Grant Writer Job at Uplift Education in Dallas

Overview

Uplift Education, a public charter school system in Dallas, is seeking a Grant Writer to join its development team. This position will be responsible for securing critical funding to meet the current and future needs of our schools. The Grant Writer writes local, regional, national, and statewide grants to governmental organizations and private foundations, and maintains relationships with external grant writers and program officers of funding bodies. The Grant Writer compiles financial and non-financial data to prepare internal reports, compliance reports, and grant billings.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Through interviews and other means, gather information that will easily allow him/her to grasp the concept of a project or program for which funding is sought, as defined by the person responsible for carrying it out.
• Acquire and maintain sound knowledge and understanding of the organization and use that knowledge and understanding to better comprehend all projects and programs for which grants will be sought and to recommend the seeking of grants.
• Research grant-making organizations and analyze them to identify likely funding sources for specific projects and programs.
• Compile, write, and edit all grant applications exhibiting strong expository writing skills and a high-level command of grammar and spelling. Prioritize tasks and meet all deadlines for the preparation and submission of grant applications and grant-related reports.
• Review the budget of a project or program for which funding is sought and make recommendations to better present it to grant-making organizations.
• Develop individual grant proposals in accordance with each grant-making organization’s preferences and follow each grant-making organization’s guidelines.
• Keep in contact with grant-making organizations during their review of a submitted grant application to be able to supply additional supportive material.
• Manage the process of supplying progress reports when required by a grant-making organization that has funded a project or program.
• Monitor private foundation, federal, and state grant opportunities; aggressively pursue grants for expansion and growth, as well as curriculum and enrichment grants. Coordinate with the chief academic officer and school directors as appropriate to ensure that key stakeholders are represented in the proposal development process. Serve as lead author on these proposals.
• Develops and maintains a grant application calendar for all grant requests. Maintains master files on submitted and awarded grants through a database to track and report all grant activities awarded to Uplift.
• Develop and nurture relationships with high-potential grant funding sources.
• Coordinate with the Finance to create expenditure and income budgets and develop other enclosures to accompany grant submissions.
• Ensure compliance with federal and state law, State Board of Education rules, and board policy.
• Maintain grant administration policies and procedures in accordance with state, local, and federal regulations.
• Performs various general grant administration functions such as budget amendments, plan changes, program evaluation, etc.
• Ongoing monitoring of grant budgets and expenditures to ensure targets are met.
• Ongoing monitoring of grant program goals and monthly performance.
• Works with appropriate departments and schools to gather data for reports and ensure proper records are maintained.
• Communicates relevant grant information with organization departments and all appropriate internal users.
• Prepare written and statistical reports for various audiences.
• Manages external grant writers hired for federal and state grant competitions.
• Other duties may be assigned.
• Hybrid work environment (3 days in-office and 2 days remote)

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree (B.A./B.S.) from a four-year college or university required.
• Applicants should have 3-5 years of grant writing experience (state & federal) with a clear track record of success.
• Proven track record in writing and winning local and state government grants, federal funding requests, capacity building proposals, and funding requests to private and family foundations (ranging from $25,000 to $20M).
• Former teachers or education policy professionals are especially encouraged to apply.