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This woman claims to be an accomplished grant writer with multiple locations, she will sell you on her phony stories and tales of her accomplishments. She runs her business all by herself (though she may tell you otherwise), on her own schedule, that no one can work with. She will demand large amounts of money upfront and then never meet a deadline. She has wronged many people out of large amounts of money. Think twice before doing business with her.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Found on the GPC website:
TEMPORARY SUSPENSION
2014 – Deborah Golden-Gestner, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, has recently been temporarily suspended from holding her GPC for three years by action of the GPCI Grievance/Disciplinary Committee, as authorized by the GPCI Board of Directors, for violation of the GPA Code of Ethics. This suspension is in place until June 4, 2017, at which time she is eligible to retake the GPC exam should she choose. A letter of suspension has been sent to the individual and notification of this action has been given to the complaining parties
Her new name for her company is "us-grants.com."
She is now in the Lower Burrell/New Kensington, PA area.
There are so many things I can write about her and not one is positive.
If you are looking for her, she is living in Lower Burrell Pennsylvania. She seems to have even more tricks up her sleeve.
Deborah Ghestner is one of the most unethical human beings I have ever met. She will lie without compunction if she feels it will lighten your wallet. She is the quintessential scam artist. Why work with this person when there are so many good ethical, hard working grant writers out there? Just go to Elance.Com and you will find dozens.
I am a former employee who she laid off-because she couldn't afford her staff. She is a scam artist who writes in CAPS often-guess we know who wrote the last comment. And if the last comment is not her the spelling and grammatical errors show that the only reason this person worked with her so long is because they were not well educated.
I feel badly because she has a lot of personal issues-her home in Boca Raton was foreclosed on. She would work in the office until 1 am because she wouldn't come in until 4. Never knew what normal hours were. Her poor kid would have to sit in the office all evening.
I strongly disagree that these comments and accusations are true. As a former employee this women is very professional and unfortunately not all the employees that she hired were not doing there job and make long story short they sat there doing nothing while Deborah had to stay till 1 am or 2 am doing their work that they should have been doing all along. Another reason why she had to lay these employees off was because she had to stay at the office at those late hours and it was very hard for Deborah to do triple the work and right these 700 page grants as well.
I feel bad for the people who do not know the real story. I was very close to Deborah and her son, the best teenager i have ever met. Who ever commented above this about DeBary that is very funny you said that she used an excuse about her dog going in HEAT. If you knew the real story thats not true. I will tell you the real story.
While Deborah was working on the DeBary project which was through the years [protected]) her dog had a litter of puppies. If you would have your story straight the city manager of DeBary had a litter of puppies to and they were on very friendly terms and they shared picutres by E-mail. i am confused at your comment about the mail drop in the strip mall, i have known and worked for Deborah for 15 years and never did she use a mail drop in a strip mall while while working in the fields of grant work. How ever she did use a post office box for six months after she closed the office and laid off all her employees in 2010.
If you actually read those newspaper articles you would see the reason she resigned from her consulting contract was because her son was ill in Miami Children's hospital and she couldn't continue to commute 300 miles to Miami and DeBary while her 12 year old son needed her while he was scared.
This humor value that you speak of is someone who might be out to get revenge or who has a grudge against a women who knows her ###! I hope these people understand DeBary was 7 years ago and a small simple minded person like you would use a pour innocent dog going into heat and having a litter of puppies as a excuse to use saying she didn't get her work done because of that. Im sorry there are women out there that know what there doing and some people will get mad about that.
A person considering hiring this person should first put aside their suspicious nature. The bogus and now-missing web site should not dissuade you; there are good people who do not have web sites. You should also ignore the rather odd overlapping history of jobs with Capital Philanthropy group, because many people cannot keep their stories straight.
Instead, look at results. Call the City of DeBary, for instance. I had the opportunity to watch that one, and have to admit that her bills were amazing. The results, not so much. But I loved her e-mail to the city manager about her light duty work, how her puppy was in heat (photos furnished), and how difficult this made it for her to get work done.
DeBary was fair about it. They even overlooked the fact that her putative corporate address was a maildrop in a strip mall.
I appreciated the humor value. .Of course, I got a couple of newspaper columns out of her antics in DeBary before she fled. Hope someone in her new target area gets some enjoyment ouf of her also.
Looks like many feel the same way about this woman! Add me to the group! It is about time! Looks like the company website has been shut down too!
Took awhile to find this one and make a complaint. No reason to call her, she doesn't answer calls or emails.
Just as stated above, do some real research on this woman. Don't settle for what she is willing to show you.
Glad she finally left this city. I'm not an ex employee either. Hard to be an employee when she's the only employee.
Not an employee, but I like what the two above have written! Props to you two!
All of these posts are provided by previous employees who have been let go from the grant firm. I have more than 30 years of successful experience in grants and planning with many completed projects and grants. Its unfortunate that they choose to air their concerns this way. I would hope that they would refrain from these type of posts in the future. DSG
Thank you, thank you, thank you for calling this woman out on the carpet! Please, if you want to do business with this woman and her "staff" at Capital Philanthropy Group, do your research carefully!