Grants and Projects Coordinator At Semilla Nueva

Summary of the Position

We are hiring a grants and projects coordinator to advance Semilla Nueva’s donor identification, project design, grant writing, and reporting. The ideal candidate will be a skilled writer who can quickly understand large bodies of technical knowledge, creatively plan new projects, and make complex ideas accessible. We need a writer, a thinker, and a planner. This position will work directly with the development director, COO, and executive director to create and maintain the relationships that will enable Semilla Nueva to improve the nutrition over 7 million people in the next three years.

The position will have opportunities for advancement based on achievements, including to a senior grants coordinator or partnerships manager.

Summary of the Organization

Malnutrition is one of the greatest barriers to the world’s poorest people escaping poverty. The 900 million people in Africa and Central America who eat corn daily are some of the most affected, with nearly half of Guatemala’s children suffering from stunted growth. Semilla Nueva launched the world’s first social enterprise dedicated to the development, production, and sale of more nutritious, biofortified corn seed directly to small farming families. Farmers buying our seed increase their yields and incomes, while improving the diets of hundreds of thousands— and someday millions—of the world’s poorest consumers. Semilla Nueva is currently expanding our model to work with other seed companies, the Guatemalan government, and partnerships in other countries. In 2021, our fourth year of sales, our seed reached 12,000 families directly and over 20,000 through partnerships.

Semilla Nueva works with some of the world’s leading scientists at organizations such as CIMMYT, HarvestPlus, INCAP, and universities like Purdue, Cornell, Tufts, and Harvard. Our donors include some of the most prestigious in impact philanthropy, including Cartier Philanthropy, Mulago and the U.S. Government. Our seeds are based on conventional breeding (non-GMO), although we are not opposed to well-tested biotechnology. Our work has led to rapid growth and international recognition, including an Ashoka fellowship, Mulago fellowship, and Forbes 30 under 30 for our founder.

Responsibilities

• Donor research: research, identify, and create plans to engage the foundations that are a good fit for Semilla Nueva.
• Grant writing: understand what foundations need to understand and create evidence and literature backed grants for new projects.
• Project design: understand the interest and priority of donors, Semilla Nueva’s strategic plan, and work with Semilla Nueva’s operations team to develop new projects that meet Semilla Nueva’s goals and donor priorities.
• Reporting and relationship management: manage a portfolio of existing funders and provide quarterly and biannual reports, working with the M&E department.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree and 2-5 years of relevant experience
• Exceptional writing abilities with technically complex information
• Basic quantitative skills for impact calculation
• Experience working with foundations, either in grant writing or project design and reporting
• Full working-proficiency in English and Spanish
• Demonstrated leadership, stress-management and flexibility in the work environment

Desired:

• Grant writing experience
• Project reporting experience
• Academic experience working in global health, nutrition, or agricultural development

Beginning date: ASAP

Semilla Nueva is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to sustaining a diverse community with a work environment that is welcoming, respectful, and encouraging to all. We foster a culture of inclusion that celebrates and cultivates diversity along multiple dimensions, including race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, out of home care, age, national origin, socioeconomic status, religion, ability, culture, and experience.