Grants Manager job at GiveDirectly

About this role

The Grants Manager is  responsible for managing the full lifecycle of a portfolio of grants at GD, from application support to archive. Your portfolio of 30-50 awards will include Government funded grants and subgrants, as well as Foundation, Corporation and Individual Donor Awards. You will provide daily oversight and support to all GD teams (e.g., finance, operations, HR, partnerships, growth, research, etc.), to ensure their comprehensive understanding of responsibilities under each agreement in your portfolio. You will be actively involved in ensuring compliance with varied donor terms and conditions, applicable regulations, internal policy, best practices and other applicable guidelines.

This role also supports broader organizational capacity development including identifying and mitigating risks and training out teams on full compliance with all aspects of donor funding. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Grants Management, this position plays a crucial role in guiding our teams to compliantly manage all donor funding, building institutional capacity and enabling GiveDirectly to continue successfully fulfilling our mission.

Motivated knowledgeable candidates passionate about Grants Management are encouraged to apply for the rewarding opportunity to join GD in building a better future for communities worldwide.

This role is remote, with ability to travel internationally 2-3x a year to program sites.

Reports to: Senior Manager, Grants Management

Level: Manager 

Travel Requirement: Must be able to travel internationally 2-3 times a year to meet with Program teams, and designated Grants Management team events.

What you’ll do:

Grant management and administration

Ensuring compliance with the funders’ terms and conditions as well as GD’s organizational policies are key deliverables of this role. This mandate includes:

• Oversee the lifecycle of a portfolio of 30-50 active government, corporate and foundation funded grant agreements, in collaboration with the fundraising, finance, and operations staff in our global and country teams. This portfolio will include both prime grant agreements to GiveDirectly, and subgrant agreements issued by GiveDirectly
• Contribute to pre-award donor due diligence requests and grant application process including advising on & reviewing budgets
• Ensure and document that  due diligence and procurement protocols are successfully followed and documented for all subgrantees and subcontractors
• Support Sr. Manager of Grants Management in prime grant agreement negotiations and execution 
• Lead subgrant agreement and grant amendment negotiations and execution
• Utilize available tools for clear and accurate tracking of all post-award data, requirements and tasks
• Work closely with the Finance team to ensure accurate tracking of grant conditionality, purpose or restrictions, general ledger account creation and treatment within the annual audit and tax filing processes.
• Conduct award kick-off meetings with internal colleagues and external subgrantees as relevant, educating all on their responsibilities under each grant or subgrant
• Proactively monitor all active awards to ensure compliance with award terms and conditions, identifying and assisting with mitigating potential instances of misconduct or non-compliance.
• Ensure on time grant reporting through regular communication, supporting in the authoring and sharing with donor where appropriate
• Liaise with finance and project managers on budget tracking and appropriate spend down rates.
• Author prior approval, no-cost extension and amendment requirements as needed
• Coordinate external award audits, adverse event reporting, and the implementation of any associated follow-up action points.
• Coordinate and document appropriate award close out
• Maintain complete and audit ready grant files.

Organizational Capacity Development and Training

Under the guidance of Grants Management Leadership, support in Organizational Capacity Development and Training including:

• Cross functionally provide clear guidance on procedures, policies, and interpretation on donor rules and regulations
• Identify organizational gaps in funding oversight, internal controls and procurement practices
• Suggest processes and practices to mitigate issues and risks identified
• Track regulatory and institutional/multilateral policy changes
• Support in developing standard operating procedures and templates for managing grants and subgrants
• Suggest required changes to process and practices
• Implement trainings on appropriate lifecycle management of donor funds
• Create a culture of Grants Management and Donor Compliance across all teams

What you’ll bring:

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
• Language Requirement: Professionally fluent in English
• Language Preference: Professionally fluent in French or Portuguese
• A minimum of 4-6 years of experience in the administration of large, diverse grant portfolios including Foundation, Corporate, Institutional and Government funded awards and subawards, ideally including experience with US federal agency, EU and World Bank funded awards.
• Proven knowledge and understanding of US, EU, World Bank, Foundation and Corporate Funding Regulations and ability to interpret for lay audience as well as flexibly and creatively apply those rules and regulations
• A strong systems mindset with ability to identify and mitigate gaps and risks
• Excellent organizational skills and a willingness to take initiative and be proactive
• Clear and exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Able to work effectively with diverse stakeholders internally and externally across a variety of global cultures
• Adept at drilling into the details without losing sight of the big picture
• Ability to autonomously manage multiple deliverables in time and with a high level of quality.
• Ability to work both under supervision and independently
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel and Google Suite
• Familiarity with Salesforce and Slack is a plus

• Oversee the lifecycle of a portfolio of 30-50 active government, corporate and foundation funded grant agreements, in collaboration with the fundraising, finance, and operations staff in our global and country teams. This portfolio will include both prime grant agreements to GiveDirectly, and subgrant agreements issued by GiveDirectly
• Contribute to pre-award donor due diligence requests and grant application process including advising on & reviewing budgets
• Ensure and document that due diligence and procurement protocols are successfully followed and documented for all subgrantees and subcontractors
• Support Sr. Manager of Grants Management in prime grant agreement negotiations and execution
• Lead subgrant agreement and grant amendment negotiations and execution
• Utilize available tools for clear and accurate tracking of all post-award data, requirements and tasks
• Work closely with the Finance team to ensure accurate tracking of grant conditionality, purpose or restrictions, general ledger account creation and treatment within the annual audit and tax filing processes.
• Conduct award kick-off meetings with internal colleagues and external subgrantees as relevant, educating all on their responsibilities under each grant or subgrant
• Proactively monitor all active awards to ensure compliance with award terms and conditions, identifying and assisting with mitigating potential instances of misconduct or non-compliance.
• Ensure on time grant reporting through regular communication, supporting in the authoring and sharing with donor where appropriate
• Liaise with finance and project managers on budget tracking and appropriate spend down rates.
• Author prior approval, no-cost extension and amendment requirements as needed
• Coordinate external award audits, adverse event reporting, and the implementation of any associated follow-up action points.
• Coordinate and document appropriate award close out
• Maintain complete and audit ready grant files.
• Cross functionally provide clear guidance on procedures, policies, and interpretation on donor rules and regulations
• Identify organizational gaps in funding oversight, internal controls and procurement practices
• Suggest processes and practices to mitigate issues and risks identified
• Track regulatory and institutional/multilateral policy changes
• Support in developing standard operating procedures and templates for managing grants and subgrants
• Suggest required changes to process and practices
• Implement trainings on appropriate lifecycle management of donor funds
• Create a culture of Grants Management and Donor Compliance across all teams

• Emotional intelligence
• Problem solving
• Project management
• Follow-through
• Fostering inclusivity
• Systems mindset
• Organizational skills

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity.
• Professionally fluent in English
• Professionally fluent in French or Portuguese (preferred)
• A minimum of 4-6 years of experience in the administration of large, diverse grant portfolios including Foundation, Corporate, Institutional and Government funded awards and subawards, ideally including experience with US federal agency, EU and World Bank funded awards.
• Proven knowledge and understanding of US, EU, World Bank, Foundation and Corporate Funding Regulations and ability to interpret for lay audience as well as flexibly and creatively apply those rules and regulations
• A strong systems mindset with ability to identify and mitigate gaps and risks
• Excellent organizational skills and a willingness to take initiative