About Water.org

1 in 10 people around the world lack access to safe water and 1 in 4 people don’t have access to a toilet. We are working every day to change this. We are Water.org. We’re here to bring water and sanitation to the world. We want to make it safe, accessible and cost-effective because we believe that water is the way to empower a bright future that we can all share, worldwide. We are an international nonprofit organization based in Kansas City, Missouri that has positively transformed millions of lives around the world through access to safe water and sanitation. Founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, we pioneer market-driven financial solutions to the global water crisis. For more than 25 years, we’ve been providing women hope, children health and families a future.

Summary

The Grants and Donor Relations Specialist will join the nimble and high-functioning Development Operations + Planning team within the Revenue Department to support procurement and stewardship of major philanthropic gifts and other sources of funding. This role will be responsible for leading report writing for a portfolio of secured grants, aiding relationship managers, proposal writing and coordination, and supporting internal process optimization and special projects with oversight from the supervisor.

The right candidate will be an extremely organized self-starter who has experience with complex and sophisticated grant opportunities, writing, and some systems and/or project management experience.

Key Responsibilities

Award Portfolio Management (60%)

• Draft, revise, and copy edit grant communications, including concept notes, decks, proposals, and reports.
• Collaborate with relationship managers to determine framework for proposal opportunities, which may include acting as a thought partner with relationship managers, and lead coordination for proposal development across departments.
• Prompt and drive early-stage grant kickoffs to transfer important knowledge about grant restrictions, deadlines, and deliverables to accountable parties.
• Lead donor report development by developing updates from program staff into cohesive and compelling narratives for donors and maintaining a donor deadlines calendar.
• Collaborate with program staff to understand challenges that arise under grant programs and develop a recommended action plan with relationship managers to communicate such challenges to donors.

Donor Relationship Support (30%)

• Collect information and materials to support donor requests as needed.
• Lead donor site visit planning and management, including collaborating across departments to determine logistics and customize objectives for activities for each audience. Additional activities may include capturing lessons learned for ongoing process improvement and leading on the development of a detailed briefing book to inform visit participants.

Data and Project Coordination (10%)

• Maintain opportunity records in a CRM system.
• Provide copy editing support to the team as needed.
• Support revenue, payment, and opportunity tracking.
• Support special projects related to the strategic direction of the Revenue team.
• Support projects, initiatives, and/or ad hoc committees for pre-award and/or post-award workstreams as directed or assigned.

Management Responsibility:

• ​​ Individual contributor with no subordinates.

This description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of scope, stakeholders and linkages for every project, duty or responsibility but is intended to highlight internal or external processes, functions and jobs/roles that are expected to regularly interact with this position to deliver work. Scope may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.

Skills and Competencies

• Customer Focus – Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Communicates Effectively – Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Drives Results – Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
• Collaborates – Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
• Optimize Work Processes – Knowing the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement.
• Manages Ambiguity – Manages ambiguity by operating effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent related work experience.
• At least five years of progressive experience implementing grant management and donor engagement activities in a not-for-profit environment, including:
  • Deep foundational knowledge of grant management principles and practices, including grant development and administration, grant accounting and reporting and document controls.
  • Proven track record of successful grant management/administration or serving in a critical role to support grant writing activities.
  • Proficient communication skills, with an ability to distill disparate information and technical data into clear, compelling content that resonates with donors and other external stakeholders.
  • Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities while maintaining command of the details and orientation on results.
• Language(s): Proficient (written and verbal) in English.

Preferred:

• Master’s degree and/or international business or philanthropic experience in Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and/or Africa.
• Strong understanding of international development projects and priorities strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with the water and sanitation sector and/or financial products and services.
• Language(s): Proficiency (written and verbal) in other languages is a plus.

Travel Requirement:

Up to 5% of ​domestic and global travel.

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Being authorized to work in the country posted is a precondition of employment.

Salary and Benefits

This position offers a base salary range of $50,960-$106,880. In addition, this position is eligible to participate in our annual incentive plan up to 10%. This position offers full-time benefits inclusive of medical/dental insurance, life and disability insurance, retirement program, paid time off, paid holidays and more; as well as periodic review for merit and incentive pay based on organizational and personal achievement.

Water.org is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing an inclusive environment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, military and veteran status, genetic information, and any other status protected by law.  We provide qualified applicants and employees reasonable accommodation, when necessary, to enable individuals to complete the application process and/or perform the essential functions of the job. We believe social change happens when people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities come together with a common purpose. We strive to build and maintain a diverse team that will advance our mission and work and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.