POSITION DESCRIPTION

POSITION TITLE: Grants Administrator

SUPERVISOR: Director, Chief Strategy Officer

DATE EFFECTIVE: February 5, 2024

DATE REVISED: February 5, 2024

LOCATION: Washington, DC/Remote

TRAVEL: Limited

JOB CLASSIFICATION: Non-Exempt 

JOB LEVEL: 6

POSITION SUMMARY

About the Chief Strategy Office

The Chief Strategy Office (CSO) leads and oversees the development, communication, and execution of the NAACP’s mission-driven strategies. The CSO is primarily responsible for the alignment and integration of the Association’s goals throughout all levels of the organization. This focus includes various high-impact initiatives, leveraging strategies leading to sustainable growth, a comprehensive policy agenda, and innovation.

 About the Grant Services Team

The Grant Services Team is the NAACP’s grants management arm and is responsible for managing the end-to-end lifecycle of grants within various portfolios of work at the NAACP supporting a range of program areas. The team is tasked with the overall development and execution of the Association’s comprehensive strategy, including research and prospecting, proposal design and development, reporting and compliance/management, and database management. 

About the Grants Administrator

The NAACP seeks a dynamic, creative, resourceful, and highly organized Grants Administrator responsible for managing and monitoring a portfolio of grants (awarded by and/or received by the NAACP), ensuring consistency in grant processing. The role is tasked with continuous improvement and examination of the impact of our processes on our various audiences and stakeholders, particularly grantors and grantees.

The role will manage a robust database and leverage our grant management platform to support the grant services function, as well as provide guidance and training to program staff. The Grants Administrator is entrusted for ensuring data integrating, providing customer support to external parties, supporting internal staff, and fiscal and programmatic reporting. The successful candidate will possess collaboration and problem-solving skills and will provide seasoned guidance on compliance issues as well as key financial and operational best practices.

The role requires both strategic and tactical leadership skills in grant administration, workflow process optimization, stakeholder management and support, stakeholder support and training, and learning and evaluation support. 

The ideal candidate has proven experience in change management, ideally within a grantmaking organization or a consulting firm that serves philanthropic organizations, and is passionate about systems and process improvement, customer service, data analytics, process documentation, and training. 

RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES

Relationship Management

• Maintain current information and contacts of funders and representatives.
• Track key funder activities, next steps, and grant program administrative tasks in grants management software.
• Prepare stewardship materials including funder updates, funder briefing materials, annual impact reports, etc. 
• Monitor Grant Services shared mailbox and provide timely responses.

Grant Writing and Reporting

• Write, prepare, and submit corporate and foundation grant proposals.
• Manage internal grants calendar to ensure deadlines for a robust grant schedule are met.
• Prepare and submit timely and accurate grant reporting (progress/interim reports, year-end, financial reporting, program data, and special reports as required).
• Prepare grant program budgets in collaboration with program and finance staff.
• Routinely prepare reports on grants monitoring and activity.

 Grant Research, Administration, and Internal Processes

• Responsible for pre-award oversight, coordination, budgeting, grant development, and submission of the grant application. 
• Responsible for post-award grant management and reporting. 
• Conduct prospect and funder research for new grant opportunities.
• Coordinate with appropriate teams to secure the needed data points and financial information for proposals, reports, and grant tracking.
• Stay informed of trends, best practices, and activities in the philanthropic sector and among funders and translate them back to the organization.
• Develop and maintain written profiles of funders to inform program/development staff and leadership.
• Confirm accuracy of grant entries in the grants management database for details such as purpose, projected grant amount, payment disbursement dates, etc.
• Receive and file grant application materials in the grants management database and digital filing.
• Routinely communicate and partner with program staff to ensure system use throughout the grant lifecycle; identify and address any barriers.
• Review project budgets, expense reporting, procurement, and other internal processes to ensure ongoing compliance. 
• Develop and conduct ongoing training programs to support management of grants. 
• Oversee internal monitoring, compliance review, reporting out, and audit programs.

Grant Making

The NAACP serves as a funding intermediary; a portion of this role is to administer our grant making activities under our Inspire Initiatives. 

• Conduct aspects of the grantmaking process.
• Assist and/or manage NAACP grants.
• Conduct due diligence reviews of applications.
• Liaise with grantees and manage communications regarding grant materials (e.g., missing application items, budget issues, etc.)
• Address questions about the application/grantmaking process.

QUALIFICATIONS 

• A bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience. 
• Minimum of three years’ experience in philanthropy, grants management, and grant writing is strongly preferred.
• At least three to five years of experience working with foundations and institutional funders.
• Proficient with Microsoft Suite. 
• Strong comfort with CRM systems; knowledge of Salesforce specifically, a plus.
• Strong comfort with Grants Management systems; knowledge of Fluxx specifically, a plus.
• Exceptional writing ability. Able to synthesize information from throughout the organization into clear, compelling, and concise written materials.
• Superb attention to detail, balanced against consistent production of timely, error-free work.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. Comfortable serving as support to senior staff as they manage fundraising prospects and donors. Skilled in establishing trusted partnerships throughout the organization and using expert judgment when dealing with internal and external constituents.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and ability to build strong, collaborative relationships at all levels, drawing on a high degree of emotional intelligence and the ability to foster mutual trust and respect.
• Ability to multitask, work effectively, and produce high-quality work in a fast-paced, high-volume, deadline-driven environment. Ability to take initiative, prioritize duties, and work independently, as well as collaboratively, with a spirit of flexibility and positive outlook.
• Proven experience in project management, strategic planning, priority setting, and execution of projects and systems within a complex organization.
• Ability to work under pressure, manage team workload, prioritize projects, meet deadlines, and maintain a sense of humor within a changing fast-paced environment. 
• Ability to move work forward independently and think in the big picture while applying a keen eye to detail.
• Strong financial and analytical skills and experience in utilizing data to drive process change and improvement, a plus.
• Demonstrable passion for civil and human rights.