Grants Manager

The Center for People is a dynamic non-profit organization that provides innovative services and programs to the low-income community in Lincoln, Nebraska, addressing basic needs and providing opportunities to achieve economic independence for our clients. 

We are currently looking for a Grants Manager. This position is a full-time, 40 hour per week, onsite position.

I.    GENERAL FUNCTIONS

The Grants Manager leads the full grant lifecycle for Center for People, including prospect research, proposal development, grant strategy, budgeting, compliance, reporting, and funder stewardship. This role is responsible for securing and managing institutional funding opportunities while ensuring proposals and reports accurately reflect organizational goals, program impact, and financial accountability.

This position also serves as the primary administrator and strategic lead for the organization’s grants intelligence software, leveraging data and analytics to strengthen pipeline management, opportunity tracking, funder research, and institutional revenue strategy.

The Grants Manager works collaboratively across Finance, Fund Development, Executive Leadership, Marketing and Communications, and program teams to develop compelling grant proposals, manage deadlines, track outcomes, ensure compliance, and maintain long-term funder relationships. Strong writing, project management, analytical, budgeting, and relationship management skills are essential for success in this role.

II. ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Grant Strategy & Institutional Revenue Development

Lead the development and maintenance of an annual grant strategy aligned with Center for People's mission, strategic priorities, program needs, financial goals, and capacity.

Build and maintain a grant funding calendar that includes application deadlines, renewal dates, report deadlines, stewardship touchpoints, grant periods, payment schedules, and internal due dates.

Develop and maintain a qualified institutional funder pipeline by program area, funding priority, award size, renewal potential, relationship status, and reporting burden.

Evaluate grant opportunities for mission alignment, financial value, allowable uses, organizational readiness, sustainability, compliance requirements, match requirements, and administrative burden.

Partner with Finance, Fund Development, Executive Leadership, and Program Leadership to identify funding gaps, restricted funding needs, unrestricted operating support opportunities, and renewal priorities.

Support grant-related revenue forecasting by tracking submitted, pending, awarded, renewed, declined, and prospective funding opportunities.

Recommend which opportunities should be pursued, deferred, declined, or cultivated further based on strategic fit and organizational capacity.

Use the organization's grants intelligence software to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and track prospective funding opportunities aligned with Center for People's mission, programs, strategic priorities, and revenue goals.

Leverage grants intelligence data to inform institutional revenue strategy, including opportunity scoring, funder alignment, renewal potential, award size, application cycles, geographic priorities, and relationship pathways.

Prospect Research & Opportunity Development

Research potential grant opportunities from government agencies, private foundations, corporate foundations, family foundations, civic organizations, and other institutional funding sources.

Monitor grant databases, funder websites, public announcements, subscription services, community networks, and funding alerts.

Research funder priorities, giving history, geographic focus, award ranges, application requirements, relationship pathways, and alignment with Center for People's programs and outcomes.

Use grants intelligence tools to analyze funder giving patterns, historical awards, peer funding, eligibility indicators, application trends, and strategic points of connection.

Prepare concise opportunity summaries for leadership review, including fit, deadline, required materials, funding range, risks, restrictions, reporting requirements, and recommended next steps.

Identify renewal, expansion, and upgrade opportunities with existing institutional funders.

Proposal Development & Submission

Lead the development, writing, coordination, and submission of clear, persuasive, and compliant grant proposals, letters of inquiry, concept papers, renewal applications, government applications, and supporting materials.

Translate Center for People's mission, programs, learner outcomes, workforce development strategies, community impact, and financial needs into compelling funder narratives.

Work with program staff and leadership to define project goals, target populations, service models, work plans, outputs, outcomes, timelines, staffing needs, and sustainability plans.

Develop detailed proposal timelines with internal deadlines that allow adequate lead time for program input, financial review, leadership approval, attachments, and final submission.

Coordinate internal grant kickoff meetings for complex proposals to clarify roles, required information, decision points, budget needs, and submission responsibilities.

Maintain standard proposal attachments, including organizational descriptions, program summaries, leadership bios, budgets, audited financials, IRS documentation, board lists, demographic information, and outcome data.

Ensure all proposals are submitted by deadline and comply with funder guidelines, formatting requirements, portal requirements, eligibility criteria, and required attachments.

Grant Budgets, Financial Coordination & Restricted Fund Management

Partner with Finance and program leaders to develop accurate proposal budgets and budget narratives that reflect real program costs, staffing needs, allowable expenses, indirect costs, match requirements, and funder restrictions.

Monitor grant budgets and expenditures with Finance to ensure restricted funds are used in accordance with approved budgets, funder requirements, contracts, and internal policies.

Support regular review of grant spending, budget variances, reimbursement timelines, payment schedules, and remaining balances.

Coordinate with Finance before expenses are charged to restricted grants when clarification is needed regarding allowability, documentation, budget categories, or grant terms.

Support preparation of financial reports, reimbursement requests, budget modifications, and grant-related documentation required by funders.

Flag financial or compliance risks early and coordinate with leadership and Finance to resolve issues before they become reporting or audit concerns.

Grant Compliance, Contracts & Government Funding

Maintain a centralized grant compliance system that tracks award terms, contract requirements, allowable expenses, restrictions, match requirements, deliverables, reporting periods, documentation requirements, closeout tasks, and funder communications.

Review award letters, contracts, grant agreements, amendments, reporting instructions, and compliance requirements to ensure internal stakeholders understand obligations before implementation begins.

Coordinate with Finance, program teams, and leadership to ensure grant-funded activities are implemented in accordance with funder expectations, organizational commitments, and applicable regulations.

Manage compliance requirements for foundation, corporate, federal, state, county, municipal, reimbursement-based, and contract-based grants as applicable.

Support public grant processes, including reporting portals, documentation standards, reimbursement requests, contract deliverables, amendments, renewals, and closeout processes.

Maintain complete grant files, including proposals, budgets, award letters, contracts, amendments, reports, funder correspondence, financial documentation, and supporting records.

Support audit preparation related to grants by ensuring documentation is complete, organized, accurate, and readily accessible.

Reporting, Outcomes & Evaluation

Lead the preparation and submission of complete, accurate, and timely interim reports, final reports, renewal reports, reimbursement reports, and funder updates.

Collaborate with program staff to collect, verify, and analyze data needed for grant reports, including outputs, outcomes, demographics, attendance, completion, placement, retention, participant feedback, and other funder-required indicators.

Develop and maintain outcome frameworks, logic models, reporting templates, and performance measures that support consistent grant reporting and proposal development.

Track grant-funded deliverables against promised outcomes and communicate progress, risks, and documentation needs to relevant staff.

Translate program data, learner progress, service activity, and community impact into clear funder-ready narratives.

Work with Marketing and Communications and program teams to gather appropriate stories, photos, testimonials, and impact examples for proposals, reports, stewardship updates, and funder communications.

Use funder feedback, reporting results, program evaluations, and outcome data to inform future proposals, renewal strategies, and program improvements.

Funder Stewardship & Relationship Management

Serve as a primary point of contact for institutional funders, responding to inquiries, requests for information, reporting questions, and relationship-building opportunities in a professional and timely manner.

Cultivate and maintain relationships with grant-making organizations, institutional funders, corporate partners, public agencies, and other funding stakeholders.

Coordinate funder stewardship plans, including acknowledgment, updates, site visits, tours, impact communications, renewal conversations, and relationship touchpoints between application and report deadlines.

Arrange and prepare for on-site tours, funder meetings, presentations, and community engagement opportunities with appropriate staff and leadership participation.

Partner with Fund Development to align institutional funder strategy with donor stewardship, corporate engagement, sponsorship opportunities, and broader relationship management efforts.

Identify opportunities to renew, upgrade, deepen, or expand institutional funding relationships over time.

Ensure proper acknowledgment and recognition of funders in alignment with funder requirements and Center for People's communications standards.

Systems, Records & Knowledge Management

Maintain accurate and current grant records in the organization's CRM system, grants management system, shared files, and internal tracking tools.

Serve as the primary user and internal champion for the organization's grants intelligence software, ensuring the platform is used consistently and to its fullest capacity for prospect research, funder intelligence, opportunity tracking, deadline management, pipeline development, and strategic decision-making.

Maintain an active institutional funding pipeline using the organization's grants intelligence software, CRM system, grants management system, shared files, and internal grant tracking tools.

Create and maintain a grant content library with current organizational language, program descriptions, demographic information, outcome data, budgets, boilerplate narratives, leadership information, attachments, and approved impact language.

Ensure proposal and report language reflects Center for People's current strategy, programs, service model, financial position, and organizational priorities.

Maintain organized electronic files for all prospects, applications, awards, reports, contracts, correspondence, budgets, attachments, and stewardship actions.

Use grant tracking tools and data to improve proposal planning, reporting accuracy, compliance, internal coordination, funder stewardship, and revenue forecasting.

Cross-Department Project Management & Internal Coordination

Provide cross-department project leadership for grant proposals, reports, renewals, compliance tasks, and funder requests.

Coordinate with Finance, Fund Development, Marketing and Communications, Executive Leadership, and program teams to gather information, clarify commitments, confirm budgets, document outcomes, and meet internal and external deadlines.

Establish clear timelines, information requests, internal deadlines, and accountability expectations for staff contributing to proposals and reports.

Schedule collaboration efforts with adequate lead time and communicate early when information, approvals, or decisions are needed.

Help staff understand grant commitments, reporting obligations, funder expectations, and documentation requirements connected to funded programs.

Support strategic leadership by providing timely information, analysis, recommendations, and grant-related updates that advance organizational goals.

Compliance, Professionalism & Other Duties

Operate in accordance with all contracts, government regulations, funder requirements, and Center for People policies and procedures.

Exhibit high integrity and maintain ethical professional boundaries with funders, donors, learners, staff, volunteers, and community partners.

Maintain confidentiality and protect sensitive organizational, financial, funder, donor, employee, and participant information.

Maintain a flexible work schedule to ensure organizational needs are met, including occasional evenings and weekends to support Center for People events, funder visits, donor meetings, or community activities.

Perform other duties as assigned.

 
III.    REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES

Excellent analytical, persuasive, and outcomes-focused writing skills, with the ability to communicate complex information clearly to diverse audiences.

Strong understanding of the grant lifecycle, including prospect research, proposal development, budget coordination, reporting, compliance, renewal strategy, and stewardship.

Ability to interpret funder guidelines, grant agreements, contracts, reporting requirements, budget restrictions, and compliance expectations.

Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple grants, deadlines, stakeholders, budgets, reports, and priorities at once.

Strong administrative and organizational skills, including the ability to maintain accurate records, calendars, trackers, files, and documentation systems.

Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines without sacrificing quality, accuracy, or compliance.

Ability to collaborate with Finance and program teams to develop budgets, monitor restricted funds, review expenses, and prepare funder reports.

Ability to collect, analyze, interpret, and present program data, outcome measures, financial information, and impact stories.

Ability to build and maintain positive relationships with funders, donors, public agencies, corporate partners, staff, board members, and community stakeholders.

Comfort facilitating internal meetings, setting timelines, requesting information, following up, and holding cross-department contributors accountable to deadlines.

Strong attention to detail, proofreading ability, and commitment to accurate, complete, and timely submissions.

Ability to receive constructive feedback and incorporate edits from leadership, Finance, program staff, and funders.

Ability to take personal accountability for fulfilling job responsibilities, meeting deadlines, and taking initiative and ownership of personal performance.

Proficiency with Microsoft Office, shared document systems, CRM systems, grants management tools, online grant portals, spreadsheets, and related software.

Ability to learn, use, and maximize grants intelligence software, CRM systems, grant portals, funder databases, and other technology platforms that support institutional fundraising, compliance, reporting, and relationship management.

Willingness and ability to learn and implement new software programs and internal systems.

Demonstrates professionalism, courtesy, tact, sound judgment, confidentiality, and ethical decision-making.

IV.            DESIRABLE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

Post-secondary education preferred, or a minimum of four years of work experience in nonprofit administration, grant writing, institutional fundraising, public grant management, finance-related grant compliance, program evaluation, fund development, or a related field. Multilingual ability is a plus.

Preferred experience includes:

Experience managing a portfolio of foundation, corporate, government, or public-sector grants.

Experience writing successful grant proposals, reports, renewal requests, letters of inquiry, and institutional funder communications.

Experience developing proposal budgets, budget narratives, reimbursement reports, or financial reports in collaboration with Finance.

Experience with grant compliance, restricted funding, government contracts, reporting portals, audits, documentation standards, or grant closeout processes.

Experience developing outcome measures, logic models, evaluation plans, performance reports, or impact narratives.

Experience using a CRM system, grants management platform, donor database, or project management tool.

Experience using grants intelligence software, funder databases, prospect research platforms, or similar tools to identify funding opportunities, evaluate funder fit, maintain pipelines, and support institutional fundraising strategy.

Experience working in a nonprofit, workforce development, education, human services, food access, community development, or mission-driven environment.

V.            Minimum Qualifications

Graduation from a senior high school or equivalent required.

Valid Nebraska driver's license and current motor vehicle insurance.

Must be legally authorized to work inside the United States.

Ability to pass required background checks, if applicable.

Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends based on funder meetings, events, reporting deadlines, site visits, or organizational needs.

VI.  WORKING CONDITIONS & PHYSICAL EFFORT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential functions of this job successfully. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with recognized disabilities to perform essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear and frequently is required to sit, stand, and walk. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus when operating a computer and working with numbers. Work is primarily in an indoor office setting. Occasional local travel may be required for funder meetings, site visits, networking, community events, and donor or institutional partner engagement. Flexibility to work evenings and weekends is required as needed.

Center for People is an Equal Opportunity Employer