Dance Place, a nationally recognized cultural arts center in Washington, DC, seeks a Grants Manager. This is a 40 hour per week, salaried, year-round position with benefits, and is a hybrid position located in Washington DC. The Grants Manager will report to the Executive Director. The ideal candidate will have 3 or more years of grants management experience and embrace Dance Place’s mission to build a community of artists, audiences and students through high quality performances, commissions, training and educational programs and our commitment to enriching the field of dance locally, nationally and internationally.

 

Dance Place is an equal opportunity employer. Dance Place believes that people of color, people in the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, and women must be centered in the work we do. Hence, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities. Strong candidates will work in alignment with Dance Place’s mission and values, be welcoming to people of all identities, including artists, adult dance class students, audience members, and the youth of our robust education programs.

 

Title: Grants Manager

Number of hours per week: 40

Department: Development

Immediate supervisor: Executive Director

Salary: $60,000-$65,000 annually

Benefits: Dance Place offers our employees extensive paid time off, self-managed mental health and medical leave, a (401) K plan, health insurance, and pre-tax travel benefits. Employees are able to take class and attend Dance Place performances for free.
 

 

Position Overview

Reporting to and working closely with the Executive Director, the Grants Manager leads all aspects of the grants process, from prospecting to project management and writing to compliance. The portfolio of writing currently fluctuates between 40-60 submissions annually to foundations, government, and corporations, with the hope that the addition of a grant writing professional will help grow the volume of submissions and awards.

 

Responsibilities

The Grants Manager will be responsible for accomplishing specific objectives and activities related to institutional fundraising, including but not limited to:

 

Project Management 

Develop and manage a comprehensive grants program to meet annually determined funding goals.

Create measurable goals for the grants program, including number of submissions, awards, and dollars raised. 

Maintain a calendar to ensure timely submission of letters of inquiry, proposals, and reports.

Develop and maintain individualized strategies of solicitation, cultivation, and stewardship for each grant funding entity.  

Contribute to the development of data management, collection, reporting, and program evaluation capacities within the organization.

Project manage to keep the Executive Director current on and prepared for all upcoming applications, reports, and information needs.

 

Grant Prospecting and Writing

Prospect research to ensure Dance Place has a robust pipeline of local, regional, and national grant opportunities to pursue. 

Conduct research on funding opportunities with an emphasis on new sources of revenue for both general operating support and priority projects. Evaluate each opportunity to ensure Dance Place is deliberate and selective in what it applies for and when.

Lead staff teams to develop concepts for new and ongoing funding opportunities.

Write highly competitive foundation, government, and corporate grant proposals and concept papers, and produce customized letters of inquiry and reports.

Writing style should be dynamic, reader-friendly, and high-quality, free of typos, jargon, and lackluster prose.

 

Stewardship

Build strong relationships with the organization's portfolio of current and potential institutional funders.

Monitor progress of grant-funded projects to ensure successful implementation in accordance with grant contract terms.

Track and report on grants that have been won by working closely with the program staff once a grant has been awarded to ensure they understand what must be tracked and liaising with all staff necessary to collect data to complete grant reports on schedule.  

 

 

Development Operations

Organize files and documents to make compiling attachments easy and to facilitate reporting by always easily finding original documentation.

Manage grants in Patron Manager to ensure all grant opportunities and tasks are current and well detailed.

Provide accurate and timely documentation of grants income and work with financial staff to provide reports and information for accounting and planning purposes.

 

About You

To be maximally successful in this role, you need to be:

 

A born project manager with a knack for working backwards from a deadline to create a work plan

Diligently mindful of deadlines

Accustomed to working on multiple projects with different deadlines simultaneously

An independent worker, self-starter, self-initiator, and self-manager

A succinct and directive communicator who responds readily and closes loops

A natural information-sharer so that everyone is always looped in

A fanatic for follow-up so that you get what you need, when you need it

A writer by heart and interest who can tailor tone, voice, and style as needed

A collegial editor, who can offer specific, encouraging feedback to bring a piece of writing to its best iteration

 

You need to have:

3-7 years of nonprofit grant writing experience

Experience writing all types of grants, especially program-restricted ones

Experience writing 6 to 7-figure grants

 

Due to the in-person aspects of the position, those who wish to apply for this position will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This is defined as 2 weeks after receiving the last eligible dosage, inclusive of booster shot(s). The applicant should be prepared to show proof of vaccination upon request. Each candidate will also be required to comply with Dance Place’s current COVID-19 policies and procedures including the utilization of a face covering that covers both the nose and mouth while indoors on campus and adhering to frequent hand sanitization to prevent the spread of illness. 

 

All offers of employment at Dance Place are contingent upon results of a thorough background check. Background checks will be conducted on all final candidates prior to an offer for employment being extended.

 

HOW TO APPLY: To apply, send to employment@danceplace.org a writing sample of a successful 6 - 7 figure grant submission, a cover letter, resume and two references. No phone calls please.

 

Applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled, with a priority application date of August 29th 2022. No phone calls please.