The Entrepreneur Fund is an economic development organization committed to growing the regional economy by boosting the abilities of the region’s business owners seeking growth. We provide business loans up to $500,000 and strategic services to entrepreneurs in 11 counties of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. Our vision is to have vibrant communities across our region that are created and sustained by entrepreneurs.

OVERVIEW

The Entrepreneur Fund seeks a Grants Manager to fully execute our grant cycles, from beginning to end, while maintaining a robust data collection process of Entrepreneur Fund activities and our clients. This role is critical to growing our stable base of funding, exceeding funder expectations, and ensuring accurate and complete data about the organization’s activities and impact.

Responsibilities

  • Write funding proposals to foundations, corporations, and sources of loan capital. Create concise, compelling written funding requests through the use of narrative, data, client stories, research, and visuals to make effective funding proposals. Funders include government, foundations, individuals, corporations, and financial institutional investors. (20%)
  • Prospect funding sources and prepare information for exceptional applications. (20%)
  • Perform grant and funder research to identify potential funding sources that are a strategic fit and meet the goals of the organization.
  • Mine, collect, and catalog relevant internal data and 3rd party statistics, reports, and studies to inform grant proposals. This includes regional data, small business data, articles, research, client stories, and trends in entrepreneurship.
  • Maintain and execute a grants management calendar to ensure the timely submission of letters of inquiry, proposals, grant agreements, and reports for all funding sources. (25%)
  • Execute our data collection process and manage software systems to consistently and accurately track activity data, required grant information, client information, demographic information, and other compliance data. (30%)
  • Provide software training, troubleshooting, and support for staff as needed.
  • Create, pull, and distribute monthly reports to aid management in meeting grant and organizational performance objectives.
  • Update and distribute weekly performance metric scorecards for leadership team, advisory team, and lending team.
  • Provide fundraising support to CEO and Board of Directors in reaching out to and engaging funding sources. (5%)

Measures of Success:

  • Number of applications submitted
  • Number of applications funded
  • 100% funder compliance and timeliness of funder reports
  • Accurate and complete internal reports –grant performance, activities, and demographics.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

The right person will bring their talents and skills of writing, research, and a need for structure and match it with their passion for small businesses and serving the rural communities across our 11-county service area. They will bring a keen understanding of the importance of quality, consistent data tracking and collection along with an interest in the effective utilization of technology.

Required Talents:

  • The ability to write creatively. To be concise, vivid, and compelling through storytelling and data.
  • Strong analytical talents. The ability to pair a narrative with reality through data and research.
  • Detail-oriented, accurate and thorough.
  • Must have the ability to impose structure, be planful, and set-up recurring routines with a focus on timelines and deadlines.
  • An on-going desire to learn and improve. We have big goals and ambitions and are looking for the right person to grow with us as we grow our fundraising.

Required skills and knowledge

  • Excellent writing, analytical, and research skills used and developed in a fundraising setting. A track record in successfully securing resources.
  • Mastery of MS Word and Excel.
  • Ability to read, analyze, and interpret government grant criteria & regulations
  • Ability to interpret foundation criteria, values, and intentions.
  • Ability to construct budgets and compile financial reports for grant requests and reports.
  • Ability to read and understand non-profit financial statements. Ability to convey basic non-profit financial health and ratios into requests.
  • Proficiency in database or non-profit software system design and usage. Must be able to understand and manipulate the system, to ensure inputs result in the desired outputs for meaningful activity and demographic reports.
  • Proficiency in non-profit data collection practices.

Experience

  • Bachelor’s Degree or higher is required
  • At least 3 years’ experience and a track record in institutional fundraising and grant writing is required.
  • Experience in activity tracking software such as MS Access, Outcome Tracker, or SalesForce is preferred.

Entrepreneur Fund Core Values:

Get things done

  • Be organized & efficient
  • Work hard – persist & maintain your focus.
  • Stay focused
  • Ask for help before the end.

Mutually commit

  • Commit to the committed – customers, staff, communities, and partners.
  • Commitment is demonstrated, not perceived.
  • Give everyone a chance to show it.
  • Believe what they show you
  • Do your part.
  • Expect lasting results from relationships.
  • Have the hard conversations.

Effective teamwork

  • Take great satisfaction in meeting team goals.
  • Strive for team excellence – suggest improvements, learn from failures.
  • Organizational strength is fortified through each member’s performance.
  • Keep your communication open, genuine, and honest.
  • No blame or disrespect.
  • Celebrate our wins and give specific praise.

Commit to the Greater Good

  • Impact is our motivator: entrepreneurs & community.
  • Do what is better for the whole
  • Shine a light on real progress.
  • Be of service to change-makers & doers.
  • Walk away from the toxic.

To apply, visit http://www.minnesotanonprofits.org/job-details?id=133625 or send your resume and cover letter to terri@encompasssolutionsmn.com