Assistant Director of Foundation Relations and Sponsored Programs

Job Description

Department:

VP Planning & Strategy - Sponsored Programs & Scholarship -

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

Employee Type:

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Director of Data Governance & Strategy, the Assistant Director of Foundation and Sponsored Programs is responsible for supporting the core work of Colby’s Office of Sponsored Programs and Scholarship (COSPS). The Assistant Director leads all aspects of grants data management and internal reporting, ensuring accuracy and availability of information & metrics to inform decisions and operations. Also key to this role is maintaining the departmental website to ensure resource availability for all stakeholders. The Assistant Director assists the Director of Foundation Programs, Director of Sponsored Programs, Director of Grants Research & Funding Strategy, and Director of Data Governance & Strategy in managing the full lifecycle of grant activity. Together, these essential functions are vital for securing and managing external funding that supports faculty scholarship and institutional initiatives.

Essential Functions

To perform successfully in this position, an individual must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily as well as possess education/experience, employ the knowledge, skills, and abilities as listed in representative fashion. Colby College actively supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and will consider reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position. This listing of essential duties is not all-inclusive, but representative; other duties may be assigned.

• Manage the entering & tracking of submitted proposals, awarded grants, and related actions and reporting in our Raiser’s Edge NXT database.
• Manage tracking of faculty engagement and programming in the NXT database.
• Ensure data integrity in NXT database, establishing and proactively enforcing internal auditing protocols to review data quality, correct information, and identifying opportunities for data improvements.
• Maintain, update, and expand the departmental Code Book to ensure current and accurate specification of data elements, their fields, values, and meanings.
• Manage on-demand reporting in NXT, as well as monthly, quarterly, and annual internal KPI reports in Excel to provide insight into office grant activity.
• Collaborate with Advancement Operations on query & dashboard development as needed.
• Collaborate with Advancement Operations and the COSPS team on optimizing data management in NXT database.
• Manage and update the content on the office's Resources website to ensure availability and accuracy of a comprehensive library of opportunities, templates, and guidelines for grant applicants and awardees.
• In coordination with all members of the team, assist in executing a successful and effective stewardship plan for foundations to positively influence future grants to the college.
• Assist the office with maintaining ongoing contacts with government agencies and foundations, including scheduled external reports on grant awards.
• Assist the office with carrying out research on potential foundation donors and government agencies with the goal of developing new sources of funding that support faculty scholarship programs and institutional initiatives.
• Support the office’s faculty outreach strategy.
• Support team members with grant submissions process, coordinating tasks as needed.
• Coordinate and support various office events including receptions, luncheons, site visits, and faculty workshops.
• Process departmental invoices and assist with grant payment processing and completion of necessary forms for Financial Services.
• Assist with special projects as assigned.
• Participate in professional development training programs to enhance expertise and skills.
  
  

Position Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or significant relevant experience required
• Superb communication and organizational skills along with an excellent attention to detail
• High degree of self-motivation and an ability to work collaboratively in a complex environment
• Able to handle confidential information tactfully and exercise discretion
• Appreciation of Colby’s mission and the ability to effectively communicate it
• High level of proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace
  
  

Preferred Qualifications or Skills:

• Advanced coursework and/or additional certification desired
• Familiarity with higher education environment preferred, liberal arts setting desired
• Three to five years of experience in grants administration, foundation relations, public relations, or other related fields preferred
• Familiarity with CRM, grants management, or similar database software packages strongly preferred, Raisers Edge NXT desired
• Familiarity with project management principles and software desired, Asana preferred
  
  

Physical/Mental Demands

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform essential functions of this position and/or may be encountered while performing essential functions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• To successfully perform the essential functions of this position, an employee must be able to maintain appropriate confidentiality with regard to employee data, documents, issues, etc., and respect privacy needs of employees and past employees with regard to the same.
• The ability to comply with highly inflexible deadlines is required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position; there will be multiple occurrences of sudden, urgent task completion required.
• There may be occurrences of employees, past employees, members of the general public, and others who express opinions, may exhibit strong emotions, which will require the employee to interact professionally, diplomatically, and appropriately in such situations.
• While performing the essential duties of this position, an employee would frequently be required to move around the office space as well as within hallways, meeting rooms, and other parts of the campus facilities.
• There may be multiple/daily instances of prolonged personal computer use which would include keyboard and/or mouse usage as well as viewing a computer monitor.
• An employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds to perform essential position functions.
• Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and ability to adjust focus.
• The overall work environment requires the mental ability to shift focus quickly due to interruptions; an employee must be able to mentally track multiple projects and tasks as well.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate; however, there may be unexpected instances of somewhat loud sounds.
  
  

To Apply:

Interested candidates should apply electronically by clicking the “Apply Now” button on the Colby College website. Please upload a cover letter and resume to your application.