Grant Specialist
Internet Society Foundation
The Grant Specialist plays a critical role in ensuring successful grant awards by managing relationships with various stakeholders throughout the grant cycle.
This position works closely and collaboratively with members of the Programs team and directly supports the Program Officer for the Research, Building Opportunities & Leveraging Technology (BOLT), and Resiliency and Responding to Emergencies (RARE) grant programs in building relationships with grantee partners. (The Grant Specialist provides exceptional customer service to all members of Foundation’s growing network. The Grant Specialist combines a working knowledge of grantmaking practices with excellent communication skills to deliver high quality programming.
The Grant Specialist will be required to work independently, work under pressure at times, and handle multiple priorities and activities. The Grant Specialist will provide direct service to internal and external stakeholders alike. The Grant Specialist will be a well-organized, flexible individual with strong verbal and written communication skills who thrives in a fast-paced, globally diverse setting and is comfortable working in a start-up environment. A solid history of collaboration within and among teams is a must, as well as demonstrating initiative and resourcefulness.The Foundation is a small team of passionate, collaborative, and driven staff that depend on each other to move our mission forward; this is especially true of this critical position.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Ensure applicants have all relevant information available to submit grant applications during application windows;
- Conduct initial review of applications for completeness and facilitate any changes or edits with applicants;
- Stay in regular communication with grantee partners once awards are made and during the grant cycle with check-ins, updates, and other reach-outs while documenting communication in grants management system;
- Manage approvals of grantee reports;
- Manage request for grantee payments;
- Manage communities of practice within grantee cohorts by leading reflection calls and co-creation workshops and managing listservs;
- Generate progress reports for various audiences summarizing activities within grantee cohorts on a regular basis;
- Support management of Program calendar;
- Liaise with other Foundation staff to provide technical assistance and troubleshoot any issues during the grant cycle on behalf of the grantee partner;
- Support in convening Independent Review Committee meetings multiple times a year;
- Stay in regular communication with Independent Review Committee members with updates and progress reports as needed;
- Liaise with other Foundation staff to provide technical assistance and troubleshoot any issues during the review period on behalf of Independent Review Committee members;
- Provide regular updates of grantee cohorts to the Program Officer and flag any potential issues with stakeholder groups;
- Support the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning team in activities to track results, impacts, and learnings at the project and program level;
- Highlight project stories to be used in communications strategies in support of the Communications team;
- Ensure grant program information on website is up to date;
- Manage translations of program content;
- Liaise with grantee partners to identify opportunities to amplify their work;
- Have awareness of social media and other online content relevant to grant awards or grantee partners;
- Support in design of program applications, reports, surveys, etc.;
- Conduct user testing in grants management system as needed;
- Assist in setting up grant terms and grant agreements; and
- Perform other duties as assigned;
Desired Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree with at least two years of experience in grantmaking at a Foundation or other philanthropic organization desired;
- Experience at a funder organization that provides grants globally;
- Experience working with an online grants management system is desirable;
- Working knowledge of and desire to stay current on grants management best practices and best practices in practically applying Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in all aspects of our work;
- Working knowledge of other stakeholders in the grantmaking space that may support program development;
- Working knowledge of program areas to include disaster management, academic research, and/or innovation and an understanding of technical and social interventions related to these areas;
- Understand the principles of trust-based philanthropy and how to apply them in grantmaking;
- Ability to synthesize and summarize various forms of information into concise reports for multiple audiences;
- Excellent problem-solving skills combined with the ability to proactively research issues and apply creative solutions to unusual or challenging circumstances;
- Self-starter, with proven ability to work independently and as part of a distributed global team;
- Ability to work under pressure, balancing and prioritizing many activities concurrently while maintaining attention to detail;
- Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills in English is required. Additional languages such as Spanish or French will be considered a plus;
- Communicate in a culturally appropriate and inclusive manner;
- Exceptionally motivated, organized and detail-oriented;
- Ability to travel occasionally, when travel resumes; and
- Passion for, and demonstrated commitment to, a more accessible and trustworthy Internet for all.
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