Manager, Grants & Stewardship

Position: Manager, Grants & Stewardship

Location: Remote 

Employment Type: Full-time, Salaried, Exempt

Compensation Range: $75,000/year – $90,000/year

Level: Manager I

Reports To: Director, Development Strategy & Operations 

Manages: None

Supported By: Development team, Communications team, Operations team, Program team

Education/Experience Preferences: Bachelor's Degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred

Start Date: ASAP

We Are DigDeep  

The DigDeep Right to Water Project is a WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization serving the 2 million + people in the U.S. who still don’t have a tap or a toilet at home. 

DigDeep believes access to clean water is a human right. We run several nationally recognized programs that empower communities to build their own water and sanitation systems. We won the 2018 US Water Prize for our Navajo Water Project, which has brought clean, running water to hundreds of Native families across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. DigDeep launched the Appalachia Water Project in 2020, in McDowell County, WV. It has since brought clean, sustainable running water to hundreds of families in Southern West Virginia through public - private partnerships with the McDowell County and East Logan PSD's in Wyoming County. In addition to clean running water, the project is installing septic systems and connecting households to centralized sewer. The AWP is now expanding into neighboring states of Kentucky and Virginia to continue its quest of clean water for every Appalachian family. Our water projects expanded in 2022 when we launched our Colonias Water Project. This project works to bring clean, running water to the residents living in communities along the Texas-Mexico border. The Texas colonias are largely unincorporated, low-income communities that fall just outside city limits and often lack basic infrastructure. Our work began in Cochran colonia near El Paso. DigDeep partnered with residents, housing nonprofits, and county officials to innovate a new model for public-private-partnership that brings these basic services to families for the first time. Now we're getting the water flowing in 5 more communities. 

The Opportunity

DigDeep is looking for a collaborative, organized, and detail-oriented person to join our growing Development team as the Manager, Grants & Stewardship. Reporting to the Director, Development Strategy & Operations, the Manager, Grants & Stewardship will be responsible for the oversight and development of grant proposals, donor reports and communication initiatives to drive investment and foster deeper connections with our existing and potential donor/funder base. Collaborating closely with other development team members, communications staff, contractors, and program team members, the ideal candidate will be an engaging storyteller, problem solver, and will demonstrate extreme attention to detail with a deep commitment to water as a human right. 

Key Responsibilities

This is what you’ll do once you join the team: 

• Serve as a primary writer and project manager of all institutional grant proposals, corporate and individual solicitations, and donor report submissions, playing a key role in securing ongoing and new support.
• Communicate in a timely and effective manner internally across departments on upcoming deadlines and development information needs for use in grant development and reporting.
• Support frontline fundraisers by managing stewardship and recognition initiatives for DigDeep’s donors to ensure excellent engagement and prompt follow up, including crafting stewardship materials, regular written updates and impact reports.
• Conduct thorough research on foundations and corporations to assess potential grant opportunities.
• Maintain a tracking and reporting system for grant proposals, awards, and prospects to ensure the timeliness of submissions and reports in advance of both internal and external deadlines. 
• Manage all necessary records, files, reports, databases and resource materials pertinent to grant activities to ensure they remain up to date and accurate.
• Build firsthand knowledge of the DigDeep model and impact by working collaboratively with other departments, participating in relevant programmatic discussions and activities, and occasionally traveling for team gatherings.
• As DigDeep continues to increase revenue and diversify its portfolio, potential tasks may include exploring opportunities to develop grant proposals for federal funding by researching, drafting, and submitting comprehensive applications aligned with the organization's mission and programs.
• Assist with ad-hoc projects and support other tasks/duties as assigned.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. As the organization continues to evolve, duties or tasks may change without impacting the overall job description. 

Competencies 

• Change Management: Task/strategy orientation. Seeks out opportunities for task /team/ functional area growth and innovation. Anticipates obstacles from both team members and active projects, beginning to forecast and prepare contingencies. Collaboratively establish structures and processes to plan and manage the orderly implementation of change. Collaborate on the project goal and provide guidance on how to get there, especially under novel circumstances. Effectively navigates uncertainties and incomplete information with a problem-solving mindset to identify appropriate strategies, creatively apply solutions, and uses a community-driven, sustainable approach. Champions new policies/ procedures/ strategies. Are a focal point for driving adoption within functional area.
• Personal Development: Shifting toward professional development from personal development. Continual development of self. Become a better leader through feedback and consistent collaboration. Developing for team. Identifies own learning needs and areas for development based on self-initiated need analysis as well as in response to others’ feedback and suggestions for improvement. Maintains fluency in appropriate work applications, software, or tools. Beginning to identify and share information regarding key technologies and best practices to team.
• Influence: Oversees relationships and alliances within functional area with support from supervisor (internal and external). Uses extensive industry and team knowledge to help guide teams outside of functional area. Able to synthesize and triage various project needs in order to best achieve goals within functional area. Challenge directives when appropriate and, with evidence, propose alternative solutions. 
• Judgement & Decision-Making: Able to identify the information needed to clarify situations, when necessary, seeks information from appropriate resources, and uses skilled reasoning and questioning to draw out information in order to make sound decisions. Should be able to implement all solutions independently. Effectively navigates uncertainties and incomplete information with a problem-solving mindset to identify and propose appropriate strategies and creatively apply solutions using a community-driven, equitable approach. Can make systematic comparisons between two or more alternatives, noticing discrepancies and using them to inform decision-making. 
• Ownership: Beginning to fully own projects along with limited guidance from supervisor. Demonstrates commitment to delivering on all promises as a credible, trusted organizational representative. Establishes agreements with others as to how success will be measured. Accepts the consequences of own performance. Able to work independently with limited guidance and exercise independent judgment, knowing when to elevate concerns or issues. 
• Personal Development: Shifting toward professional development from personal development. Continual development of self. Become a better leader through feedback and consistent collaboration. Developing for team. Identifies own learning needs and areas for development based on self-initiated need analysis as well as in response to others’ feedback and suggestions for improvement. Maintains fluency in appropriate work applications, software, or tools. Beginning to identify and share information regarding key technologies and best practices to team.
• Technical Expertise: Has demonstrated ability and depth of knowledge with the technology in the desired technical area. Effectively uses and applies technical knowledge, and uses knowledge to identify solutions to existing problems. Basic understanding of data security best practices.

Skills and Qualifications

We want to hear from you if you have:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred
• At least 4 years of applicable professional experience required; experience in non-profit fundraising and grant management including grant writing/reporting, funder cultivation/solicitation, stewardship, communications, and/or corporate giving 
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, Google Workspace required
• High computer literacy, and tech savviness required
• Experience with Salesforce, Slack, Zoom preferred
• Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations
• Organized, trustworthy, dependable, and diplomatic
• Comfortable with autonomy, able to work independently and complete assigned tasks within established time frames required
• Flexibility to travel occasionally for team gatherings, such as retreats and/or site visits, at various locations including but not limited to: Navajo Nation (AZ/NM/UT), West Virginia, Texas, DigDeep HQ in Los Angeles, and other destinations as required
• Understanding of data security best practices preferred
• Experience/willingness to work across various cultural contexts and communicate across cultural differences