Grants and Stewardship Manager

Reports to: Director of Development

Lane: Development

The Grants & Stewardship Manager serves as the strategic manager responsible for Thread's Institutional Giving System. Reporting to the Director of Development, this role leads the development, submission, management, stewardship, and continuous improvement of foundation, corporate, government, and institutional grants while ensuring exceptional funder experiences throughout the full grant lifecycle.

The Grants & Stewardship Manager coordinates the organization's institutional fundraising process by partnering with leaders across Thread to translate organizational strategy, program outcomes, financial information, and community impact into compelling proposals, reports, and stewardship communications. Through exceptional writing, project management, and relationship stewardship, this role ensures proposals and reports are accurate, timely, and aligned with organizational priorities.

As the steward of Thread's Institutional Giving System, this role owns the systems, processes, calendars, reporting structures, and relationship management practices that strengthen institutional philanthropy and deepen funder confidence in Thread's mission and impact.

Working collaboratively across the Development Team and the broader organization, the Grants & Stewardship Manager advances a culture of excellence, accountability, continuous improvement, and relationship-centered philanthropy.

• Serve as the strategic owner of Thread's Institutional Giving System, ensuring institutional fundraising strategies align with organizational priorities and long-term sustainability.
• Lead the development, writing, and submission of foundation, corporate, government, and institutional grant proposals, letters of intent, funding applications, and renewal requests.
• Research prospective funding opportunities and evaluate alignment with organizational priorities and institutional fundraising strategy.
• Coordinate proposal development by gathering programmatic, financial, evaluation, and organizational information from staff across Thread.
• Partner with the Director of Development to prioritize grant opportunities, manage institutional fundraising strategy, and strengthen the long-term grants pipeline.

• Manage the complete grant lifecycle from prospect identification through proposal submission, award management, reporting, renewal, and stewardship.
• Own Thread's Institutional Giving Calendar, ensuring all proposal deadlines, reporting requirements, stewardship touchpoints, renewal timelines, site visits, and internal milestones are proactively planned, coordinated, and successfully executed across the organization.
• Coordinate grant reporting by partnering with Program, Finance, Communications, and Data teams to develop timely, accurate, and compelling reports.
• Develop implementation and reporting schedules following grant awards while monitoring organizational compliance with grant requirements and deliverables.
• Participate in funder meetings, site visits, presentations, and stewardship activities while ensuring appropriate preparation, follow-up, and documentation.

• Coordinate stewardship activities that strengthen relationships with institutional funders and strategic philanthropic partners.
• Prepare meeting materials, relationship histories, executive briefings, talking points, and follow-up communications for Development staff and executive leadership.
• Maintain accurate documentation of funder interactions, stewardship activities, relationship history, and engagement notes within Salesforce.
• Coordinate stewardship communications in partnership with Development and Communications staff.
• Support meaningful engagement opportunities that deepen long-term funder relationships and encourage continued investment in Thread's mission.

• Partner closely with Program, Finance, Communications, Data Strategy & Operations, and executive leadership to ensure grant proposals and reports accurately reflect organizational priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Support development of the organization's annual report, strategic planning updates, institutional communications, and other development initiatives.
• Coordinate tracking, acknowledgment, and reporting of in-kind contributions while maintaining accurate organizational records.
• Contribute to broader Development Team initiatives supporting fundraising, donor engagement, and organizational growth.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration that strengthens institutional fundraising and organizational effectiveness.

• Utilize Salesforce and organizational systems to monitor proposal activity, stewardship efforts, reporting requirements, grant performance, and institutional fundraising outcomes.
• Develop dashboards, reports, tracking systems, and performance metrics that improve visibility into institutional fundraising performance and organizational capacity.
• Analyze funding trends, grant outcomes, stewardship activities, and organizational performance to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Maintain accurate documentation supporting compliance, forecasting, reporting, and strategic planning.
• Provide insights that strengthen organizational decision-making and institutional fundraising strategy.

• Evaluate institutional fundraising processes, stewardship practices, reporting systems, and operational workflows to identify opportunities for increased effectiveness and efficiency.
• Leverage emerging technologies—including AI-assisted research, proposal development, workflow automation, document management, reporting tools, and knowledge management systems—to improve productivity while maintaining appropriate human judgment, accuracy, confidentiality, and relationship-centered stewardship.
• Monitor trends in philanthropy, institutional fundraising, nonprofit best practices, and grantmaking to strengthen organizational competitiveness.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, learning, innovation, and continuous improvement throughout the Development Team.
• Complete other duties and strategic initiatives as assigned.