Founded in 1998, GPA is the largest professional association dedicated to grant professionals. Headquartered in Overland Park, Kan., the GPA represents the interests of thousands of grant professionals in the U.S., Canada and across the world.

The GPA is a membership-based organization and represents a range of grant professionals who service a variety of organizations. The association is dedicated to providing its members with educational training and resources to help them advance themselves and, in turn, the industry. Members of the GPA abide by a strict Code of Ethics and are connected with an extensive network of grant professionals.

GPA and its affiliates work to advance the profession, certify professionals, and fund professionalism. The Grant Professionals Certification Institute oversees the GPC credential based on a body of knowledge for the profession. The Grant Professionals Foundation provides scholarships to individuals to advance their career.

GPA is not a grant-making organization and does not award grants.

The Legend of Url the Squirrel

Have you ever been in a meeting and gone off on a tangent? Did something in your conversation make you and your colleague think of an interesting story or incident about a completely new subject which was only closely related to the subject at hand? This happens with GPA Headquarters staff. We call it our “squirrel moments”; like when a squirrel passes a dog outside and it becomes easily distracted and chases the squirrel for a brief moment and then decides to head back to its original task at hand.

In 2016, after experiencing many squirrel moments at the GPA Headquarters, we adopted our mascot - Url the Squirrel (pictured). To get back on track, a GPA staff member will say “squirrel” to reign us back into our original conversation. We encourage you to celebrate those silly rodents everyday, including our very own Url the Squirrel!