Public Grants Manager

The Public Grants Manager, (Grant Manager) is the centralized role for the management of government grants for the Minnesota Land Trust. The Grant Manager supports program and operation teams by organizing and tracking grant deliverables, budgets, contracts, and reports. The Grant Manager is a critical link between departments and helps ensure compliance with grant requirements. The Grant Manager also project manages the grant report requirements with Land Trust partners and responds to requests from our public funders.

The Minnesota Land Trust manages over 60 Public Grants (for a total of $10 – $20 million annually) from state, federal, and other public sources; the primary source is the Minnesota DNR’s Outdoor Heritage Fund. The Public Grants Manager will work with program staff to ensure the proper compliance with the rules associated with these grants and help create strategies for securing new funding.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)

All employees of the Minnesota Land Trust are expected to embrace the ideals of our DEIJ plan and incorporate our DEIJ goals into their ongoing work. All employees should be familiar with the current DEIJ plan.

Duties and Responsibilities

Grant Management for State Grants: 60%

The Grant Manager plays a centralized role in the grant proposal and reporting processes for state grants, is familiar with all aspects of state grant compliance, and develops standard processes.

1. State Grant Compliance: serve as an in-house expert for state grant compliance, stay up-to-date with changes to state guidelines, and proactively seek answers to compliance questions.
2. Grant proposals: coordinate the submission process, provide required data and documents, serve as quality control during the submission process, and ensure proposal materials are appropriately documented.
3. Grant reporting: prepare data for grant reporting, including semi-annual status reports, work with partners to secure required information, review reports before submission.
4. Grant Amendments: coordinate and file budget and parcel amendments in state grant system, communicate amended information to pertinent staff once approved.
5. Grant Closings: alert staff when a grant is scheduled to close, assist with collection of final information for grants including partner information, submit final report, and work with state grant officer to finalize the submission.
6. Maintain Land Trust grant calendar: enter key dates for all new and existing grants, communicate reminders and deadlines.
7. Ensure Land Trust systems are updated with new, amended, and closing grant information: maintain checklists for activity associated with the grant life cycle and communicate to staff who have a role on the checklist so that accounting, time-keeping, filing systems and the grant calendar all have the most recent information.
8. Maintain Land Trust grant folders and ensure filing and retention practices are followed.

Subcontract Management and Compliance: 15%

The Grant Manager ensures that agreements with subcontractors meet the procurement compliance requirements of grant awards.

1. Contract templates: Ensure program staff are using the standard contract templates associated with Public Grants to ensure consistency and minimize risk.
2. Contract review: Serve as quality review for contracts developed by Program Managers prior to obtaining signature, ensuring there are adequate funds in the budget and that grant compliance language is correct.
3. Execute the contract: send the agreement to subcontractors via DocuSign, collect required W-9 and Certificates of Insurance as needed, follow up with unsigned agreements, save signed agreements in Land Trust files.

Grant Management for Federal and Other Public Grants: 15%

The Grant Manager assists with compliance, reporting and record-keeping for other Public Grants.

1. Federal Grant Compliance: be familiar with OMB guidelines for federal awards, work with program staff to draft policies when required, assist with Single Audit.
2. Grant Proposals: prior to grant submission, read guidelines to confirm the Land Trust can meet the administrative and compliance requirements.
3. Grant Calendar: lead quarterly check-in meetings for federal grants, ensure federal and other Public Grants are part of the grant calendar, establish systems for tracking administrative requirements for new grants.

Other Grant Support: 10%

Provide insight into grant strategies and provide grant assistance as assigned.

1. As requested, explore new public funding opportunities that align with Land Trust’s programs and work with program staff to develop proposal strategy.
2. Grant Training: provide training to new employees, ongoing training for program staff during the year, and assist with questions regarding grant compliance.
3. Assist with federal negotiated indirect rate process.
4. Identify opportunities to improve grant-related processes within the Land Trust.
5. Other duties as assigned.

Position Requirements

1. Associate degree and/or three years grants or contract management experience OR a similar combination of education and experience.
2. Familiarity with government/public grant requirements.
3. Well-organized and self-directed. Highly attentive to details and accurate.
4. Ability to manage multiple deadlines and work with multiple departments.
5. Ability to work independently and take the lead on internal projects.
6. Experience and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, email and calendar programs.
7. Professional demeanor and excellent communication skills.
8. Ability to work with a wide variety of individuals, including staff, Board of Directors, volunteers.

Physical Demands

Office duties to be performed at a desk and at a computer.

Salary Range: $70,000 – $80,000
Supervisor: Director of Finance and Operations
Classification: Full time, Exempt
Location: St. Paul, MN. Hybrid or remote work schedules may be considered.

To Apply

To apply, please email a cover letter and resume combined as a single PDF to Sue Martinez at smartinez@mnland.org by June 2, 2024.

Minnesota Land Trust is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Company will not discriminate because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, genetic information, sex, disability, age, or any other status protected by state or local law, for employees who fall within the jurisdiction of such law.