The Grant Writer is a critical member of Water For People’s Donor Impact team, writing grant concepts, proposals, and reports to secure funding for Water For People’s vision of a world where every person has access to reliable and safe water and sanitation services.
The Grant Writer will focus on crafting the case for supporting our work in the four Country Programs where we work in Africa: Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. This role supports effective communications by developing persuasive pitches tailored to the donor’s level of familiarity with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Powerful and compelling written materials will be developed for corporate, foundation, and individual Major Gifts donors to meet and exceed Water For People’s annual revenue targets.
The grant writer will work closely within the Major Gifts team, reporting to the Senior Grant Writer, to ensure an efficient proposal development, review, and submission process. The grant writer will also work closely with Water For People Global Program staff, and Country Program teams to verify data and information used for proposals and reports. This work requires the ability to process multiple sources of complex information into clear and concise written products.
- Conduct the full range of activities required to prepare, edit, review, submit, and manage grant concepts, proposals, and reports for major donors as directed by Major Gifts Relationship Managers and Senior Grant Writer per donor requirements and deadlines.
- Work across departments and teams at Water For People to translate organizational goals and outcomes into persuasive narrative proposals.
- Adhere to Water For People’s Global Style Guide and institutional messaging to effectively communicate our organizational goals and vision.
- Work closely with colleagues from Global Programs, Strategic Communications, Finance, and Country Programs to achieve a seamless cross-departmental process for development of proposals and reports.
- Advise Relationship Managers on strategies to fit programmatic work to donor interests.
- As requested by Country Program offices in Africa, provide support to or training for in-country funding opportunities, serving as a resource to the local/regional Business Development teams.
- Regularly participate in Africa regional and/or country team meetings to remain updated on each country’s progress.
- Serve as an informational resource to the Donor Impact department and Major Gifts team.
- Collaborate with the Grant Coordinator to maintain the grants calendar and ensure proper utilization of the Grant Management System.
- Provide copyediting support on institutional funding opportunities.
Note: This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the job.
- Bachelor’s degree in related discipline or equivalent work experience.
- 2 or more years of progressively responsible writing experience aimed at raising revenue.
- 1 or more years of experience working for a nonprofit.
- English fluency.
- Excellent written and verb communication skills.
- Ability to research and synthesize complex sets of information.
- Highly accountability, with the ability to effectively manage both the big picture and small details while executing on both while adhering to firm deadlines.
- Proficient in the use of Microsoft 365 suite.
- Excellent organizational skills, and the capability to handle important tasks simultaneously while responding to unanticipated developments.
