Grants and Stewardship Manager

Position: Grants & Stewardship Manager

Reports to: Director of Development

Lane: Involvement

Job Summary

The Grants & Stewardship Manager serves as the operational manager responsible for Thread's development framework. Reporting to the Director of Development, this role leads the creation, submission, management, stewardship, and continuous improvement of foundation, corporate, government, and institutional grants while ensuring exceptional funder experiences throughout the full grant lifecycle.

The Grants & Stewardship Manager coordinates the organization's institutional fundraising process by partnering with leaders across Thread to translate organizational strategy, program outcomes, financial information, and community impact into compelling proposals, reports, and stewardship communications. Through exceptional writing, project management, and relationship stewardship, this role ensures proposals and reports are accurate, timely, and aligned with organizational priorities.

This role also owns the systems, processes, calendars, reporting structures, and relationship management practices that strengthen institutional philanthropy and deepen funder confidence in Thread's mission and impact.

Working collaboratively across the Development Team and the broader organization, the Grants & Stewardship Manager advances a culture of excellence, accountability, continuous improvement, and relationship-centered philanthropy.

Key Responsibilities

Institutional Giving Strategy & Proposal Development

• Serve as the operational owner of Thread's development framework, ensuring institutional fundraising strategies align with organizational priorities and long-term sustainability.
• Lead the creation, writing, and submission of foundation, corporate, government, and institutional grant proposals, letters of intent, funding applications, and renewal requests.
• Research prospective funding opportunities and evaluate alignment with organizational priorities and Thread’s fundraising strategy.
• Coordinate proposal development by gathering programmatic, financial, evaluation, and organizational information from staff across Thread.
• Partner with the Director of Development to prioritize grant opportunities, manage institutional fundraising strategy, and strengthen the long-term grants pipeline.

• Grant Management & Stewardship

• Manage the complete grant lifecycle from prospect identification through proposal submission, award management, reporting, renewal, and stewardship.
• Own Thread's development calendar, ensuring all proposal deadlines, reporting requirements, stewardship touchpoints, renewal timelines, site visits, and internal milestones are proactively planned, coordinated, and successfully executed across the organization.
• Coordinate grant reporting by partnering with the program, finance, communications, and data teams to develop timely, accurate, and compelling reports.
• Develop implementation and reporting schedules following grant awards while monitoring organizational compliance with grant requirements and deliverables.
• Participate in funder meetings, site visits, presentations, and stewardship activities while ensuring appropriate preparation, follow-up, and documentation.

• Funder Stewardship & Relationship Management

• Coordinate stewardship activities that strengthen relationships with institutional funders and strategic philanthropic partners.
• Prepare meeting materials, relationship histories, briefings, talking points, and follow-up communications for Development staff and executive leadership.
• Maintain accurate documentation of funder interactions, stewardship activities, relationship history, and engagement notes within Salesforce.
• Coordinate stewardship communications in partnership with development and communications staff.
• Support meaningful engagement opportunities that deepen long-term funder relationships and encourage continued investment in Thread's mission.

• Development Operations & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with program, finance, communications, data strategy & operations, and executive leadership to ensure grant proposals and reports accurately reflect organizational priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Support development of the organization's annual report, strategic planning updates, institutional communications, and other development initiatives.
• Coordinate tracking, acknowledgment, and reporting of in-kind contributions while maintaining accurate organizational records.
• Contribute to broader Development Team initiatives supporting fundraising, donor engagement, and organizational growth.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration that strengthens institutional fundraising and organizational effectiveness.

• Data, Planning & Organizational Intelligence

• Utilize Salesforce and organizational systems to monitor proposal activity, stewardship efforts, reporting requirements, grant performance, and institutional fundraising outcomes.
• Develop dashboards, reports, tracking systems, and performance metrics that improve visibility into institutional fundraising performance and organizational capacity.
• Analyze funding trends, grant outcomes, stewardship activities, and organizational performance to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Maintain accurate documentation supporting compliance, forecasting, reporting, and strategic planning.
• Provide insights that strengthen organizational decision-making and institutional fundraising strategy.

• Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Evaluate institutional fundraising processes, stewardship practices, reporting systems, and operational workflows to identify opportunities for increased effectiveness and efficiency.
• Leverage emerging technologies - including AI-assisted research, proposal development, workflow automation, document management, reporting tools, and knowledge management systems - to improve productivity while maintaining appropriate human judgment, accuracy, confidentiality, and relationship-centered stewardship.
• Monitor trends in philanthropy, institutional fundraising, nonprofit best practices, and grantmaking to strengthen organizational competitiveness.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, learning, innovation, and continuous improvement throughout the Development Team.
• Complete other duties and strategic initiatives as assigned.

• Thread Values & Community

• Authentically engage in relationships with colleagues, especially across lines of difference, modeling, teaching, and coaching the Thread Core Competencies: (a) Show all the way up; (b) Fail forward; (c) Treat relationships as wealth; and (d) Learn from all voices.
• Make the connection between driving toward outcomes and organizational imperatives.
• Share your journey of personal and professional growth with young people, volunteers, collaborators, and staff.
• Complete other duties and strategic initiatives as assigned.

Qualifications

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• Minimum of four years of progressively responsible experience in grant writing, institutional fundraising, philanthropy, development operations, nonprofit management, or related fields.
• Demonstrated success developing competitive grant proposals for foundation, corporate, and government funders.
• Exceptional writing, editing, research, and storytelling skills with the ability to communicate organizational impact through compelling proposals and stewardship communications.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects and competing deadlines simultaneously.
• Experience utilizing Salesforce or comparable CRM platforms, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and fundraising technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative information and translate complex information into compelling narratives.
• Excellent interpersonal, presentation, facilitation, and relationship-building skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across departments and with external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, belonging, continuous learning, operational excellence, and relationship-centered philanthropy.
• Ability to clearly communicate and consistently model Thread's core values and core competencies.