Director of Grants Administration

About Elemental Excelerator

Elemental is a nonprofit investor in climate technologies with deep community impact. We bring more than a decade of experience across the climate sector, with an active and maturing portfolio of 150+ companies. Elemental fills two gaps fundamental to addressing climate change: funding projects for climate technologies in communities, and embedding equity and access into climate solutions. We invest in transformative technologies to create a system change for a more resilient, equitable future. 

With more than a decade of experience investing across many sectors and stages of climate technology, we have a maturing and active portfolio of 150+ companies, and a robust pipeline of thousands more. We invest deeply in entrepreneurs from traditionally excluded backgrounds and embed equity and access through every aspect of development through implementation. We heavily focus on project deployments that meaningfully bring in community input and deliver community impact. 

We do more than write a check; we find innovative and creative ways to identify and fill financing and support gaps in the market. Our wraparound services include policy strategy, equity and access coaching, commercialization support, corporate connections, diverse talent acquisition, follow on funding partnerships and beyond. 

About the role

Elemental is seeking a standout Director of Grants Administration to join the Growth Team. In this role, you will design and execute a grant administration framework to support the implementation of the organization’s philanthropic and federal funding across program teams. In addition to administering annual program expenses of about $40 million, the Director of Grants Administration will establish sound policies, procedures and systems that ensure seamless execution of all grant-funded project, financial and reporting deliverables. This is a highly dynamic and creative fundraising team within the organization that will ultimately be expected to effectively deploy and steward the resources we raise annually to support our mission.

This position will report to the Managing Director, Growth and Development and will work closely with our finance and program teams. The Director of Grants Administration will need sophisticated understanding of grant budgeting and financial reporting, as well as a humble and joyful spirit to cultivate deep collaboration with diverse teams across the organization.

With an increase in the number of philanthropic and government donors, Elemental is focused on providing impeccable grant stewardship and creating a world-class experience for our partners. The Director of Grants Administration role will complement additional capacity that is being brought onto the finance and accounting teams with the vision of these roles working very closely together to build effective and integrated grants administration policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities Include:                         

BUDGETING ALIGNMENT

• Works closely with the Finance Team to inform the organization-wide budgeting process, to accurately define programs and projects for grant accounting codes, and to support the migration to a new integrated grants management and accounting system.
• Collaborates with Managing Directors on their annual budgets and helps to determine the most strategic and cost-effective ways of delivering their projects and programs that align with funder interests.
• Maintains a strategic overview of Elemental’s project activities to monitor impacts on the annual budget, fundraising strategy and revenue goals.
• Works closely with Finance and Program Teams to develop accurate project budgets required for grant proposals and funding requests.

GRANTS ADMINISTRATION 

• Leads the development of grant administration policies that cover the entire project life cycle, from launch to implementation to evaluation to reporting.
• Identifies on-going training for program staff to understand and improve financial and administrative requirements of successful project management. 
• Works in collaboration with the Finance Team to monitor progress towards grant expenditures and determines solutions to address any variances.
• Leads the coordination of financial reporting for philanthropic and government grants, aligns impact evaluation and interprets messaging to donors.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

• Works closely with the Development Team to fully understand donor interests, dynamics of funding partnerships and requirements for each grant.
• Identifies revenue gaps in the budget and/or new program needs that will shape our fundraising strategy and approach.

About You 

You could be a great addition to our team if you are an experienced grants management leader with expertise in effective grants life-cycle administration. You bring strong systems orientation, with a track record of improving and enhancing existing grants management technologies, while developing new budgeting, tracking and project management solutions. You are skilled in grant administration and financial reporting, as well as working collaboratively with both finance and program teams to flawlessly execute projects and report back impact to donors. You believe deeply in social and racial equity and have a pulse on climate philanthropy, climate finance and the federal funding landscape. You adapt to emerging funding opportunities and are able to quickly map out expenses and align donor interests with program needs. And if climate tech is new to you, you are curious and ready to dive into learning.

Qualifications (even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications, we still encourage you to apply!)            

Desired skills:                              

• Significant grant management experience; previous experience in a senior role in nonprofit resource development
• Highly detailed and process-oriented with a proven ability to administer grants of over $1 million
• Exceptional budgeting and project management skills with a strategic and creative thought process
• Entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to foster a positive, high performing team culture
• Personal warmth and a collaborative management style that ensures cross functional buy-in of teams in support of fundraising initiatives and grant execution
• Deep understanding of tools, strategies and best practices for donor stewardship
• Experience in database management and fundraising campaign execution and tracking
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking and presentations. 
• Deep knowledge of philanthropy and the climate field

Standout skills:                                                                                     

• Direct fundraising or other work experience in climate technology, startups/entrepreneurship and/or impact investing
• Diverse lived experience, DEI training and/or background working in and with frontline communities
• Nonprofit fundraising and/or budgeting certificate

And if you are interested in this opportunity but don't have direct experience, here are transferable skills that we believe are applicable and will help you in this role: 

Compensation & Benefits

This is a full-time "at-will" position working at least 40 hours per week; and you will be asked to travel for work periodically.

The salary range for this role is $106,400 - 191,000 which is based on market data and the organization's compensation philosophy. Individual salary offers will depend on and may vary with location, relevant education, knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer comprehensive employee benefits, including a professional development stipend and three weeks paid time off (more details here). 

Location

We will consider candidates located in New York and Washington DC. Elemental has a hybrid working model and if you are within a reasonable distance to one of our offices, we ask employees to come into the office at least one day a week to build community with the team. Currently, most people come in 1-2 times a week, but we encourage those who are interested to come in more often if they’d like. 

Other Details:

We will accept and review applications on a rolling basis. Although all applications will be considered, we may be unable to respond to all inquiries. Please note that we do read cover letters, so we advise spending adequate time on them to share your relevant stories and experiences with us. We also ask that you refrain from using tools like Chat GPT and keep the cover letter to 1-2 pages long. 

Elemental is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and has a strong commitment to diversity. Candidates of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Candidates from the following groups are especially encouraged to apply: Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC); members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) communities; people who have disabilities; and people from low-income backgrounds. 

Elemental is also committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, activities, programs, and employment opportunities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other applicable laws.

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