Senior Grants Specialist Job Description

The Essential Skills of Grant Specialists

Grant specialists are usually tasked with identifying grant opportunities, managing submission deadlines, grant writing and editing, program oversight, budgeting, and evaluation and reporting. The hiring organization is related to the experience and expertise of most specialists. Grant specialists are required to have good organizational and writing skills.

Applying for grants is a lot of work. Grant specialists evaluate, write and manage grants. Strong editing skills and well-written progress reports are required in large organizations where the specialist takes on a supervisor role.

The grant specialist is usually working in a close team environment. Being able to clearly communicate needs is important. Specialists may be asked to present on a regular basis to review proposed grants and to report on those already secured.

Grant specialists must communicate with the granting organizations to increase the chances of successful applications. Analytical skills are a must for grant applications because they require applicants to demonstrate quantitative, measurable, positive results. Strong financial skills are a plus for grant specialists who create, manage and report on budgets related to their grant work.

GuideStar: A Tool for Grant Management

Grant management is all of the work that goes into using and fulfilling the requirements of a grant. Grants are managed by both nonprofits who receive grants and organizations that distribute grants, which can lead to confusion in how the term is used. A grant is more or less a contract, and it is important to know that.

By looking at grants as a contract, both grantseekers and grantmakers can avoid miscommunication and showcase their ingenuity. Maintaining relationships with funders is an important part of grant management. In most organizations, your top leadership tends to have a more hands on role in grant management and visioning.

Managers tend to be more involved in grants that make up a larger percentage of budgets when they have a relationship with the organization that funded the project. Up to 29% of all nonprofit funding is grant money. It is possible for a nonprofit to be struggling to get by and still have plenty to make a difference.

How do you do grant management? The components of effective grant management are: The management portion of grant management is about meeting deadlines.

A grant report is a must have for most grants, and missing the due date can hurt your relationship with the funder. Consistency and reliability are important to convincing funders that your organization is a good long-term social investment. It is helpful to be able to change the branding of the tool and make it more effective.

Software for Grant Management

Grant management involves working with all the key stakeholders in your organization to develop your strategy around grants, identify grant opportunities, implement specific grant awards, evaluate successful projects, and streamline future proposals. The manager of a grant will work across departments and interact with everyone from the CEO to the people who implement the details of the project to the financial team that tracks the money. You have to juggle many hats to be successful in grant management.

The details of searching for grants, writing a grant, receiving a contract, implementing work, reporting and tracking, and finally closing out the grant can seem overwhelming. An organized system brings focus to your organization. Grant management is a process that must be committed by the entire organization.

In the pre-award phase, software can help you identify the best grant opportunities, track different types of grants and awards, provide funder contact information, offer status updates of your proposals, and view your funding history and success rate. Grants management certificate program for grant managers The program has three tracks, federal awarding agencies, pass-through or subaward entities, and recipients of federal grants.

Foundation Center has information philanthropy. The Foundation Center has a program called Glasspockets. The site has transparency tools for private foundations.

A Survey of Grant Writers

Grant Writers work for nonprofits to raise money for their mission. They look for grants and research their requirements to find opportunities that fit with their mission. Grant Writers communicate with company leadership to confirm that they are interested in collaborating with the foundation or company offering the grant

Grant Writers use persuasive language and facts about their organization to explain why they should receive funding and how they would use it. An effective Grant Writer is highly motivated and takes initiative to seek out new funding leads. They are confident when they make suggestions and try to get grants for their organization.

Grant writers should be natural storytellers and use data-driven research to show grant providers that they will be good stewards of grant money. They enjoy taking a systematic approach to writing and are very focused on the final product. Grant Writers report to the Director of Development or a Development Manager.

They may report to other department heads when writing grants. Grant Managers are sometimes used to act as an alternative between the Director of Development and the Grant Writers, managing their assignments and giving them more freedom to work on other projects. A strong writing portfolio and a polished resume are some of the things you should look for in a Grant Writer.

Top candidates have experience with raising money and know how to approach finding grants and applying for funding. Grant Writing positions can be filled with experience in Copywriting because of the persuasive nature of their writing. Grant Writer resume features research skills and may cite publications.