Grants & Financial Compliance Analyst

Description

At Easterseals of Chicagoland and Greater Rockford (ECR), we are committed to two – often interconnecting - pillars of work……early learning and disability. Through these pillars, we transform the lives of early learners and individuals of all abilities through access to expert educational, family, and community support. As an affiliate of America’s largest nonprofit health care organization, we have proudly served the communities and families of Chicagoland and Greater Rockford since 1936.

ECR’s largest program, Early Learning Services (ELS), operates a robust, year-round, full day early learning program throughout Chicago and Suburban Cook County through both home-based and center-based services. The program is primarily funded by a direct federal grant from the Office of Head Start and state Preschool for All and Prevention Initiative funding through the City of Chicago and the Illinois State Board of Education, along with some smaller foundation grants and private philanthropy.

For more information about our organization, please visit us online at www.eastersealschicago.org. 

The Grants & Financial Compliance Analyst, reporting to the Director of Grants Management with a dotted line to ELS’s Senior Director of Grants, Quality and Services, supports fiscal administration, monitoring, analysis, and compliance for designated Early Learning Services grant funding, primarily the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) and related subrecipient awards. This role works with ELS leadership, Grants Management, Finance, and subrecipient partners to ensure funds are budgeted, spent, documented, monitored, and reported in accordance with grant agreements, organizational policies, and applicable state and federal requirements.

The Grants & Financial Compliance Analyst strengthens fiscal integrity and sustainability by supporting internal controls, identifying risks, providing subrecipient technical assistance, and promoting effective use of public grant funds for high-quality services to children and families.

This position is headquartered at Easterseals Chicago Location at 1939 W 13th Street, Chicago, IL 60608.   

MAJOR FUNCTIONS/ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Grant Administration, Financial Management, Compliance and Oversight:

• Administer and monitor designated ELS grants, including ECBG and related subrecipient awards, in alignment with approved budgets, grant agreements, funder requirements, and organizational policies.
• Maintain current knowledge of ECBG, IDEC, GATA, Uniform Guidance, funding agency, and organizational fiscal requirements.
• Communicate fiscal requirements and provide technical assistance to ELS staff and subrecipient 
• Maintain organized grant and subrecipient records, including budgets, amendments, reports, monitoring documentation, approvals, corrective actions, and compliance materials.
• Monitor expenditures, administrative cost limits, budget-to-actual results, spending trends, and fiscal risks; communicate concerns to leadership and support corrective action planning.
• Partner with ELS leadership and Finance to ensure grant expenditures are accurately recorded, properly allocated, and consistent with approved budgets.

Subrecipient Budget Administration and Monitoring:

• Coordinate fiscal administration and monitoring of ELS subrecipient awards.
• Review budgets and amendments for alignment with award amounts, slots, program expectations, allowable costs, and approval requirements.
• Ensure subrecipient expenditures are consistent with approved budgets and required approvals are obtained before reimbursement.
• Maintain complete records of approved budgets, amendments, approvals, correspondence, and related fiscal documentation.
• Communicate fiscal expectations, budget requirements, and grant changes to subrecipient partners.

Expenditure Monitoring and Financial Analysis:

• Review monthly subrecipient expenditure reports and reconcile spending against approved budgets.
• Conduct budget-to-actual, burn-rate, variance, cost-per-slot, and other analyses to assess spending progress and resource use.
• Identify overspending, underspending, unusual patterns, under-enrollment, unallowable costs, or other conditions that may place funding at risk.
• Request explanations, documentation, or corrective action as needed and track issues through resolution.
• Maintain tracking systems, reports, and dashboards that provide leadership with timely grant and subrecipient financial performance information.
• Provide analysis to support funding adjustments, reallocations, and related leadership decisions.

Allowable Costs and Fiscal Compliance:

• Review expenditures and supporting documentation to ensure costs are reasonable, necessary, allocable, allowable, adequately supported, and within approved budgets.
• Monitor administrative cost caps and other grant-specific fiscal requirements.
• Administer prior-approval or pre-clearance processes for expenditures requiring additional review, including equipment, professional services, and other designated costs.
• Recommend corrective action, repayment, disallowance, or other remedies when expenditures do not meet grant requirements.
• Provide education and technical assistance on allowable costs, documentation, budget requirements, and fiscal expectations.

Documentation, Monitoring and Audit Readiness:

• Establish and communicate fiscal documentation standards for subrecipient expenditures.
• Review invoices, receipts, payroll records and allocations, contracts, purchasing documentation, equipment records, and related support.
• Conduct periodic fiscal desk reviews to verify reported expenditures and assess compliance.
• Maintain centralized, audit-ready records of financial reports, documentation, monitoring activities, findings, approvals, and corrective actions in accordance with retention requirements.
• Support internal and external audits, monitoring reviews, and fiscal requests from CPS, IDEC, funding agencies, auditors, or regulatory bodies.
• Organize requested materials, respond to fiscal inquiries, and assist with corrective action planning and follow-up.

Payment Controls and Cash Management:

• Review subrecipient expenditure reports and support before recommending payment.
• Confirm expenditures are supported, allowable, within budget, and tied to the correct grant period.
• Coordinate with Finance to process approved payments accurately and on time.
• Identify when payments should be delayed or withheld due to incomplete reporting, unsupported costs, unresolved findings, or other compliance concerns.
• Track payment status, outstanding reports, missing documentation, advances, reimbursements, and related payment activity.

Systems, Processes and Controls:

• Help develop and implement a formal Subrecipient Fiscal Monitoring Framework for ELS.
• Design and improve standardized processes, tools, controls, and tracking systems for grant and subrecipient fiscal oversight.
• Develop tools such as budget review checklists, expenditure review tools, variance reports, desk-review protocols, monitoring schedules, and corrective-action trackers.
• Conduct fiscal risk assessments and recommend monitoring levels based on identified risk.
• Support written ELS procedures and promote consistent, standardized, audit-ready fiscal practices.

Subrecipient Technical Assistance and Relationship Management:

• Serve as a primary fiscal resource for ELS subrecipient partners.
• Provide onboarding, training, and technical assistance on budgeting, reporting, allowable costs, documentation, administrative cost limits, and fiscal responsibilities.
• Communicate deadlines, reporting requirements, concerns, and corrective actions.
• Maintain collaborative relationships with subrecipient partners while ensuring accountability and compliance.
• Partner with program staff to review fiscal and program performance together and participate in subrecipient meetings, monitoring, and reviews as appropriate.

Other:

• Represent Easterseals professionally and positively with all stakeholders.
• Comply with federal, state, funding agency, and organizational policies and procedures.
• Maintain confidentiality of financial, organizational, employee, child, family, and subrecipient information.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Education/Certification:

• BA or BS in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Public Administration, Nonprofit Management, or a related field; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered.
• Grants Management certification preferred or willingness to obtain applicable grants management training/certification.

Experience Required:

• Minimum of 3 to 5 years of progressive experience in grant administration, government grant management, financial analysis, compliance monitoring, accounting, or a related field.
• Experience with budgeting, budget-to-actual reporting, expenditure monitoring, financial analysis, and supporting documentation review.
• Experience with government-funded grants, publicly funded programs, nonprofits, subrecipient monitoring, pass-through entity responsibilities, or similar fiscal oversight strongly preferred.
• Experience preparing documentation for audits, monitoring reviews, or other fiscal compliance activities preferred.

Required Knowledge:

• Strong knowledge of government grant administration, fiscal compliance, budgeting, financial monitoring, internal controls, allowable cost principles, documentation, and audit readiness.
• Knowledge of Uniform Guidance, GATA, state grant requirements, subrecipient monitoring, and pass-through entity responsibilities preferred.
• Knowledge of ECBG, IDEC, Head Start, or other publicly funded early childhood programs preferred.
• Strong understanding of accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, nonprofit business operations, financial systems, and internet-based grant systems.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and proficiency with Word, PowerPoint, Teams, and related business applications.

Skills/Abilities:

• Strong financial analysis skills, including budgeting, variance analysis, spending trend review, and fiscal risk identification.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and judgment skills with the ability to interpret financial information and recommend action.
• Exceptional attention to detail and ability to maintain accurate, complete, audit-ready documentation.
• Ability to develop, implement, and improve financial monitoring processes, tools, controls, reports, dashboards, and tracking systems.
• Strong project management, organization, and time-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple grants, partners, budgets, deadlines, and deliverables.
• Ability to communicate compliance concerns and complex financial requirements clearly to financial and non-financial audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build collaborative working relationships while maintaining accountability and internal controls.

ADA: Easterseals will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disability Act of 1990. Unless exempted by the Americans with Disabilities Act, all persons hired for this position are required to possess the ability to perform the physical tasks necessary to treat clients, i.e., bending, floor-sitting, etc., as well as to have the ability to lift up to 50 pounds frequently.