Grants Coordinator

Job Description

Feeding South Dakota is the state's largest hunger-relief organization, with a mission to end hunger in South Dakota. Through our programs and agency partners we are providing food in all 66 counties of our state and fighting hunger in rural communities, metro areas and Native American Reservations.

Job Summary

The Grants Coordinator plays a key role in advancing Feeding South Dakota’s mission by securing essential funding through strategic grant prospecting, proposal development, and donor stewardship. This position is responsible for identifying funding opportunities, creating high-quality grant proposals to corporations, foundations, and other grant-making organizations, and managing the entire grants process. Key responsibilities include maintaining a detailed grants calendar, ensuring timely submission of proposals and reports, coordinating cross-departmental efforts to meet grant requirements, and fostering strong relationships with institutional donors. Additionally, the Grants Coordinator supports donor prospecting and stewardship activities to enhance engagement and sustain funding partnerships.

Job Responsibilities

Grant Prospecting and Proposal Preparation

• Identify, research, and evaluate potential grant funding opportunities from corporations, foundations, government agencies, local United Way offices, and other grantmaking organizations.
• Align grant activities with the organization’s goals and strategic plan.
• Maintain the grants calendar, tracking submission and reporting deadlines.
• Prepare, write, and submit high-quality grant proposals, budgets, and supporting documents.
• Collaborate with department leaders and staff to identify fundable programs and collect required information for proposals.
• Present proposals to potential funders in person or virtually, and steward relationships with grantors.

Post-Award Grant Management

• Coordinate with departments to implement grant-funded programs and collect data for evaluations.
• Prepare summaries of awarded grants, communicate expectations, and monitor progress to ensure compliance.
• Submit timely grant reports and track expenditures in collaboration with the Finance team.
• Lead quarterly grants meeting, monitoring grant progress with relevant departments to ensure compliance of grant requirements.
• Ensure grant recognition requirements are fulfilled and maintain accurate records in the donor database.

Donor Reporting and Stewardship

• Generate and analyze donor giving reports to track trends and inform strategies.
• Segment donor lists for stewardship, appeals, and communications, in coordination with the Annual Fund Manager.
• Assign donors to team members for personalized engagement and support donor recognition initiatives.
• Collaborate across teams to maintain consistent donor communication.

Prospect Research and Donor Prospecting

• Research and develop profiles of prospective donors, including their capacity, interests, and giving history.
• Build and maintain a prospect pipeline, identifying new opportunities through trends and partnerships.
• Work with the development team to prioritize prospects and strategize cultivation efforts.

Other

• Maintain up-to-date data on Feeding South Dakota, Feeding America, and hunger-related research for use in writing proposals, reports, and other funding and marketing purposes.
• Work with Marketing team to develop draft client stories for use in proposals, reports, and acknowledgements.
• Work with the Development Director to ensure revenue goals, departmental goals and specific measurable objectives, strategies and funding timetables are met.
• Support revenue goals and diversification of funding sources with the Chief Development Officer.
• Assist with other fundraising events, campaigns, and represent and/or speak on behalf of the organization at community events.
• Other duties as assigned.

Physical Requirements:

Sedentary work: Sedentary work involves lifting approximately 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like files, paper, or small office equipment. A sedentary job will usually involve sitting for long periods of time, with occasional walking in the warehouse areas. Most of the work is performed in a sedentary job involves operating a computer and telephone.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university OR four years of professional writing experience.
• 3-5 years of successful grant writing experience.
• Outstanding written and interpersonal communications skills.
• Outstanding time management and organizational skills.
• Outstanding attention-to-detail and copy-editing skills.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines.
• Creative thinker with the ability to synthesize complex information from multiple contributors into clear, compelling writing that meets both funders’ interests, guidelines and requirements, and the mission, interests, and goals of the food bank.
• Strong computer literacy; ability to learn software and database management.
• Passion for Feeding South Dakota’s mission.

Benefits:

• 12 Paid Holidays
• 3 weeks PTO
• Medical, Vision, and Dental Insurance (some plans free or little cost to employee)
• Employer paid Life Insurance, Long & Short Term Disability Insurance
• 401(k), 401(k) matching (vested immediately)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Aflac