GRANTS MANAGER

Who We Are and What We Believe:

Founded in 1997, Bottom Line is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization with a mission to partner with degree-aspiring students of color from under-resourced communities as they get into college, graduate, and go far in life. We achieve this mission by providing one-on-one guidance during the college application process through college graduation and the successful launch of their careers.

Our vision is to dramatically transform urban communities by producing thousands of new career-ready college graduates.

When you join Bottom Line, you will find a rewarding, fast-paced, results-oriented environment. We build strong relationships with our students and with each other. We take our work seriously, and we know that a focus on data and metrics is integral to our continued success. Experts in our fields, we are driven by our mission and extremely proud of the work we do.

What You Will Do:

As part of the newly created Development Operations Team within the Regional Success Team, this role offers an exciting opportunity to advance Bottom Line’s goals on behalf of the students we serve. Reporting to the Director of Grants and Proposal Management, this position creates capacity for fundraisers to build and sustain revenue-generating relationships. You will manage and execute a grant writing portfolio related to approximately $6M in value, contribute to Bottom Line’s regional communication strategies, support the creation and improvement of grants-related resources and processes, and partner with other departments to create the grant proposals and reports that help sustain Bottom Line’s impact. This role will work with multiple regional fundraising leaders across our five current regional markets, with more in the future as the organization continues to expand.

Writing and Submission (60%)

• Serve as the lead writer on assigned grant reports and proposals that support institutional fundraising in Boston, New York, Chicago, Ohio, and new regions to come
• Understand the Bottom Line grants and proposals portfolio to produce writing tailored to resonate with each region and each funder
• Through a deep understanding of Bottom Line’s program model and theory of change, create high-quality and emotionally resonant grant materials that inspire continued and new investment from foundations, corporations, and other institutional funders
• Balance creatively inspiring and substantive writing with efficient project management for timely external submission
• Follow and contribute to best practices for the full cycle of grant project planning, writing, and submission
• Understand and communicate accurate internal data contextualized with credible outside research in clear and compelling ways
• Proactively solicit and warmly welcome edits and feedback from regional fundraising colleagues for external-facing products
• Elevate the voices, power, and strength of Bottom Line students and alumni

Project Management & Cross-Team Collaboration (30%)

• Effectively project manage the assigned grant reports and proposals for this role
• Maintain accurate data and work progress on assigned grants within Bottom Line’s Salesforce CRM
• Collaborate with Research, Analysis, and Evaluation colleagues for accurate reports on non-standard grant outcome data, to understand and stay up to date with standard outcome data, and understand methodology
• Collaborate with Finance colleagues to request standard and grant-specific financial information and reports that communicate Bottom Line’s impact and stability, including converting standard budgets into funder templates
• When appropriate (and with deep respect for their time prioritizing students), collaborate with Program colleagues for local details not evident from data alone

Resource Management (10%)

• Contribute to the strong knowledge management, culture, and best practices of the wider Regional Success Team
• Follow best practices regarding grants documentation storage in shared spaces with a sensitivity to redacting potentially sensitive information
• Contribute to donor/external versions of standard grant attachments

Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without advanced notice.

Work Schedule:

9:00 am to 5:00 pm with additional hours as needed.

Expected Travel:

5%

Who Should Apply:

If you meet the qualifications below, you should apply.

Required:

• Work authorization
• A minimum of three years in grant writing in nonprofit, government, or philanthropy, overseeing multiple projects
• Experience with and a passion for finding creative, eye-catching ways to engage readers (e.g., varied sentence structure, unique turns of phrase, etc.)
• Experience meeting deadlines successfully and skillfully managing multiple projects with multiple stakeholders simultaneously
• A basic understanding of non-profit budgets
• Experience with strategically linking existing programs to funder priorities in a way that maximizes unrestricted revenue
• Experience tailoring written voice for different audiences and contexts
• The ability to build rapport quickly and authentically via video, email, and chat
• A passion for, and a demonstrated commitment to, Bottom Line’s Mission, Vision, Core Values, and commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Experience with articulating complex, technical program concepts in a clear, accessible manner
• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills
• Detail orientation in writing, research, grant requirements, and following professional best practices
• Demonstrated commitment to Bottom Line’s Mission, Vision, and Core Values

Preferred: 

• Experience working within a national, multi-site non-profit organization in a role that relied significantly on working across regions and departments to achieve successful outcomes
• Experience with Salesforce
• Experience at an organization serving students from first-generation and/or under-resourced backgrounds
• Experience with creating compelling budget narratives from financial data