GVFaces

Allison Lugo Knapp, associate director, Grantmaking School

For Allison Lugo Knapp, volunteerism and service were values she learned to appreciate at an early age.

Allison Lugo Knapp

“I’m originally from Latin America and my father was in international development, so we moved a lot,” she said. “I’ve lived in South America, India and the United States. Wherever we were, my parents encouraged us to be a part of any community we lived in, and to give back.”

This interest in community welfare is what led Knapp to her current position as associate director of the Grantmaking School at the Johnson Center for Philanthropy. Knapp’s role includes planning and developing programming for the Johnson Center, with a focus on professional development courses for philanthropic foundations.

Courses offered by the school include topics like proposal and project analysis, financial analysis and evaluation. “Attendees are program staff from different funders including community, family, private and corporate giving programs,” said Knapp. “These courses take place over two days, and they happen on a national level.”

She believes that working with such a variety of foundations is valuable. “Grantmaking is a world that isn’t always widely understood,” said Knapp. “But it’s our world all the time. We love being able to provide all the insight that we can.”

Before working at Grand Valley, Knapp served as a program officer at the Battle Creek Community Foundation. During that time, Knapp focused on support for culture and the arts, as well as youth populations. “It was great to be able to work in a community,” said Knapp. “People would always come in excited, with different ideas about community improvement. It was so satisfying to work in a place where we could effectively find solutions.”

In addition to her administrative role, Knapp is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Public, Nonprofit, and Health Administration and teaches graduate courses in grant writing. “I encourage my students to consider their grants from the perspective of who’s reviewing them, from the perspective of grantmakers,” said Knapp. “I also emphasize how much the process varies depending on what type of funder is being approached.”

In her free time, Knapp still enjoys traveling as frequently as she can. “I try to make it back to Latin America once a year,” she said. “It’s important to me that I stay connected, and that I keep that sense of community alive.”