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Grants Manager

Employer
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Location
New Jersey, United States
Salary
$85,000.00 - $100,000.00
Closing date
Jul 22, 2022

Position:       Grants Manager

Location:     Hybrid: Remote and Morristown NJ

Date:             June 2022

About Us

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is an organization in transformation.  Five years ago, the Foundation set a course to achieve its vision of a more equitable New Jersey. Given the devastating events of the last two years, it has accelerated this commitment and further refined its vision and strategic direction to center racial equity and justice, where people of all races and communities have equal access to opportunities and can thrive and achieve their full potential.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has a long history of cultivating vibrant ecosystems and resourcing efforts to promote the well-being of people across New Jersey. In its grantmaking, the Foundation prioritizes networks, movements, organizations, and leaders closest to the harms and solutions to inequity and injustice and who have been historically excluded from investment and opportunity. In doing so, it is shifting wealth, power, and other critical resources to changemakers on the frontlines of communities and movements in ways that enable them to accelerate, deepen, and advance their work on their terms.

Foundation Board and Staff are energized by the progress the organization is making in investing in emergent and historically under-resourced communities, namely communities of color:

  • In 2021, the Foundation launched the first round of Imagine a New Waygrants to organizations advocating for just systems and tackling barriers to equity in New Jersey.
  • In January 2022, the Foundation introduced its inaugural Momentum Fund cohort–ten organizations selected by a panel of community leaders employing diverse strategies to address root causes of structural racism across the state. The Momentum Fund provides cohort members with three years of flexible funding to support them as they explore new approaches and self-determine the best course forward in their work.

This is a critical time at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation as it works to transform its grantmaking, partnerships, and internal operations to center racial equity and justice and ensure that these values and capabilities are central to all that it is and all that it does. This is a “build moment” for the Foundation. As such, it is seeking entrepreneurial team members who are excited about opportunities to create and who are energized by working in deeply collaborative ways, actively learning, building new relationships, and leveraging and amplifying community expertise and solutions.

For more information on Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, please visit the organization’s website. The Strategic Direction and President’s Messages include additional details about the Foundation’s transformation.

The Opportunity

The Grants Manager plays a critical role in helping the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation operationalize its transformation to a racial justice funder.  Working at both strategic and tactical levels, the Grants Manager will collaborate with Program and Operations teams on re-designing and managing the full life cycle of the Foundation’s grantmaking processes to ensure they are aligned with our values.

Reporting to the Director of Operations, the Grants Manager will administer grantmaking operations across the Foundation, ensure appropriate structure and integrity of the grants management database (Salesforce) and fulfill the information needs of the organization’s leadership, staff, and grantee partners. The Grants Manager will also work in a highly integrated way with Program and Finance teams to ensure a smooth grantmaking process and experience, both for Dodge team members and for our grantee partners.  Currently, the Grants Manager manages a grantmaking volume of approximately 250 grants of $12 million annually.

As the Foundation is in a period of significant transformation, the Grants Manager is instrumental in refining grantmaking systems and processes and will demonstrate high degrees of judgment, flexibility, and responsiveness to the evolving needs of our teams and partners. Additionally, as Foundation staff will continue to work mostly remotely, the Grants Manager will need to be highly self-directed, independent, and effective working with limited in-person direction or interaction.

Essential Responsibilities

Key responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to:

  • Serve as a key point of contact for grantee partners, providing technical assistance for application and report submission, responding to inquiries on financial due diligence requirements and verifying grantee partner information.
  • Serve as the primary user for Dodge’s grantmaking system (Salesforce), staying abreast of system changes, coordinating activities with the entire team and external partners as necessary to address new issues or needs, and to work with the Director of Operations to maintain the system’s efficiency and functionality.
  • Collaborate with the VP of Programs and Director of Operations to create, revise and improve grantmaking processes, dashboards and application forms to ensure that collected data is properly coded and reported on within Salesforce.
  • Plan and facilitate regular “production” meetings and support communication and collaboration between Program, Finance, IT, and other cross-functional teams so that all grant management activities are smoothly implemented.
  • Monitor grant data entry and workflow processes to ensure adequate internal controls, due diligence, and overall data quality and timeliness.
  • Manage compliance with government regulations and Foundation guidelines.
  • Prepare and quality-check grantee correspondence, such as award and decline letters, grant amendments, letter templates, and audit compliance documents.
  • Monitor grant proposals, reports and payments to ensure all grants are moving through the process in a timely fashion. Identify and address areas for improvement with Program and Finance team members.
  • Develop/provide grant management systems training and guidance to Program staff and conduct onboarding for all new hires. Maintain electronic grant management manuals and procedures documentation.
  • Work with Program and Communications staff to prepare analysis, reporting and presentation of qualitative and quantitative data regarding grantee awards, learnings and outcomes to support Board presentations and other external communications.
  • Collaborate with the Finance team to make sure all grants and grant-related activities are properly recorded in the accounting system.
  • Manage staff and trustee discretionary grant process
  • Support the Director of Communications and CEO to ensure contact data integrity and to generate mailing lists for external communications.

Key Qualifications

  • Three to five years of relevant professional experience in philanthropy, grants administration/management in a non-profit, and or relevant technical experience.
  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
  • Strong proficiency with grants management systems and databases required. Experience with Salesforce is a plus.
  • Demonstrated commitment to advancing racial equity and justice.
  • A track record demonstrating sound judgment, discernment, and critical thinking skills, especially when faced with new opportunities or challenges.
  • Thrives working in a small organization where everyone wears many hats and works at both strategic and tactical levels of work with flexibility.
  • Systems-minded and an independent problem solver/learner who takes initiative to identify/design right-sized solutions to data management and workflow challenges.
  • Excellent analytical skills with the ability to synthesize and “find the story” in large and complex sets of data.
  • Professional maturity and discretion with regard to the handling of confidential or sensitive information
  • Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail with a strong sense of personal responsibility for work quality and accuracy.
  • Highly collaborative with ability to manage up and across diverse teams and work styles to achieve results.
  • Solid written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
  • Positive attitude, cooperative, and service orientated when working with diverse colleagues and grantee partners.
  • Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to effectively manage individual timelines and deliverables with limited remote supervision.
  • High level of flexibility, responsiveness and tolerance for change and ambiguity; Able to maintain calm and professionalism and embrace learning, amidst uncertainty
  • Must live within commuting distance to the Foundation’s Morristown NJ office and be available to work from the office as needed, currently 1-2 days per week.
  • Eligible to work in the United States.

Compensation & Benefits

The starting salary range for the Grants Manager position $85,000-$100,000 commensurate with experience. The Foundation also offers a full and competitive benefits package that includes, full medical and dental insurance, generous retirement contributions, paid medical and parental leave programs, professional development, cell phone reimbursement, and 20 days of vacation for full-time employees.

To Apply

Please submit your application here Your cover letter should outline your interest in the role and how you feel your experience is a match.

We will accept applications on a rolling basis until filled.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation values a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We employ qualified people without regard to: race; color; religion; sex; national origin; age; ancestry; disability; sexual orientation; pregnancy or breastfeeding; veteran or military status; marital status; civil union or domestic partnership status; arrest record; citizenship; credit history; genetic information; gender identity or expression; status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking; or any other characteristic protected under federal or state law.

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