The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs works to create legal, economic, and social equity through litigation, client and public education, and public policy advocacy with a primary focus on racial justice. For the last 55 years, the Washington Lawyers' Committee has been on the cutting edge of civil rights advocacy in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region bringing precedent-setting litigation to address injustices in housing, employment, the criminal legal system, education, public accommodations, and immigration. We partner with individuals and communities facing discrimination and with the legal community to achieve justice. For more information on the Washington Lawyers' Committee, visit www.washlaw.org .
While professional experience and qualifications are key for this role, make sure to check you have the preferable soft skills before applying if required.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs is seeking a Grants Associate. This is an ideal opportunity for a proven grants administrator to join an impactful organization focused on systemic change at a critical moment of growth.
Reporting to the Director of Development, this position will be the lead strategist and project manager focused on growing the Washington Lawyers' Committee's foundations and grants revenue. The Grants Associate will manage, and coordinate all fundraising efforts related to grants to increase this revenue for the organization. The portfolio of writing currently fluctuates between 10-15 submissions annually to foundations, government, and corporations.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Grants Associate will be responsible for accomplishing specific objectives and activities related to institutional fundraising, including but not limited to:
Project Management
- Develop and manage a comprehensive grants program to meet annually determined funding goals.
- Create measurable goals for the grants program, including number of submissions, awards, and dollars raised.
- Maintain calendar to ensure timely submission of letters of inquiry, proposals, and reports.
- Develop and maintain individualized strategies of solicitation, cultivation, and stewardship for each grant funding entity.
- Contribute to the development of data management, collection, reporting, and program evaluation capacities within the organization.
- Project manage to keep the Director of Development current on and prepared for all upcoming applications, reports, and information needs.
Grant Prospecting and Writing
- Prospect research to ensure the Washington Lawyers' Committee has a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grant opportunities to pursue.
- Conduct research on funding opportunities with an emphasis on new sources of revenue for both general operating support and priority projects. Evaluate each opportunity to ensure Washington Lawyers' Committee is deliberate and selective in what it applies for and when.
- Lead staff teams to develop concepts for new and ongoing funding opportunities.
- Write highly competitive foundation, government, and corporate grant proposals and concept papers, and produce customized letters of inquiry and reports.
- Use an “every draft is best draft writing” style so that the Washington Lawyers' Committee team reviews only dynamic, reader-friendly, and high-quality writing free of typos, jargon, and lackluster prose.
Stewardship
- Build strong relationships with organization's portfolio of current and potential institutional funders.
- Monitor progress of grant-funded projects to ensure successful implementation in accordance with grant contract terms.
- Track and report on grants that have been won by working closely with the program staff once a grant has been awarded to ensure they understand what must be tracked and liaising with all staff necessary to collect data to complete grant reports on schedule
Development Operations
- Organize files and documents to make compiling attachments easy and to facilitate reporting by always easily finding original documentation.
- Manage grants in Raiser's Edge to ensure all grant opportunities and tasks are current and well detailed.
- Provide accurate and timely documentation of grants income and work with financial staff to provide reports and information for accounting and planning purposes.
ABOUT YOU
To be maximally successful in this role, you need to be:
- A project manager with a knack for working backwards from a deadline to create a work plan
- Diligently mindful of deadlines
- Accustomed to working on multiple projects with different deadlines simultaneously
- An independent worker, self-starter, self-initiator, and self-manager
- A succinct and directive communicator who responds readily and closes loops
- A natural information-sharer so that everyone is always looped in
- A fanatic for follow-up so that you get what you need, when you need it
- A writer by heart and interest who can tailor tone, voice, and style as needed
- A collegial editor, who can offer specific, encouraging feedback to bring a piece of writing to its best iteration
You need to have:
- 3-5 years of nonprofit grant writing experience
- Experience writing all types of grants, especially program-restricted ones
- Experience writing 6 to 7-figure grants
ABOUT LOCATION, COMPENSATION, AND BENEFITS
- Candidates must be within commuting distance to Downtown Washington, DC. Washington Lawyers' Committee operates on a hybrid model: all staff work in the office (Tuesday – Thursday), with a telework option (Monday, Friday)
- Employer-provided health and dental insurance
- Group Life, AD&D, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability coverage
- Flexible Spending Account
- Savings on transit and parking
- Compensation is based upon Washington Lawyers' Committee pay scale, attached. Credit given for prior relevant experience. Generous leave and employer-funded benefits. WLC executed its first collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) signed in 2022 with a staff bargaining unit.
Attached is the pay scale for this position. See here .
TO APPLY
Interested applicants should submit a (1) resume, (2) cover letter and (3) a writing sample representative of development work to ...@washlaw.org with “Washington Lawyers' Committee Grants Associate” in the subject line.
Washington Lawyers' Committee does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, gender, marital status, disability, or status as a US veteran. DC natives and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.
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