Lessons Learned – The Vendor, The Client and The Grants Management System

The SmartSimple team is getting geared up for the Grants Managers Network (GMN) 10^th Annual Conference. This year’s event will run from March 16^th-18^th in National Harbor (just outside Washington, D.C.), and promises to be an exciting event.

“This is one of the most important conferences of the year for the not-for-profit sector,” says Gary Modlin, Director of Business Development at SmartSimple. “Grants managers and vendors from across North America come together to dig deep into the issues, trends and concerns impacting philanthropy today.”

More than 60 sessions are available for grants managers to take advantage of, ranging over topics in nine different learning tracks. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned professional, there are sessions geared specifically to your needs and interests. Topics include Compliance, Skill Building and Technology.

Also included are sessions sponsored by vendors attending the conference this year.

SmartSimple, along with two of our clients, is hosting a session on Tuesday, March 17^th at 2:30pm, entitled Lessons Learned – The Vendor, The Client and The Grants Management System. This session will walk you through the key steps that successful clients have used to maximize effectiveness during the change management process.

SmartSimple’s Director of Strategic Accounts, Todd Lapin, Director of Business Development, Gary Modlin, and Director of Customer Experience, Eric Lauer, as well as our clients Shavon Doyle-Holton from the Grand Rapids Community Foundation and Kelly Jackson from Feeding America will be hosting this informative and interactive session.

“We felt having some of our clients join us to share their own personal experiences would add a great deal of value to the session,” says Todd Lapin. “It’s one thing for us to talk about how to manage a successful implementation, but so much more meaningful for an audience of grants managers to hear directly from those who are in their industry and share common goals. This offers an excellent opportunity for clients to talk about ways to make the process a success.”

Shavon will be sharing her thoughts on issues to consider before selecting a system, managing expectations, change management and promoting a culture of positive change within your organization. Kelly will add her thoughts on best practices, where to start with data migration and integration, tools and resources.

There’s still time to sign up for our session! Check out the GMN 2015 Conference schedule for information on how to register. Also, be sure to drop by and say hello to the SmartSimple team at Booth #4.

As always, you can check out our website for upcoming SmartSimple hosted webinars or request a demo of our system.