Grants Management Liaison

Background

Bloomberg Philanthropies works to create catalytic change across five areas of focus: arts and culture, education, the environment, government innovation, and public health. Our mission is to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people.  Our approach is rooted in Mike Bloomberg's unique experience and success across the field of business, government, and philanthropy. 

The Position:

We are seeking a Grants Management Liaison to support the financial planning and reporting of programmatic initiatives and grants as well as lead all aspects of the grants management lifecycle, from planning to closure and shepherding the program teams through our processes and policies. Sitting within our Grants Management team, you will work cross-functionally with program officers, the finance and legal teams, and the Executive team to serve as the key point of contact and “thought partner” to support our main program areas.  

The role is based in New York City. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Partner with program teams to build initiative and grantee budgets that allocate resources across their strategic initiatives and partners 

• Act as a thought partner to inform, assess, and document assumptions.  
• Facilitate the review of budgets across subject matter experts and ensure their input is addressed. 
• Own the monitoring of budgets to reflect the current state of play and variance against targets. Escalate changes and issues, collaborating with all stakeholders to propose recommendations.  

Shepherd all processes of the grants management lifecycle across initiatives and collaborate with finance and legal to inform decisions. 

• Facilitate the approval of grants by informing the rationale for selection and how it aligns with the programmatic strategies and objectives. 
• Conduct the compliance and financial due diligence of grants applying our tools and approach to assess and mitigate risks. 
• Recommend how to structure grants based on their profile, due diligence findings, and our foundation’s lens to manage compliance.
• Manage the agreement execution process by developing the documentation needed, incorporating input from subject matter experts, and completing it within the expected timeframe.
• Manage the grant monitoring process, ensuring reports are received and reviewed on time and payments are made on or before the scheduled date.
• Manage, monitor, and report the grants pipeline with an eye balance mitigating risk with efficiency in execution. Identify issues, and present recommendations to resolve them.
• Actively use our grants management system to facilitate process workflows and input data aligned to our coding hierarchy and definitions. 

Support reporting by acting as subject matter expert of program areas owned for key audiences such as the program team, leadership and communications. 

• Compile financials and draft narrative to inform drivers, variances, and other specific requests. 
• Conduct ad hoc searches related to our giving history by navigating our grants management system and reporting tools. 

Required Qualifications and Skills: 

To be successful, you should be experienced in leading processes and projects cross-functionally. You balance strong analytical skills with the soft skills required to manage competing priorities.  Additionally: 

• A minimum of 7 years of progressive work experience in a fast-paced environment, applying business skills to inform and analyze budgets, shepherd processes across cross-functional teams, create financial reports, and manage workflows and data in systems. 
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills, with the ability to independently lead multiple projects simultaneously with a focus on quality and project follow-through. 
• Ability to frame issues and communicate technical, budgetary, and program details across all functions and to various partners. 
• Superb people skills, able to collaborate in a matrix organization and manage competing priorities from various partners. 
• Comfort handling requests from senior leadership, dealing with ambiguity, and using good judgment to resolve issues. 
• Basic understanding of foundation-specific regulations and non-profit operations. 
• Database and reporting skills with a sharp eye for accuracy and detail.
• High level proficiency with Microsoft Excel including being able to work with formulas, v-lookups, pivot tables, macros, etc.
• Confidence to ask pertinent questions, grasp concepts quickly, and think beyond specific tasks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Flexibility and ability to learn and develop new skills on the job. 

We’d love to see:

• A passion for data, analytics and problem-solving 
• Keen interest in our programs, values and furthering a career in philanthropic operations. You thrive in a fast-paced environment, collaborating with team members to get things done.  

Bloomberg Philanthropies is an equal opportunities employer, and we value diversity at our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Bloomberg Philanthropies provides reasonable adjustment/accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable adjustment/accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job. Examples of reasonable adjustment/accommodation include but are not limited to making a change to the application process work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment. If you would prefer to discuss this confidentially, please email humanresources@bloomberg.org.  

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