MANAGER OF PUBLIC GRANTS & COMPLIANCE

MANAGER OF PUBLIC GRANTS & COMPLIANCE

About Cara Collective

Cara Collective seeks to fuel a courageous national movement to eradicate relational and financial poverty. Through our three entities – Cara, Cleanslate, and Cara Plus – we engage job seekers, employers, and other organizations across the country to break the cycle of poverty through the power and purpose of employment.  

We believe there is an incredible untapped talent pool in our country, one comprised of people often experiencing homelessness and poverty. Our job is to unlock the strengths they already have and open new opportunities to gainful employment. We do this by taking the insights learned over the past 30 years to prepare job seekers and equip other organizations and employers with practices to build a more inclusive economy.

To ensure that we are centering our work around the individuals and communities we serve, Cara Collective commits to taking an inclusive and equitably approach in all we do: in our program design, diverse representation in our staff, partnerships we choose to enter, and our external and internal communications and policies. We leverage our individuality and differences as a way of deepening community and expanding opportunity in and around our organization.

Discover the impact we are making and explore the impressive numbers behind our success at www.caracollective.org.

About the Cara Collective Contracts & Compliance Team

The Contracts Team works with our public funders to support our mission by ensuring we are meeting all benchmarks and successfully propelling our participants forward. We build and maintain positive relationships with Cara’s public (governmental) funders, while complying with all contract guidelines, ensuring programmatic outcomes to fulfill our public grant-based obligations, and supporting Cara Collective’s mission.

About the Role

The Manager of Public Grants and Compliance will oversee the Contracts & Compliance team related to public, government and donor directed funding. The Manager is responsible for ensuring all performance reporting, contract billing, proposal submissions, and close-outs to government stakeholders are timely and conform to all contract-specific and federal requirements.

The Manager of Public Grants and Compliance will play a critical role in overseeing public funding agreements, ensuring accurate reporting, and maintaining strong relationships with government funders. This individual will be responsible for ensuring Cara Collective meets all compliance requirements, manages contract billing, and aligns financial and programmatic reporting with funding guidelines.

Qualifications 

We are excited to offer this opportunity for a detail-oriented and mission-driven professional to join our team as Manager of Public Grants and Compliance. This role is ideal for a strategic thinker who excels at managing government grants and ensuring compliance, all while supporting an organization committed to advancing racial equity and breaking the cycle of poverty.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, analytical, and thrives in a mission-driven environment. They should be a proactive problem solver with strong leadership skills, capable of managing multiple priorities while maintaining accuracy and efficiency.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in public grants and contracts management, compliance, or government funding.
• Excellent understanding of federal, state, and local grant regulations.
• Experience with budgeting, financial reporting, and fiscal compliance.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, meet deadlines, and work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience leading a team and providing professional development support.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite; especially Microsoft Excel
• Significant experience with grant management systems is desired.

This is an exciting opportunity for a Public Grants & Compliance professional to make a meaningful impact by ensuring Cara Collective’s continued success in securing and managing public funding.

The Responsibilities of the Manager of Public Grants & Compliance

Grants & Contracts Management (60%)

• Coordinate, monitor reports, billings and compliance requirements for all public grants and public contracts received by Cara Collective (from government agencies).
• Ensure Cara Collective’s public grant budgets, public grant spending, public grant applications and public grant reporting are accurate and in compliance with local, state and federal laws.
• Manage fiscal compliance to ensure that expenditures charged to grants match application budgets, with necessary documentation, and coordinate internal communications/reports, including regular communication with the Finance Team regarding restrictions.
• Manage the administrative requirements of Cara’s grants supporting Illinois DHS SNAP & TANF recipients, including recruitment, DHS referrals, participant tracking and monthly staffing sessions as required.
• Oversee billing of all Cara Collective public grants, including review and submission of monthly vouchers/bills in accordance with approved budget. Ensure that government funding processes, operations, tracking systems, and reporting is tightly executed and highly effective.
• Lead Cara’s involvement and response in all governmental audits and monitoring reviews of public grants.
• Develop and sustain strong, positive working relationships with government contacts.
• Work with internal and external parties to ensure Cara Collective’s compliance with policy and procedures; attend necessary bidders' conferences and grant workshops.
• Coordinate site visits from public funders, interact with and respond to questions from government and foundation representatives, and participate in relevant discussions and meetings.
• Collaborate with internal colleagues toward fulfillment and submission of public grant applications.
• Create systems within Cara Collective to meet the guidelines of new or revised contracts. 
• Identify new potential public and private funding opportunities through publications and other resources.

Data Management (20%):

• Oversee grant‐related data‐tracking, including monthly reporting of grant enrollments and other metrics.
• Ensure proper organization of grant-related and enrollment-related documents, files and referenced materials including participant income and employment verification processes.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records and data.
• Initiate and assist in special projects to develop more efficient reporting and data‐tracking procedures.

Leadership (20%)

• Participate in Cara Collective’s enterprise-wide leadership team.
• Supervise the Contracts & Compliance department, including up to two team members.
• Meet regularly with team members to identify priorities, discuss strategies, review ongoing projects; ensure professional development opportunities to help strengthen skill sets and job satisfaction.

Reports To

Chief Financial Officer

Direct Reports

The Manager of Public Grants & Compliance directly supervises the Contracts & Compliance Specialist and Senior Grants Billing & Compliance Specialist.

Workplace Type & Team Culture

Cara Collective has a strong team culture that values collaboration, communication, and camaraderie. We believe in the power of working together in person, which is why we expect our employees to be onsite at one of our Chicago-based locations multiple days each week. The exact number of onsite days per week may vary by role, employee tenure, and other factors. This commitment to in-person collaboration fosters a sense of belonging and teamwork among our employees, creating a supportive and dynamic work environment.

We consistently measure staff satisfaction through employee surveys and have found that year over year, the vast majority of staff agree that Cara Collective is a great place to work and grow. This high level of employee satisfaction reflects our dedication to creating a positive and fulfilling workplace for all members of our team.

Starting Pay Range

We take budget and starting salary very seriously. We market our roles and are using a salary analysis tool called Payscale and offer competitive, market-based compensation to all employees.

This position’s expected starting pay range is $62,000 - $65,000 annually.

Benefits

Our comprehensive benefit package includes:

• Medical, Dental, Vision Plans
• Basic Life Insurance
• Long Term Disability
• Personal Technology Reimbursement
• Starting with 17 Vacation Days, 8 Sick Days,
• 14 Paid Holidays

Employee Paid Benefits

• Pre-Tax Medical Flexible Spending Account
• Pre-Tax Dependent Care Account
• Pre-Tax Transit & Parking Options
• Supplemental Life and AD&D Insurance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• 401(k) Retirement Plan (employer match up to 4% upon hire & immediately vested)

As of this posting, we annually review our benefit offerings to meet our employees needs and be competitive in the market. All listed benefits offerings a at the discretion of the employer.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Cara Collective is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Cara Collective does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, parental status, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable laws. We encourage individuals of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please email us at kboelkens@carachicago.org if you require reasonable accommodation to complete this application.