Manager of Private Grants

Description

Manager of Private Grants (MPG) (40 hours per week, Full-time) Exempt

Seeking a crucial and valued member of the fundraising team for BUILD, one of Chicago’s top gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development agencies. This position will maintain a $3M portfolio of private institutional funders of BUILD’s annual operations, writing both applications and reports while managing the calendar of submission deadlines. This role would work together with finance, grant, and data colleagues to ensure paperwork compliance, site visits, prospecting, cultivation, and stewardship.

The position requires experience researching, developing, writing, and submitting proposals and reports by established deadlines, all with an eye towards building a strong relationship between the funder and the organization, and working with program and organizational leadership to effectively steward each funder. The ideal candidate will be a strong writer, organized, detail-oriented, excellent at coordinating projects that involve many different teams and individuals, comfortable using social sciences data to write applications and reports. They will be flexible, patient, a creative problem-solver, a team player, and passionate about building relationships that will sustain the work of BUILD. The MPG reports directly to the Senior Grants Manager.

Agency Profile: For nearly 56 years, BUILD has worked in some of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods to stem the violence that takes away the positive potential – and, far too often, the very lives – of our youth. In 1969, BUILD started working with fewer than 200 gang-affiliated teens in one neighborhood and today BUILD serves nearly 3,000 unduplicated young people, while reaching 7,500 youth, families, and neighborhood residents annually, offering targeted services to enhance our impact in seven priority communities - Austin, East and West Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Hermosa, and Belmont Cragin - while continuing to provide support in other West and South Side Chicago neighborhoods.

BUILD’s programs are designed to meet both the immediate problem of preventing youth facing systemic barriers from engaging in or falling victim to community violence, as well as working intensively with young people to develop alternatives to this destructive lifestyle and forging successful futures. Our service population also includes youth who have come in contact with the justice system to prevent and/or provide alternatives to detention and assist with successful re-entry into their communities.

Mission: BUILD inspires hope and offers opportunities so youth facing systemic obstacles can achieve positive futures.

Our Core Values: Empathy, Passion, Persistence and Innovation.

The Private Grants Manager Has The Following Responsibilities

Prospecting, Writing, and Submitting Grants

• Research, write, and submit compelling LOI and grant proposals to private and corporate foundations, in compliance with funding requirements.
• Develop and maintain up-to-date working knowledge of BUILD programs and their budgets to better assess funding gaps, opportunities, and feasibility of different grant opportunities.
• Maintain $3M (and growing) portfolio of current private institutional funders: this involves creating a plan and timetable for each funder that includes plans for cultivation, solicitation, appropriate acknowledgment, and stewardship, enlisting the support of development colleagues, Board members, the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Development Officer as appropriate.
• Work with the Senior Grants Manager to set and execute the annual workplan for meeting fundraising goals – assessing capacity, feasibility, probability, and workload associated with securing all anticipated and necessary funding.
• Conduct ongoing prospect research using grant opportunity email lists and databases, and in-person networking events when possible - identifying new funding prospects that align with BUILD’s needs and mission.
• Prospecting: Check in weekly with Senior Manager and program leadership regarding potential upcoming grant opportunities to assess fit and feasibility and confirm program area for application focus.
• Work collaboratively with program; finance; and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) staff to understand performance metrics and evaluation systems, gathering information needed to submit letters of inquiry (LOI), and full proposals that ask for budgets and detailed discussion of performance measurement and metrics for success.
• Maintain and share up-to-date knowledge of the philanthropic landscape, especially as it relates to foundation and corporate giving trends. In addition, maintain and share content knowledge of the field to inform proposals, strategy and staff.
  
  

Internal Coordination

• Establish and maintain an updated annual private grants calendar that includes strategic priorities, as well as proposal and reporting deadlines.
• Ensure accurate and timely acknowledgement of all grants in your portfolio.
• Collaboratively maintain the cross-functional JARVIS Grant Tracking database.
• Send comprehensive Grant Kick-Off Emails to alert program, finance, MEL, and development staff of new grants.
• Respond to funder requests for information throughout the year.
• Work closely with Development Coordinator to ensure donor database is updated on a regular basis with contact information as well as recording all funder correspondence.
• Work collaboratively with program, finance, and MEL staff to determine and gather information needed to submit reports according to BUILD’s capability, and the terms of the grant agreement.
• Work with Development Coordinator to maintain accurate private grant funder contact list for holiday card and Annual Gala mailing lists, and annual report.
• Maintain electronic copies of proposals and reports on progress toward goals.
• Participate or staff agency fundraising committees as assigned and provide support for agency fundraising events.
  
  

General Development

• Participate as assigned in the development of materials presenting the agency’s services and impact that will be utilized in the cultivation of funders.
• Develop and coordinate opportunities for promoting BUILD, Inc. to potential funders and donors, including capitalizing on agency special events as a means for cultivation of key funders.
• Joining in to support department and BUILD-wide special events.
• Attend internal and external meetings with funders, research agencies, and community groups as relevant and assigned.
• Provide input to annual budget for development expenses.
• Other duties as assigned.
  
  

Requirements

A Successful Candidate will...

• Have a bachelor’s degree with a track record of writing, teamwork, and cultivating relationships with private funding sources.
• Possess strong written and verbal skills, with an ability to persuasively and concisely articulate the mission of programs of BUILD to various constituents. While always part of a team, this role will be expected to do much of their own proofreading and editing.
• Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills, including an engaging style that can cultivate collaborative relationships in working with funders, staff, and program participants. Extracting program information and updates from BUILD’s fast-moving program teams is not always simple!
• Be detail-oriented with strong time and project management skills, especially the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines simultaneously and use task management tools.
• Have knowledge of and experience in youth services, violence prevention, education, and mental health and wellness fields, as these are core to BUILD’s mission. Proficiency in data and social sciences research strongly preferred.
• Have an open mind, deep patience, a sense of humor, and willingness to think outside the box.
• Enjoy working on teams, but also be comfortable structuring and organizing their own time autonomously.
• Have specific experience with Microsoft Office, basic comfort in Excel, and donor database software preferred.
• Be comfortable with autonomy because they are highly organized with excellent time management skills, and are comfortable using shared team tracking and productivity tools.
• Maintaining professional and respectful relationships with all BUILD constituents, demonstrating sensitivity to all ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds.
• Be passionate about justice work, and strive to exemplify the values of innovation, passion, persistence and empathy—while empowering youth and community.
  
  

Other Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• Minimum 1-2 years of experience working with grants and institutional funding
• A vehicle and valid driver’s license is not required but would be a great asset to anyone working in BUILD’s environment, where staff work in multiple schools across the West Side, programming can run late, and staff frequently get involved with evening and weekend events.
• Operate professionally with a flexible time schedule, which can include the occasional evening or weekend texts/emails when deadlines require off-hours coordination with program staff.
  
  

Benefits

• 401(k) plan 2% match
• Medical, Dental and Vision
• Life Insurance
• Paid Vacation
• Wellness Days
• Flexible Spending Accounts
  
  

BUILD, Inc., does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, citizenship, ethnic or national origin, age, disability, medical status, military status, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, ancestry, or any legally protected status. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits and training.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically prohibit employment. Rather, BUILD Inc., considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Statement: External and internal applicants, as well as position incumbents who become disabled, must be able to perform the essential job specific functions (listed within each job responsibility) either unaided or with the assistance of a reasonable accommodation to be determined by the organization on a case-by-case basis.

This organization reserves the right to revise or change job duties and responsibilities as the need arises. This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment.