Grants & Contracts Officer

1. Job Summary The Grants & Contracts Officer supports COREs business development, grant compliance, donor stewardship, and day-to-day finance administration. The role helps ensure donor-funded activities are implemented in accordance with grant agreements, approved budgets, donor restrictions, reporting requirements, and internal policies. Working across Finance, Development, Programs, and Operations, the Administrator will maintain grant compliance files and trackers, monitor grant budgets and burn rates, support donor reporting and documentation requests, and provide practical guidance to teams on routine grant requirements. The position also serves as the California portfolios business development lead, identifying and pursuing grant opportunities alongside relevant departments, as well as being a responsive point of coordination for institutional donors. The role will help maintain strong donor relationships through timely follow-up, accurate information, organized documentation, and professional communication. The finance component is primarily administrative and includes supporting invoicing, receivables follow-up, payment tracking, and related recordkeeping. 2. Key Responsibilities Maintain a working understanding of assigned grant agreements, approved budgets, donor rules, reporting schedules, and compliance requirements to help ensure activities are implemented in accordance with donor commitments and organizational policies.Maintain organized grant files, compliance trackers, reporting calendars, and supporting documentation, ensuring donor requirements, approvals, deadlines, and key correspondence are accurately documented and accessible.Monitor grant budgets, expenditures, commitments, burn rates, and budget-versus-actual (BVA) performance; identify potential underspend, overspend, or timing concerns and coordinate with Finance and program teams to address them.Serve as a day-to-day resource to program and operations teams on routine grant compliance matters, helping assess proposed expenditures against approved budgets and donor restrictions, and escalating complex or sensitive issues as appropriate.Support donor financial and compliance reporting by coordinating inputs, reviewing supporting documentation, tracking deadlines, and helping ensure submissions are accurate, complete, and timely. Support grant amendments, budget revisions, reforecasts, monitoring visits, audits, and closeout activities as needed.Serve as the business development lead for the Climate Resilience & Disaster Preparedness (CRDP) portfolio, proactively identifying, researching, and pursuing grant opportunities in coordination with Development, Programs, and other relevant departments. Support opportunity assessments, proposal development, and budget preparation.Help cultivate and maintain strong relationships with institutional donors by serving as a responsive point of coordination for routine inquiries, documentation requests, reporting needs, and follow-ups. Ensure timely, accurate, and professional communication in coordination with Development and Finance leadership.Work closely with Finance, Development, Programs, and Operations to coordinate grant-related information, address documentation gaps, track donor feedback and approvals, and ensure consistent communication and follow-through on grant commitments.Support grant-related finance functions, including monitoring receivables and payment status, coordinating with Finance on outstanding payments, maintaining accurate financial records and supporting documentation, and assisting with related administrative follow-up as needed.Help strengthen grant management practices by maintaining and improving tools, templates, trackers, procedures, and internal controls that promote consistent compliance, effective coordination, and sound grant administration.Other duties as assigned. 3. Required Skills & Qualifications Required Education: Bachelors degree in nonprofit management, business administration, finance, international development, public administration, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience will be considered. Required Qualifications: Experience in nonprofit business development, including identifying and pursuing grant opportunities, supporting proposal development, and cultivating institutional donor relationships.Familiarity with grants administration, donor compliance, restricted funding, grant agreements, and reporting requirements.Working knowledge of grant budgets and financial administration, including budget monitoring, expenditure tracking, burn rates, and budget-versus-actual reporting.Strong organizational, written, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, meet deadlines, and coordinate across departments.Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and other Microsoft Office applications; experience with grant management and financial systems preferred.Familiarity with emergency management and/or environmental stewardship preferred.Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, and collaborate effectively across Finance, Development, Programs, and Operations. Required Experience: Approximately 1-3 years of relevant experience in grants administration, business development, donor relations, nonprofit operations, or a related function.Experience identifying and pursuing grant opportunities, supporting proposal development, and engaging with institutional donors or funding partners preferred.Experience supporting grant compliance, donor reporting, grant documentation, or the management of restricted funding preferred.Experience monitoring grant budgets, expenditures, burn rates, or budget-versus-actual (BVA) reports; advanced accounting experience is not required.Experience coordinating with internal teams and external stakeholders to manage donor requests, reporting deadlines, documentation, and grant deliverables.Experience supporting grant amendments, audits, monitoring visits, or grant closeout preferred.Experience working in a nonprofit, humanitarian, international development, climate resilience, or other grant-funded environment preferred. Required Skills & Competencies: Ability to read grant agreements and donor guidance, identify key restrictions and deadlines, and apply requirements thoughtfully to day-to-day program activities. Strong attention to detail and ability to maintain complete, organized, and audit-ready grant and donor documentation. Strong interpersonal and written communication skills, with a professional, responsive, and service-oriented approach to donor and internal relationships. Ability to build trust across teams, follow up diplomatically on outstanding information or action items, and communicate compliance requirements without creating unnecessary barriers to program delivery. Comfort working with grant budgets, identifying variances and spending trends, calculating burn rates, and communicating basic financial information to non-finance colleagues. Sound judgment and willingness to ask questions, flag potential compliance risks early, and escalate issues appropriately. Strong organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to manage recurring donor deadlines and multiple grants or workstreams simultaneously. Working proficiency in Excel, including formulas, filters, lookups, and structured trackers; advanced finance or accounting skills are not required. Discretion when handling confidential financial, donor, employee, and organizational information. Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a frequently changing environment. 4. Preferred Skills & Qualifications Preferred Language: Multilingualism (Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog or another LA County threshold languages) preferred. Scope and Travel No direct reports anticipated. Works cross-functionally with Programs, Partnerships, Development, Finance, Compliance and other staff across the organization. Travel may be required for organizational meetings, trainings, audits, or program support.