Job Description
Job DescriptionDescription:
Grants Compliance Strategist (GCS) (40 hours, Full-time) Exempt
BUILD, Inc. (Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development) is presently seeking a committed, self-motivated, and innovative individual to join our team. BUILD is a nationally respected gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organization based on Chicago’s West Side. Since 1969, BUILD has worked to save lives and mentor young people who live in the city’s most challenged neighborhoods. When you work at BUILD you make an important difference to the thousands of youth and families we serve.
Our Core Values: Empathy, Passion, Persistence and Innovation.
The GCS is responsible for overseeing the compliance of all grants, ensuring that funding is used in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant agreements, and providing guidance to staff on regulatory requirements.
They will manage grant reporting and documentation of BUILD’s $14-15M grants portfolio, requesting regular data from the Impact and Finance teams to complete the schedule of reports required by federal and state regulations and policies of funding agencies. They will not handle every compliance task directly themselves, but the GCS does ensure that those responsible get them all done.
With an informed and careful eye reviewing data from Development, Finance, and Impact data teams, this role would have a unique birds-eye view on how successfully we are meeting our commitments and remaining compliant with each grant – in terms of performance, financial utilization, and funder communication.
With this knowledge, this role is uniquely able to raise early warnings for financial and program issues, understand the compliance implications of program changes (and when to communicate them with funders), assess the feasibility and fit of new grant opportunities, suggest improvements to grant application and compliance best practices, and communicate to all stakeholders what will be required of them to remain compliant and aligned. This role reports to the Senior Grants Manager.
Detailed Job Responsibilities
1. Oversee processes that ensure and maximize compliance with grant requirements (30%) – goals: minimize and mitigate grant funder issues; maximize effective use of grant funds
a. Develop and implement an internal audit process to proactively discover and address compliance gaps, in both program progress (using MEL reports) and financial progress. (using budget-to-actual reports). Raise early warnings with relevant staff about pending gaps and areas of concern, that may require program adjustments or budget revisions.
b. Complete a quarterly report of grant compliance to share grant-related programmatic and fiscal updates to appropriate BUILD leadership
c. Collaborate cross-departmentally to align grant requirements with program activities and programmatic and fiscal reporting; develop related implementation processes
d. Develop an approvals process for grant applications/awards with other BUILD departments and teams to share key information related to their potential grant-responsibility before money is accepted
i. an old example for a previous grant: sharing with Prevention that they will need to use eCornerstone quarterly, implement a new component to program curriculum, and complete surveys during xyz time of the school year – this example for Impact would be: ensure access to eCornerstone, monitor eCornerstone data-entry when possible and compare with Apricot, develop and administer youth surveys during xyz time of the year
2. Coordinate communication with grant funder contacts around compliance tasks, (20%) ensure timely report submission and audit/site-visit coordination
a. Oversee and execute submission of programmatic and fiscal grant reports
b. Schedule and oversee grant funder audits and site visits
c. Serve as additional key point of contact for all funders (especially public) after receiving award; participates equally with Public or Private Grants Manager in maintaining the relationship on an ongoing basis
3. Work with the Grants Team to maintain centralized grant information management and reporting in the Virtuous database. (20%)
a. Work with the Information Management Committee to create and build out the new system to capture key information for all current/upcoming grants, and to interface with existing systems containing programmatic and financial data
b. Create cross-departmental processes for gathering necessary content and reviewing actionable information
c. Oversee the process of requirements gathering and software selection
d. Provide training to, and gather feedback from, cross-departmental stakeholders to maximize and improve system utility
4. Contribute to cross-departmental requirements gathering and decision making when applying for and receiving new or renewed grant funding (20%) – goals: improve grant-program alignment; avoid key stakeholders being caught off-guard by requirements
a. Internally document and communicate new/updated grant requirements for program spending, data collection, and reporting
b. Collaborate with other admin teams to develop BUILD’s grant compliance best-practices for managing the grants they get (examples: what/how to spend money from a grant, data entry requirements and where/how to review the terms of the funding, if certain staff need to be hired, etc.)
c. Elevate grant and funder relationships and highlight potential challenges or make recommendations for future funding
i. Example: burden of reporting for a grant (complexity, length of time, how similar of different the grant is from BUILD programming or other grants received, and discussing the capacity for taking on more grants from XYZ funder that have the same reporting due dates like the 15th of every month, etc)
ii. example: changing the scope of work for next TICC contract to reflect feedback from grant monitor – also, their reporting is a bit more complicated and thus, easier to make errors which increase risk, so, something to consider when reapplying; another example: not 100% grant monitors are available or easy to get in touch with so, consider what/who is able to support us in implementing their grant terms
5. Complete other duties as assigned (10%)
Notes on Role Responsibilities and Tasks
This role will be responsible for ensuring BUILD’s financial, operational, and programmatic compliance with all its grants awarded.
Compiling and documenting the compliance requirements of each grant received:
- Impact – programmatic metrics and milestones
- Finance – schedule of YTD spending and budget revisions
- Development – narratives and other reports
Creating a timetable and workplan that combines and coordinates all three branches of compliance, and project-managing the completion of all tasks upon it by the responsible parties on all three teams
- Interfaces with Virtuous, Grant Line Database, Development/Grant Reporting Exchange SharePoint sites
Monitoring progress against compliance goals and identifying where BUILD is in danger of falling behind, alerting responsible parties (program leadership, accounting, etc.)
- Interfaces with Apricot, Power BI, and Financial reports to check on progress
Helps design and delivery effective of communication systems to financial and program colleagues and leadership
Organizes and coordinates external audits and site visits
Support with capturing non-Apricot required data (trainings, MOUs developed, data sharing agreements, attendance to funder meetings, etc)
Assist in developing a grant and contract directory with primary contact info for any agreements (includes public and private grants, collaborations between BUILD and other organizations, hired contractors to support with programming, etc)
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree in Nonprofit Management, Public Administration, Business, or a related field. A Master’s degree or professional certification in grants management is a plus.
- Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in grants management, compliance, or a related role in a non-profit organization.
- Proven experience in managing and reporting on government, foundation, or corporate grants.
Benefits:
- 401(k) + 2% match
- Medical, Dental and Vision
- Life Insurance
- Paid Vacation
- Wellness Days
- Flexible Spending Account
BUILD, Inc., does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, citizenship, ethnic or national origin, age, disability, medical status, military status, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, ancestry, or any legally protected status. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits and training.
All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically prohibit employment. Rather, BUILD Inc. considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.
American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Statement: External and internal applicants, as well as position incumbents who become disabled, must be able to perform the essential job specific functions (listed within each job responsibility) either unaided or with the assistance of a reasonable accommodation to be determined by the organization on a case-by-case basis.
This organization reserves the right to revise or change job duties and responsibilities as the need arises. This job description does not constitute a written or implied contract of employment