Grants Specialist

About Oakland Promise

Oakland Promise is a citywide organization dedicated to advancing equity and economic mobility by supporting Oakland children and families from birth through college and career. Through financial investments, educational support, scholarships, college and career advising, and partnerships across the city, Oakland Promise helps ensure that every Oakland student has the resources and opportunities needed to thrive.

Position Summary

Oakland Promise is seeking a highly organized, detail-oriented, and talented Grants Specialist to lead the organization's grant writing and grants management efforts. This position plays a critical role in securing foundation, corporate, and government funding by developing compelling proposals and reports, conducting prospect research, coordinating grant submissions, and supporting institutional funder stewardship and engagement.

Working closely with the Chief Development Officer and collaborating across programs, finance, communications, and evaluation, the Grants Specialist will translate Oakland Promise's programs, outcomes, and strategic priorities into persuasive funding requests while ensuring a well-managed institutional fundraising program.

The ideal candidate is an exceptional writer, researcher, and project manager who enjoys synthesizing complex information, managing multiple priorities, and collaborating across teams to advance Oakland Promise's mission.

Key Responsibilities

Grant Writing & Institutional Giving

• Lead the preparation and submission of high-quality grant proposals, letters of inquiry, reports, and other institutional fundraising materials for foundation, corporate, and government funders.
• Collaborate with program, finance, data and evaluation, and communications staff to gather program information, outcomes, budgets, participant stories, and supporting documentation.
• Ensure all submissions are accurate, complete, responsive to funder requirements, and submitted on time.
• Lead the preparation of grant reports and stewardship communications for institutional funders.
• Maintain and continuously improve a library of organizational information, proposal language, budgets, data, program descriptions, and supporting materials to streamline future proposal development.

Prospect Research & Grants Pipeline Management

• Conduct research on foundation, corporate, government, and select individual funding opportunities aligned with Oakland Promise's strategic priorities.
• Analyze prospective funders' priorities, giving history, eligibility requirements, and alignment with Oakland Promise's mission.
• Prepare prospect research summaries and funding recommendations for the Chief Development Officer.
• Maintain the institutional grants pipeline by tracking funding opportunities, proposal deadlines, reporting requirements, anticipated decision dates, renewals, and next steps.
• Maintain accurate grant and prospect records within Oakland Promise's CRM and grants tracking systems.
• Monitor trends in philanthropy, education, workforce development, economic mobility, college access, and community wealth building to identify new funding opportunities.

Funder Cultivation & Stewardship

• Prepare briefing materials for meetings involving the Chief Development Officer, CEO, board members, and institutional funders.
• Develop funder profiles that summarize giving history, funding interests, organizational relationships, meeting objectives, and recommended talking points.
• Coordinate follow-up materials and action items resulting from funder meetings.
• Support planning and logistics for funder site visits, presentations, cultivation events, and other engagement opportunities.
• Help identify meaningful opportunities to connect institutional funders with Oakland Promise's students, families, programs, and organizational impact.

Grants Administration & Project Management

• Maintain a comprehensive grants calendar and monitor proposal, reporting, renewal, stewardship, and compliance deadlines.
• Develop internal project timelines and coordinate proposal development across departments.
• Track grant deliverables and collaborate with program and finance staff to ensure compliance with funder requirements.
• Maintain organized grant files, award agreements, correspondence, and submission records.
• Prepare regular reports on proposal activity, grants pipeline status, institutional fundraising progress, and revenue projections.
• Support annual institutional fundraising planning and revenue forecasting.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Build collaborative relationships across Oakland Promise to develop a deep understanding of the organization's programs, priorities, and impact.
• Partner with program staff to translate complex initiatives into compelling, funder-centered narratives.
• Collaborate with the Communications team to ensure consistency across grant proposals, donor communications, impact reports, campaigns, and external messaging.
• Support broader Development team initiatives, donor stewardship activities, fundraising campaigns, events, and special projects.
• Participate in Development & Communications team meetings, organizational planning, and community events.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Three to five years of progressively responsible experience in grant writing, institutional fundraising, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success developing grant proposals, letters of inquiry, and reports for foundation, corporate, and/or government funders.
• Exceptional writing, editing, proofreading, and verbal communication skills.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple concurrent deadlines.
• Strong research and analytical skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into persuasive narratives.
• Excellent attention to detail and commitment to producing accurate, high-quality work.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with colleagues across departments and organizational levels.
• Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential organizational and funder information.
• Proficiency with Google Workspace and experience using CRM or grants management systems.
• Commitment to racial, educational, and economic equity and to the success of Oakland's children, students, and families.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience securing funding for education, youth development, college access and completion, workforce development, financial empowerment, or place-based initiatives.
• Experience writing foundation, corporate, and government grant proposals.
• Familiarity with grant budgets, financial reports, evaluation frameworks, and performance measures.
• Experience with Salesforce or other donor database systems.
• Knowledge of Oakland and its nonprofit, educational, philanthropic, and civic landscape.

Compensation & Benefits

• Full-time exempt role
• Hiring range for this role is

$80,000–$90,000, based on skill sets and experience

• Competitive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision
• 401(k) with employer match
• Generous paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Hybrid work environment, with required three days in-person out of our Oakland office
• Occasional evening and weekend hours required for some events

Please send your resume and cover letter to apply@oaklandpromise.org - Please include your last name and first initial and position title (ex: Doe_J Grants Specialist) in the subject line.

Failure to follow these instructions may delay the review of your application. Applications will be reviewed immediately and candidates with the best fit will be contacted for interviews. Unfortunately, the volume of applications will prevent us from responding to all applications received.

Oakland Promise is a place-based organization located in Oakland, California. Oakland Promise requires that employees work in person at various engagements. It is a requirement that all staff reside within commuting distance to the main office, located at 484 9th Street, Oakland, CA 94607. Please note that at any time, a full in-person work plan may be required, and it is of utmost importance that all staff are able to meet this requirement. Oakland Promise is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Oakland Promise is committed to providing a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and disrespectful or other unprofessional conduct based on sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), sex stereotype, race, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), color, gender (including gender identity, gender expression, and transgender), national origin (including language use restrictions and possession of a driver's license issued under Vehicle Code section 12801.9), ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, sexual orientation, military, and veteran status or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law or ordinance or regulation. It also prohibits discrimination, harassment, disrespectful or unprofessional conduct based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics, or is specialist with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.

• Full-time exempt role
• Competitive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision
• 401(k) with employer match
• Generous paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Hybrid work environment, with required three days in-person out of our Oakland office
• Occasional evening and weekend hours required for some events

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