Certified Grants Management Specialist
GCHS already administers CDBG and HOME funds, and the CDBG Administration course on this platform covers that program in depth. The Certified Grants Management Specialist credential, CGMS, is different in scope: it is not tied to one funding source. It is issued by the National Grants Management Association, NGMA, and it credentials competency across the full grants lifecycle, pre-award, award, post-award, and closeout, regardless of which federal, state, or private funder is on the other end of the money. For an organization like GCHS that may end up managing CDBG, HOME, disaster recovery funds, and private foundation grants side by side, CGMS is the credential that says you can run any of them competently, not just one program's specific rules.
CGMS is issued by NGMA, the National Grants Management Association. NGMA describes the credential as resting on a "Grants Management Body of Knowledge," referred to as the GMBoK, which it describes as covering the professional domains that encompass the tasks and knowledge a grants management professional needs. NGMA's own exam page names four content domains the exam is built on: Grant Guidance, Grant Award, Fiscal Management, and Program Management. This course uses those four domains as its study framework, from lesson 2 onward, and files each topic under the domain it fits best. That filing is a study aid: the NGMA pages checked name the domains but do not assign topics to them. NGMA's Exam Blueprint (revised July 2025) does weight the domains: Grant Guidance 23 percent (30 items), Grant Award 29 percent (38), Fiscal Management 25 percent (34) and Program Management 22 percent (28), of 130 scored items.
The main exam has 150 multiple-choice questions: 130 that count toward your score and 20 unscored pilot items NGMA is testing for future exams, mixed in without being labeled, so you cannot tell which 20 are pilot questions and should answer every one carefully. You get three hours to finish, with one scheduled ten-minute break partway through. The exam is computer-based, taken in person at a testing center or with a live remote proctor. NGMA scores the exam on a scaled range of 200 to 1,000, and the passing score is 650. A scaled score is not the same as a raw percentage correct, so do not assume that 650 out of 1,000 means answering 65 percent of questions correctly.
NGMA sets two eligibility pathways, and you only need to meet one. The first is a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution (or an equivalent foreign degree) plus a minimum of three years of full-time grants management experience within the last ten years. The second pathway needs no degree at all, but requires a minimum of five years of full-time grants management experience within the last ten years. Full-time is defined as 32 hours per week or more, and part-time work can be combined and prorated toward that total. Qualifying experience is any activity covered by the GMBoK, meaning it does not have to have been in a job titled "grants manager." NGMA also runs eligibility audits on a random percentage of applications, so keep documentation (job descriptions, letters from supervisors, position history) that can back up the experience you claim on your application.
A detail worth knowing up front, because it removes a barrier some credentials have: NGMA membership is not required to take the CGMS exam. You can sit for it as a non-member. Membership does, however, change the price at every stage, the exam itself, a retake, and renewal all cost less for members than for non-members, so if GCHS staff pursue this credential more than once, joining NGMA before sitting the exam is worth pricing out against the member discount.
Separately from the real exam covered above, NGMA offers a practice test of 40 multiple-choice questions with a two-hour time limit, and NGMA's site says it is included with the purchase of your exam for one-time use. It is a good gauge of readiness, but it can only check your recall of the material, not replace the experience of the real exam's question style.
The initial exam costs $500 for NGMA members and $674 for non-members (the non-member price includes an optional one-year NGMA membership), and that price covers a $75 application fee. NGMA lists that application fee as non-refundable, and its certification page says all fees are non-refundable. If a retake is needed, NGMA requires a 90-day wait before sitting again, and the retake itself costs $175 for members or $250 for non-members, notably cheaper than the initial sitting. You get up to three attempts in a 365-day period. As of January 1, 2026, NGMA reports 398 total CGMS holders, and a 2025 pass rate of 62 percent across 155 candidates (its posted rates for earlier years were 47 percent in 2024 and 44 percent in 2023), useful context for how much study time to plan for.
CGMS is not a one-time credential. It is valid for three years, counted from your exam pass date, and expires at the end of your pass month three years later. Renewal costs $299 for members and $473 for non-members (the non-member price includes an optional one year of NGMA membership). Renewal requires earning 60 Continuing Professional Education credits, CPEs, during the three-year cycle. The credits have to relate to grants, financial management, audit controls, or the grant-making process, and they have to come from NGMA itself or from a sponsor on NASBA's list of CPE sponsors; general knowledge or ethics credits that are not specific to grants are not accepted. NGMA sets the rule for how training time converts into credits, so confirm the current conversion in its CPE guidance before you plan your hours. NGMA also publishes a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, covered later in this course. If you let the credential lapse without renewing, NGMA gives a 30-day grace period, with a further 60-day extension available on request, but if it lapses past that, you have to retake the entire exam to get it back, at $500 for members or $674 for non-members, a notably worse outcome than the $299/$473 renewal fee, so tracking your renewal date matters.
The CDBG Administration course on this platform is deliberately narrow: it teaches the specific rules of one HUD-funded program, national objectives, eligible activities, environmental review, procurement, and so on, because that is the program GCHS runs money through most often. CGMS sits a level above that. It is the credential a funder, an auditor, or a partner municipality recognizes by name as evidence of general grants management competency, independent of which specific program's rulebook is in play. Holding both is stronger than holding either alone: CDBG proves you know HUD's specific program, CGMS proves you know how to run a grant, any grant, end to end.
1. Which organization issues the CGMS credential?
2. Is NGMA membership required to sit for the CGMS exam?
3. What does the CGMS credential cover, in scope, that the CDBG Administration course does not?
4. How many questions are on NGMA's CGMS practice test, and how is it provided?
5. What is the initial CGMS exam cost for a non-member, and what does it include?
6. If a CGMS candidate fails the exam, how long must they wait before retaking it?
7. How often must a CGMS holder renew the credential, and what is one condition of renewal?
8. What is the GMBoK, as NGMA describes it?
9. What are the four content domains NGMA's exam page names as the basis for the CGMS exam?
10. How many questions are on the main CGMS exam, and how many of them count toward your score?
11. How long do you have to finish the CGMS exam, and what passing score do you need?
12. What are the two eligibility pathways to sit for the CGMS exam?
13. What happens if a CGMS holder lets the credential lapse past the grace period without renewing?
14. How many CPE credits does CGMS renewal require, and over what period?
15. What pass rate does NGMA report for the CGMS exam in 2025, and how many candidates was it based on?