Grants Manager
The Grants Manager is responsible for managing grants and contracts throughout the entirety of their lifecycle, from prospecting to final report, for an assigned portfolio of government and foundation grants that support NIJC’s legal services and advocacy. The Grants Manager reports to the Director of Development and is a member of the five-person development team. The Grants Manager will coordinate with legal project staff, operations/finance teams, and other members of the development team to ensure the accurate and timely submission of all assigned grant applications, reports, and other required materials. The Grants Manager is responsible for writing and reviewing narrative for grant proposals and reports within their portfolio, as well as compiling and analyzing client- and service-level data from NIJC’s database to report on grant deliverables.
NIJC is a hybrid workplace, and the Grants Manager can expect opportunity for both remote and in-office work, but must be based in the Chicagoland area and available for regular in-person work at NIJC’s downtown office.
Essential Duties and Functions
Grant Seeking
- Collaborate with NIJC’s project teams and leadership to identify and prioritize funding needs in line with NIJC’s strategic plan and potential new initiatives
- Identify prospective grant funding opportunities, assess opportunities for fit, and make recommendations to the team and leadership about opportunities to pursue
- Lead the preparation and timely submission of grant applications, including writing and editing grant narratives
Contract Management and Compliance
- Manage post-award contracting requirements, including developing work plans in collaboration with projects
- Advise projects on grant compliance, including informing project staff and leadership of grant requirements, timelines, and contractual obligations
- Assist legal projects with developing processes and procedures to ensure grant compliance and successful achievement of grant obligations
- Support funder site visits and audits, including coordinating with project leadership and finance staff to ensure that required documentation are complete and available
- Develop and review memoranda of understanding, scopes of services, and subaward budgets for subcontractors as appropriate for grants with subcontracts
Grant Reporting and Monitoring
- Manage and update grant reporting calendar to ensure that no deadlines are missed
- Support legal projects with data quality assurance and improvement in NIJC’s case management database, LegalServer
- Track progress to grant deliverables and communicate with project leadership
Fiscal Management
- Liaise between NIJC’s projects and finance director to develop budgets for grant proposals
- Organize and provide support and input to regular project expenditure review meetings to ensure spenddown of grants on allowable expenses
Team Work
- Provide input to the Director of Development and finance staff as part of annual budgeting process to project grant funding streams
- Produce regular reports on grant funding awarded and projected to inform team strategy, goals, and assessment
- Work collaboratively with Development and other teams on shared goals, including strategic and team planning
- Participate in regular Development team, cross-departmental, and organization-wide meetings
- Other duties as assigned
Qualifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Education and Experience: Bachelor's degree in a related field, such as nonprofit administration, public affairs, etc. Masters degree preferred. A minimum of three years of experience in grants management, nonprofit administration, development, or similar area. Additional years of experience and/or familiarity with immigration, legal aid, and/or issues related to civil/human rights is beneficial.
- Language Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
- Extremely high attention to detail, consistent and reliable follow-through, and ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
- Strong self-starter who will take initiative and work independently to achieve results, but can also collaborate and contribute to team efforts.
- Computer Skills: Strong computer skills and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including managing and analyzing datasets in Microsoft Excel. Experience with creating and pulling queries from a case management database is preferred.
Competencies:
- Planning/Organizing – Prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; plans for additional resources; sets goals and objectives; organizes or schedules other people and their tasks; develops realistic action plans.
- Written Communication – Writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; varies writing style to meet needs and audience; presents numerical data effectively; able to read and interpret written information.
- Relationship Management – Communicates purposes, goals, timelines, and strategies clearly; establishes action plans for constituent interactions; manages multiple stakeholders with varying agendas with respect.
- Problem Solving – Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem-solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics.
- Adaptability – Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events; able to multi-task and lead in a fast-paced environment.
- Dependability – Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; commits to long hours of work when necessary to reach goals; completes tasks.
- Quantity - Meets productivity standards; completes work in timely manner; strives to increase productivity; works quickly.
NIJC is a program of Heartland Alliance. To apply, visit the Heartland Alliance jobs board: https://phh.tbe.taleo.net/phh01/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=HEART...