Grants Manager

The Opportunity

With an initial commitment of $350 million (and counting) over five years, The Just Trust seeks to hire its first Grants Manager to join our growing Operations team.

The Grants Manager will be responsible for creating, implementing, and maintaining effective grants management processes to support over $50m per year in annual grant making to U.S. based nonprofit organizations. .

If you are a seasoned grants manager who is passionate about implementing efficient grant making systems that truly embody the spirit of trust based and strategic philanthropy, we are looking for you!

The ideal candidate is someone who brings an informed opinion about grants management to the team and is passionate about maximizing the grantee experience as well as making impact toward the organization’s criminal justice reform goals. They are excited about the opportunity to work with a cross-functional team to help build grant making operations for a newly independent grant making organization and ready to thrive in a startup environment with a team of passionate, results-driven colleagues.

This person is also excited by the idea of supporting a small, hardworking team focused on big, big challenges. Equally important, this person will have a deep commitment to contributing to an internal organizational work culture where team members can be highly effective in their day-to-day work as well as thrive in a work environment where a “people first” culture is a value and priority. Core to this position is also a person who possesses a collaborative, partnership-driven spirit, is deeply committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and cares about the criminal justice reform issues that The Just Trust is committed to. This is a full-time, remote position with some travel for all staff meetings and retreats.

You Will:

In the first 90 days, with the support of the Senior Manager of Finance and Operations and a cross functional team of colleagues, the Grants Manager will focus on fully implementing the new grants management systems, protocols, and policies for the organization. Once the new systems are fully implemented, the Grants Manager will maintain these systems, protocols and policies, and oversee the day-to-day operations of grantmaking for the organization which makes around 100-120 grants annually and moves over $50M per year in grants to the criminal justice reform field.

Grants Management

• Manage day-to-day grants process and workflow including managing the pipeline, review, award, reporting, and close out, in a timely and efficient manner.
• Partner with the Program Team (grantmakers) and ensure that all approved grant recommendations are processed and executed. This includes conducting financial, organizational, and compliance due diligence for all grants.
• Manage grant reporting, ensuring timely submission, review, and approval of grant reports.
• Document and train staff in grants procedures and improvements to the process.
• Work in partnership with the Senior Manager for Finance and Operations to improve and innovate processes and policies, with a goal of always improving grantee experience.
• Maintain all electronic documents and files related to grants in an organized way and in accordance with document retention policies and other compliance standards. And, work with other teams to ensure that these data can be reported on in a simple and time efficient manner.
• In partnership with the Program Team, manage special grant projects such as RFPs or other funding campaigns.
• Coordinate with the Communications Department to ensure transparency in grants policies and procedures and communications related to grants process are accurate on the website, in grantee communications, etc.
• Coordinate closely with the program team to ensure close alignment and consistency on all grantee-facing engagement.

Grants Management System Administration

• Lead the implementation and integration of a new grants management system.
• Serve as the database administrator for the grants management system (TBD).
• Proactively troubleshoot technical problems with the system and bring in external experts to help when needed.
• Create dashboards, queries, and other data analytics to support programmatic, financial, and operational decision making and goals.
• Ensure data integrity through staff training and supporting audits.

Other Duties

• Center JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) in your personal and organizational leadership both internally and externally.
• Assist in preparing materials for the board and leadership team.
• Assist with grant reporting and administration of grants to The Just Trust.
• Travel as needed to attend quarterly in-person staff meetings/retreats as well as networking events.

The person holding this position may also work part-time for a coordinated 501(c)(4) organization, The Just Trust for Action, under a resource-sharing agreement between The Just Trust for Education and The Just Trust for Action. The responsibilities under that position will be overseen by The Just Trust for Action.

You Have/Are:

• A minimum of five years of experience in grants management at an organization that primarily engages in grant making.
• Technologically savvy and demonstrated experience with administration of grants management systems.
• Customer service orientation, able to balance the needs of our grantmaking staff with the needs of our grantees.
• Very organized, especially with file and document management.
• Strong project management skills and proven ability to manage a large workflow of grants, stakeholders, and bodies of work.
• Understanding of grantmaking under a 501(c)(3) and a 501(c)(4), preferred but not required
• Demonstrated ability to value and support the work of nonprofits across the criminal justice reform field including: nonprofits across the political spectrum - progressive and conservative organizations - as well as faith leaders, crime survivor groups, and law enforcement/corrections organizations.
• Track record as a collaborative worker who excels in managing multiple projects, and is comfortable working in a fast-paced and non-traditional work environment.
• A deep alignment and commitment to criminal justice reform and equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Salary and Benefits

The salary for this role is $120,000 - $140,000, depending on experience. In addition, as an employer we offer a generous and comprehensive benefits package that includes employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, employer match on 401k contributions, and paid holidays, vacation, sick, and volunteer time off.

The Just Trust is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. NVF is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. NVF’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

COVID-19 Policy

To center the safety and well-being of its employees,as an employer we require that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law by contacting human resources.