Global Grants Associate At EMpower

EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation, a global philanthropic organization, is dedicated to improving the lives and horizons of marginalised young people ages 10-24 in 15 emerging market countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Russia and Turkey. Through grants and other supports (learning exchanges, technical assistance, thought partnering etc.), EMpower partners with over 100 local organizations working to strengthen the education and livelihoods of young people, and to build their resilience, self-confidence and well-being. EMpower has offices in Hong Kong, India (Delhi), Singapore, London and New York, as well as programme staff in Istanbul, Mexico, Sierra Leone and South Africa To learn more about EMpower, please check out https://empowerweb.org.

The Global Grants Associate is responsible for grants administration and grants management, they are responsible for coordinating and overseeing EMpower’s grant making processes and procedures for 100+ grants per year across three entities. They will report to the Associate Director, Programs.

This position is critical to EMpower’s mission in engaging and learning from youth-centered local organizations and supporting EMpower’s grantmaking capabilities.

The location for this position is flexible: Candidates may be located in USA, Latin America or the Caribbean. The Associate is required to work during Eastern Standard Time or Central Daylight Time business hours.

About the role:

The duties that follow represent the primary responsibilities for this role. All employees are responsible for performing other duties as assigned. Primary responsibilities for this role include the following:

Grants Administration

• Coordinate the grantmaking budget by entity, funding source, and Program Officer Regional budgets, tracking projections and actuals against original budget over the course of the fiscal year. Keep all relevant stakeholders up to date.
• Lead the grant docket processes for 5 grants meetings/year: develop deadlines, draft docket introduction, and manage process to completion (ensuring all parties adhere to deadlines). Ensure grant docket intro contains accurate financial information, grantmaking data and graphs as well as strategic information to be communicated to the global program committees.
• Prepare grant award letters and all relevant supporting documents for all grants (including no-extensions, cost-extensions, and amendments).
• Provide any needed documentation or support to grantees to understand and comply with grant administration policies and procedures, including reporting.
• Maintain the grants accounting schedule and reconcile with the Senior Accountant monthly. Provide support in compiling grants data for annual audits.
• Assist grantees as needed (e.g.- proof of funds; compliance documents; audit requests)
• Keep grants management database (Salesforce and Fluxx) up-to-date and serve as the Program Team lead.
• Keep track of grantee reporting schedules and send report reminders. Proactively follow up on and keep track of outstanding reports and data entry.
• Support the relevant regional program officers with updated numbers and grant information for all Program Country Dashboards.
• Update grantmaking section of the EMpower website; support the communications team in keeping the grantmaking section and impact numbers up to date and appropriate for external audiences.
• Understand and demonstrate ownership of key grantmaking numbers. Proactively update after each grants meeting. Provide additional information about grantmaking numbers to Development, Finance and Communications teams upon request.
• With a view to quality and efficiency, support initiatives to improve the grantmaking operational processes and procedures.

Program Team Support

• Schedule regular program meetings.
• Schedule grants meetings with the Regional Development Manager and ensure that materials are sent in advance to relevant team / stakeholders.
• Backstop other program team work as required.

Qualifications:

• At least 2 years’ experience in the philanthropic and/or nonprofit sector, experience in grants management desired
• Bachelor’s Degree preferred but not required
• Fluency and proficiency in verbal and written English required.
• Fluency and proficiency in verbal and written Spanish strongly preferred, Portuguese desired.
• Interest in the field of youth development, emerging market countries, and/or effective philanthropy
• A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion; alignment with EMpower values.
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated cultural sensitivity/awareness.
• Strong creative, strategic, and analytical thinking skills
• Self-starter; highly organized; proven ability to work independently, anticipate, prioritize, complete multiple projects and meet deadlines, with consistent attention to detail
• Ability to work independently with high degree of judgment and professionalism, as well as virtually with a team across multiple time zones (early morning/evening calls required)
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Applications and comfortable with learning new database technology (experience using Fluxx a plus)
• Ability to work with quantitative information such as budgets and excel spreadsheets
• Strong interpersonal communication skills with culturally diverse audiences; from marginalised, underserved youth to high-profile finance professionals.
• Ability to work and reside in USA, Latin America or the Caribbean.