide a paper-and-pencil approach to budgeting – that easily moves to high-tech.

• Give session members tools they can use quickly and easily, including templates, budget-writing guides, etc.

• Include practical steps for calculating unknown costs.

• And much more.

The objectives and benefits for the session are straightforward.

• Participants will walk away with a number of physical tools for designing budgets with or without partners, including budget templates and checklists.

• We will work through a budget/project scenario (hands-on) to apply new budgeting tricks.

• Participants will learn to save time by writing “final” budgets that are user-friendly and (excuse the French) idiot-ready; even if you’re hit by a bus, someone in your organization will be able to implement this budget!

• And we’ll discuss internal budget policies and rear-end-saving measures that will let grant writers live to work another day.

By the end of the class session, participants will have a better idea of how to control and accurately reflect the frenetic budget process. Grants professionals from all fields will have a better understanding of how to design a readable budget that works.

Do You Have a Group? Class registration is for you only* with the following exception: If you wish to convene a group to physically gather around a your computer for a single class session, you may do so at no additional charge. With the money you'll save, you can spring for pizza for everybody!

*Please note that it is impermissible to share your individual log-in username and password with others without express permission from CharityChannel.

About the Instructor

An “accidental” grant writer turned Grant Professional Certified, Johna Rodgers has spent nearly 20 years in the corporate and non-profit worlds to support and manage organizations of all types and sizes. During that time, grant writing was an ongoing necessity; it only became a passion and chosen profession some seven years ago.

Today, Johna serves as Grant Writer for the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative, a consortium of 33 Kentucky school districts and their 130,000 students, teachers and administrators. Proposals focus on the collective needs of five to 55 or more schools, requiring expert collaborative skills and, sometimes, great patience. Since turning to grant writing fulltime in 2001, her efforts have resulted in a total of nearly $35 million for the region.

Dedicated to building the capacity of her profession and her fellow professionals, Johna expanded her participation as a presenter for AAGP to the ranks of the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI). National activities have included the following:

• Served as a Subject Matter Expert, collaborating on the development of the GPC exam through the composition and editing of test items (2006-2007)

• Named Chair of the GPCI Test Administration Committee (2006-present)

• Named Kentucky AAGP State Representative (2007-present)

• Awarded the Pauline G. Annarino Award by GPCI for exemplary service and outstanding abilities (2007)

• Coordinated the administration of the first GPC exam in Arlington (2007)

• Named to the GPCI Board of Directors (2008-2011)

• Coordinated site selections and exam administrations in Chicago, Atlanta and Long Beach (2008)

In addition, she serves as a trainer in Kentucky of educational leaders and classroom teachers, helping them build their own capacity for supporting students with additional resources. This includes trainings throughout the year with schools, state officials and university personnel, including the following:

• Presentations: Presented to small and large groups (local, regional and national), including presentations on basic finding, planning, and writing of grants; project evaluation; team grant writing; using budgets to improve both grant winning and implementing; and using a needs-based objectives process in proposal design (all ongoing). National and statewide presentations include:

  • AAGP National Conference, 2006, 2007, 2008

  • AAGP Regional Conference ( Chicago), 2008

  • National Association of Educational Service Agencies Conference, 2004, 2007

  • Kentucky Department of Education Division of Nutrition and Health Services Conference, 2006

  • Kentucky Fall Institute ( Family Resource & Youth Services Center / 21 st Century Community Learning Centers / Adult Ed. Services Joint Conference), 2005, 2008

  • Kentucky Community Education Spring Leadership Retreat, 2007

• Peer Reviewer: Served on more than a dozen federal and state grant reviews (2004+)

• Panel Moderator: Annual moderator for the Grant Writers’ Roundtable during the national conference of the Association of Educational Service Agencies (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)

• Ongoing technical assistance: Trainings as requested by schools/districts for state and federal proposals including one-on-one and collaborative projects (2003-present)

• Collaboration with the Kentucky Department of Education: Consultant and trainer for the 21 st Century Community Learning Centers program, providing three to five training sessions annually for school-based grant writers and statewide peer reviewers

• University support: Provide ongoing technical assistance in proposal development and implementation to Western Kentucky University College of Education and the Ogden College of Science & Engineering (2004-present)

• LoTi Mentor: Trained as a LoTi Mentor (Levels of Teaching/Technology Implementation) through LearningQuest to support teachers and schools as they assess, plan, implement and sustain integrated technology and teaching strategies in classrooms.

In addition, Johna proudly serves as a member of South Central Kentucky Kids on the Block, a puppet troupe that provides educational programming for children statewide. She serves as chair of the Grants Committee. She is also a proud Mississippi State Bulldog, have received her Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Paid and non-paid nonprofit work in years past has included serving as executive director of a Habitat for Humanity affiliate and a performing arts center, and working with groups including the State Games of Mississippi, the Peavey House Shelter for Abused Children, the Bowling Green (KY) Downtown Redevelopment Authority, the Kentucky Museum Advisory Board, Kentucky Citizens for the Arts and more. And, in another life, she was an award-winning newspaper reporter.