Reports to:Director of Strategic Partnerships

Type: Full-time/Exempt

Location: San Francisco Bay Area (CA) Preferred. buildOn will also consider candidates located in Boston (MA), Bridgeport and Stamford (CT), Chicago (IL), Detroit (MI), and New York (NY).

To Apply:  For consideration, please provide a resume, cover letter and answer the application questions on our Careers page.

Who We Are:

buildOn is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education. 

buildOn runs intensive community service and service-learning programs in partnership with under-resourced high schools in Boston, Bridgeport, The Bronx, Chicago, Detroit, and Oakland. Through buildOn’s Service Learning program, students have contributed more than 2.4 million hours of service to their communities. buildOn equips youth with the knowledge, confidence, and skills to identify strengths and challenges in their communities and draw on those strengths to address issues head-on. Youth develop teamwork and leadership skills that prepare them to apply for college, internships, and career opportunities in pursuit of their life goals.

Globally, buildOn works to increase access to quality education. buildOn’s Global programs of School Construction, Out of School Children Enrollment, and Adult Literacy, Numeracy, and Income Generating Programs are centered around participatory development. To implement the programs, local buildOn staff collaborate with Ministries of Education and rural communities that have high rates of illiteracy and Out of School Children. buildOn has worked with community members in Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Haiti, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Senegal to construct over 2,171 schools. 31,787 community members have graduated from buildOn’s Adult Literacy Program- 79% of whom are women.

buildOn is excited to launch into a new chapter of fundraising at the organization. buildOn recently underwent an assessment of our fundraising program in partnership with CCS Fundraising, a leading global fundraising firm. The assessment resulted in a comprehensive, strategic direction to support and grow effective, inclusive, and impactful philanthropy for buildOn and its programs. We are excited to grow our team!

We hope you’ll consider joining our team!

Who We Want:

The Grant Writer will support the Development team’s goals of sustainability scaling revenue, achieving fundraising goals, and expanding buildOn’s impact. The Grant Writer will report to the Director of Strategic Partnerships, playing an integral role in the organization’s donor cultivation and stewardship.

This Grant Writer will develop proposals and advance donor partnerships in collaboration with team members from the Development Team and key leaders across the organization. Responsibilities include drafting letters of intent, writing narrative proposals, creating grant templates, drafting correspondence, ensuring compliance with grant application requirements, and preparing reports for a range of current and prospective foundations, government agencies, and philanthropists.

This is a great opportunity for a resourceful, entrepreneurial hunter who takes initiative, enjoys writing, and has a passion for communicating impact. If you can manage multiple priorities, write concise narratives for grant proposals, deliver precise reports, and develop efficient workflows- then buildOn is the right place for you!

What You’ll Do:

• Develop and maintain a pipeline of foundation prospects
• Identify and qualify new grant funding opportunities 
• Serve as the point of contact for key foundations 
• Partner with Development team members to develop and submit grant requests
• Lead the preparation of letters of intent, grant proposals, and reports for a variety of funders- tailoring submission to align with donors asks 
• Collaborate with the Development team and key leaders in different departments to create proposals that accurately represent buildOn’s mission and align with donor missions
• Collaborate with programs staff and use annual program work plans, data, research, and storytelling to craft compelling cases for support/ templates 
• Ensure compliance with grant application requirements
• Maintain grants calendar to prioritize grant opportunities to ensure multiple proposals proceed in a timely manner
• Maintain activity records on buildOn’s donor database 
• Contribute to other donor communications as needed
• Work with the Director of Strategic Partnerships to establish processes, roles and responsibilities, and strategies for proposal development across buildOn
• Work to build a deeply embedded culture of Philanthropy at buildOn 
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What We Value:

We’ve identified a set of core competencies that you’ll need to thrive within the buildOn family.

• ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT: The ability to take calculated risks and see all possibilities to build something great from nothing.
• HUNTER: Identifies, cultivates, and secures donations from new prospects.
• PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATOR: Strong oral and written communicator, especially around storytelling.
• RELATIONSHIP BUILDING: Builds authentic mission-driven relationships with donors.
• FUNDRAISING: Closes the deal.

What You’ll Learn:

As part of your professional development at buildOn, you will learn how to become a Constructive Leader. Constructive Leadership is a method of building leaders that inspires solidarity and unleashes our courage, resilience, empathy, and passion for the possible. And Constructive Leadership is only ignited through service. Constructive Leadership is how we built this organization and what we’ve learned by working at ground zero of extreme poverty and the dropout crisis for more than 30 years. 

What You Bring:

• Passion for buildOn’s mission
• Bachelor’s degree 
• Minimum 2 years of experience in proposal development and grant writing 
• Experience with CRM, Salesforce preferred

What We Offer:

• A generous time off policy that includes paid vacation, personal and sick days along with paid summer and end-of-year shutdown weeks.
• 100% insurance premiums are paid by the employer for medical, dental, and vision along with subsidized deductibles.
• Opportunities for advancement.
• Annual performance reviews with merit increases.
• 403 (b) retirement plan, with an employer match.
• Pre-tax benefits (Commuter, Dependent Care and FSA).
• Professional development opportunities. 

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

buildOn is committed to building and maintaining an inclusive environment that drives innovation, strengthens ONE buildOn and bolsters a culture where people truly feel valued, heard and respected. buildOn provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, amnesty, or veteran status.

To learn more about buildOn, please visit our website at www.buildOn.org.