Mission and Organizational Background
The mission of First Children’s Finance (FCF) is to grow the supply and business sustainability of excellent child care. Founded in 1991, FCF provides business and financial assistance to business owners and leaders in the field of Early Care and Education (ECE). To achieve our goals, FCF works on three levels: Individual Business Level, Community Level, and Systems Level. FCF is a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Minneapolis that provides business development programs and/or financing to ECE providers in multiple states, with regional offices in five: Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Oregon and Vermont. For more information, see the First Children’s website at: http://www.firstchildrensfinance.org
Benefits
Benefits include medical, dental, life, disability insurance, holidays, paid time off, and paid family medical leave. Allowable travel costs are reimbursed.
Flexible work environment.
First Children’s Finance honors candidates’ time and effort in job-seeking by providing transparency regarding compensation. Creating transparency regarding salary information reduces the gender pay gap, and eliminates salary negotiation, which rarely benefits people of color or women. It is a value of our organization to support equitable hiring practices.
Job Summary
The Vermont Grants Specialist will help administer state, federal and philanthropic grants, with particular focus on compliance and program reporting. Reporting to the Senior Grants Manager, the Grants Specialist is an important member of the Vermont operations team as a connector between people and process in grantmaking activities. This role will work both to track and manage pass-through grants that FCF Vermont administers across the state directly to child care providers and other partners and individuals, with particular focus on grantee support and compliance, as well as program reporting. Working with the Senior Grants Manager, this role will also track and monitor our own work to deliver on the expectations and requirements of grants made to FCF Vermont.
Essential Functions:
- Work with Vermont team to conduct grantmaking activities for child care grant programs.
- Provide advice, guidance and technical assistance to applicants/grantees.
- Process pass through grants applications, conduct due diligence, verify documentation and the scoring of applications.
- Learn and conduct important regulatory compliance checks.
- Ensure timely and accurate generation of grant notification letters, grant distributions, and grant agreements.
- Maintain electronic grant files, documenting review and grant decisions.
- Track and evaluate grants and ensure timely submission of follow-up reporting by grantees.
- Provide assistance in the creation of grant reports.
- Maintain knowledge of grant funding policies, regulations, and procedures; disseminate and present changes to applicants/grantees.
- Monitor data gathered from grant portal to ensure data integrity and consistency.
- Conduct data analyses for use in reports and program summaries.
- Maintain system for recording and tracking grant proposals, awards, and related statistical information.
- Support gathering, management and evaluation of event and program-related data.
- Track and help develop reports summarizing FCF Vermont deliverables and achievements to funders.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- 3+ years of experience working in a foundation, nonprofit, social service or small business setting.
- Experience with grantmaking, program administration and/or data analysis, data management and reporting preferred.
- Experience working collaboratively with communities of color and low-resourced communities.
- Experience managing multiple tasks, prioritizing and working with little direct supervision.
- Excellent time and task management
- A strategic thinker and planner as well as an effective implementer
- Data-driven, curious and collaborative
- Culturally competent
- A team player, partner, and networker
- Energetic, enthusiastic, with a can-do attitude and a growth mindset
- Open to learning, accepting positive and constructive feedback
- Patient and adaptable to changing systems, processes and templates in a growing environment
- A person of integrity and trust, able to maintain the highest level of confidentiality
- Experience with and/or interest in child care helpful.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Strong administrative, organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Demonstrated proficiency with current office technology, including advanced skills in Microsoft Office Suite and ability to learn new software and systems.
- Ability to work in virtual and web-based platforms.
- Strong analytical skills to interpret and detect patterns in data and draw conclusions.
- Excellent written and oral communication and active listening skills.
- Exceptional interpersonal and customer service skills.
- Ability to promote a positive image of FCF and position FCF as a key resource in the field of early care and education.
- Ability to be flexible and work collaboratively with a diverse group of FCF staff, customers, partners, and stakeholders.
- Ability to take initiative, and complete projects independently, yet be a part of a team.
- Willingness and ability to travel throughout Vermont as needed.
Work Conditions:
- Must be able to work on the computer for extended periods of time.
- Must be able to travel locally for meetings when needed.
Additional Notes:
This job description represents the major functions of the position but is not intended to be all-inclusive.
Skills Required
- 3+ years of experience working in a foundation, nonprofit, social service, or small business setting
- Experience with grantmaking, program administration, data analysis, data management, and reporting
- Experience working collaboratively with communities of color and low-resourced communities
- Experience managing multiple tasks, prioritizing, and working with little direct supervision
- Excellent time and task management skills
- Strong administrative and organizational skills with attention to detail
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and ability to learn new software and systems
- Ability to work in virtual and web-based platforms
- Strong analytical skills to interpret data, detect patterns, and draw conclusions
- Excellent written and oral communication and active listening skills
- Exceptional interpersonal and customer service skills
- Ability to work collaboratively with diverse staff, customers, partners, and stakeholders
- Ability to take initiative and complete projects independently while working as part of a team
- Willingness and ability to travel throughout Vermont as needed
- Experience with or interest in child care
What We Do
First Children’s Finance is a national nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution focused on growing the supply and business sustainability of excellent child care. It provides loans, financial and business-development assistance, training, and consulting to child care businesses serving low- and moderate-income families. It also works with communities to preserve and expand child care supply, and influences public systems to improve the supports and investment needed to sustain providers.
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