The Grant Institute Complaint

Sixty reps of Alaska nonprofits and federal/state agencies are out more than $30k after paying $590 each for the Grant Institute's grant writing workshop. From Fairbanks to Dillingham, Juneau to Homer; city managers to librarians, it was an impressive gathering but turned out we became scam victims. Many had sacrificed travel and lodging expenses, with big dreams of being able fund projects we're passionate about all over Alaska. Instead, the workshop became a nightmore. Scheduled for three days at APU, the reserved lecture hall barely held the 60 registered for the class. No materials had arrived, but the instructor got rudimentary copies of what he said wasn't his presentation, it was the Canadian version, and much was missing. Then he said he was leaving a day early, so we only had 13 hours of actual instruction (pre-paid for 24 hours). The powerpoint was full of typos and generic information available free on the Web. A librarian from the consortium library got us together on the 'cancelled day' and we drafted a letter requesting a full refund of our registration for the course. She also taught us about the Foundation Center database, invited speakers from the Rasmussan Foundation and Foraker Group, and somewhat salvaged on her own, our last day of the course and moved us to UAA. Now we find out the Grant Station has over 50 similar complaints to ours with the Los Angeles area Better Business Bureau, more on the California Attorney General's office, on epinions.com, and workshops are scheduled at universities throughout the country ove rthe rest of the summer. The projects and programs and dreams we had for funding, may yet turn out, but not the feeling of being victimized by the Grant Station.

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