Senior Grant Writer

At The New York Foundling, we trust in the power and potential of people, and we deliberately invest in proven practices. From bold beginnings in 1869, our New York-based nonprofit has supported hundreds of thousands of our neighbors on their own paths to stability, strength, and independence.  We help children and families navigate through and beyond foster care. We help families struggling with conflict and poverty grow strong. We help individuals with developmental disabilities live their best lives, and we help our neighbors access quality health and mental health services—core to building lifelong resilience and wellbeing. Together, our interrelated programs provide a whole-person, whole-family, and whole-life approach that unlocks solutions for a lifetime.

The Senior Grant Writer is a technical expert on grant writing, and manages The Foundling's response to grant opportunities within their assigned portfolio of private and public funders with an eye towards renewal and deepening relationships with funding partners. This Senior Grant Writer position is heavily focused on the pursuit of public funding.

The Senior Grant Writer is  a technical expert on grant writing, and manages The Foundling's response to grant opportunities within their assigned portfolio of private and public funders with an eye towards renewal and deepening relationships with funding partners. This Senior Grant Writer position is heavily focused on the pursuit of public funding.

Core Responsibilities: 

• Write and edit proposals, letters of inquiry, and related documents to raise grants from foundation, corporate, and government funding sources.
• Collaborate with program, finance, and operations staff to ensure that information shared with funders in RFP responses, grant proposals, reports, and other correspondence is accurate and timely.
• Prepare talking points for meetings with foundation representatives, act as a technical resource, and support Foundling staff in presenting a compelling and accurate case for partnership during meetings with funders.
• Support the Assistant Vice President of Institutional Giving, in conjunction with other team members, in setting and communicating writing standards to the team in order to maintain a clear, compelling, and consistent style across the department.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records related to opportunities within designated portfolio, including past submissions as well as the calendar of upcoming anticipated proposals, reports, and other touchpoints with funders to support an organized and coordinated response to opportunities.
• Understand, contribute and comply with departmental policies, processes, and writing standards in keeping with our commitment to excellence in internal operations.
• Serves as an expert for the funders in their portfolio to set and execute strategies for responding to grant opportunities, including the "pitch," amount of request, any restrictions, etc. with the goal of a successful application.
• Explore new funding prospects and research opportunities to engage new funders to support and expand our programming efforts. 

The New York Foundling is committed to attracting and retaining a diverse employee population, the Foundling will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

• Bachelor's Degree. 
• Grant writing and editorial skills and experience--must have a strong understanding of what constitutes a well-written grant proposal. Requires 5 + years of grant writing experience, with at least 2 years of experience with responses to public RFPs. 
• Finance/budgeting skills--must  be able to support with the creation of budgets and help program teams adhere to funder expectations when it comes to how their grant is expended.
• Communication skills--must be able to communicate clearly, verbally and in writing.
• Relationship-building skills--must be able to develop strong relationships both with colleagues and outside stakeholders.
• Project management--must be able to set clear expectations and timelines for project completion, and hold collaborators accountable to those expectations and timelines.
• Time management--must be able to manage one's own time in order to meet deadlines and funder expectations.
• Organization -- must be highly detail-oriented and organized to support the successful completion of complex proposals in a timely and professional manner while producing high-quality work.
• Demonstrated strong commitment to safety.