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Grants Associate Job Announcement

Heartland Fund is seeking a Grants Associate. For a thoughtful, mission-driven professional, this position is an exciting opportunity to support new systems and processes in a rapidly growing grantmaking organization and ever changing compliance environment. 

Heartland Fund’s Grants Associate supports the organization’s grants management cycle, with a focus on grants management system support, record maintenance, documentation tracking, reporting, and coordination throughout the grantmaking cycle. This role helps ensure grantmaking activities run smoothly, records are accurate and up to date, and staff and grantees receive timely and effective support. The successful candidate will be detail-oriented, responsive, and able to manage multiple responsibilities while working collaboratively with internal teams and external partners.

You will have an opportunity to help us enable equitable investment in rural communities, democracy, and climate solutions. This is a unique and dynamic position with opportunities for growth and impact as the Heartland Fund prepares to launch as an independent entity in 2027.

This is a remote position with a salary range of $59,500 - $70,000 and includes a generous benefits package.

About the Organization

As a funder collaborative, the Heartland Fund scales investment, supports local leaders, and builds long-term partnerships with rural and Native organizations to create thriving places where rural working people can determine our own futures, strengthening the entire nation. Heartland's grantmaking and programmatic investments support rural people working to transform their lives and communities toward shared prosperity, a healthy climate, and stronger democracy. We invest in building local capacity for issue advocacy, community organizing, economic development and local jobs, climate solutions, civic engagement, and sustainable urban-rural coalitions. We prioritize racial justice in all aspects of our work. In addition to grantmaking, Heartland also supports rural leaders and organizations through convening, research, and communications and storytelling.

Heartland Fund has three programs: 

• Rural Democracy expands nonpartisan civic participation and counters policies that harm our democratic institutions in places where rural action can define policy and democratic outcomes. 

• Resource Rural (RR) mobilizes resources enabling rural communities to unlock public and private investment to create positive economic change in their communities. 

• Rural Climate Partnership (RCP) supports hometowns across America to accelerate climate solutions and build healthy local economies.

Both RR and RCP programs help rural communities access public funding – through place-based technical assistance, local organizing, and a large-scale communications and narrative effort – to make a tangible difference in rural people’s lives and to advance climate mitigation and resilience.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

The Grants Associate works closely with the grants management team, program staff, grantees, and external partners to support effective grantmaking operations. This role is responsible for maintaining grant records, supporting the grants management system, gathering and tracking required documentation, and helping ensure grants management processes and timelines are carried out accurately and efficiently.

Grants Administration

• Support grantees and internal teams throughout the grants management cycle - from invitation through final close out. 

• Create new and update existing contact, organization, and grant accounts and records, as needed.

• Track and follow up on narrative and financial reports and maintain other outstanding documentation.

• Determine grantee organization eligibility and support due diligence process.

Grants Management Support

• Serve as technical support to staff and grantees related to the Fluxx grants management system.

• Assist in training staff and grantees on technology, policy issues, and procedures that affect their grants management work.

• Develop templates & tools for recurring grants management activities and tasks.

• Support grants management team coordination. 

Team Coordination & Knowledge Management

• Create dashboards and analyze reports on grant data for staff and external audiences.

• Work proactively with the grants management team, program leads, and external partners to help ensure the grantmaking and reporting timelines stay on track.

• Support staff team in preparing board, committee, and strategic partnerships materials, as needed.

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as requested or assigned.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a detail-oriented, collaborative professional with at least three years of experience in grants management or a related philanthropic/nonprofit setting, who brings strong project coordination skills and comfort navigating complex, multi-stakeholder workflows. They can balance meticulous record-keeping with proactive communication to keep grantees and internal teams on track.

Heartland Fund’s growing team takes pride in building an organizational culture rooted in learning, collaboration, racial justice, and a deep commitment to our mission. All staff are expected to provide leadership and vision to advance our mission, vision, and core strategies.

Qualifications

We realize that some great candidates may not have every single thing on this list. If you believe you would be a great fit for this role, we encourage you to apply.

Essential

• Minimum of three years professional experience, including some nonprofit experience. 

• Strong proficiency with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Drive) and video conferencing platforms (Zoom, etc.)

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills 

• Strong project management skills, and experience tracking, coordinating and helping complete complex collaborative projects

• Highly collaborative with a partnership mindset 

• Entrepreneurial and resourceful, a proactive and creative problem-solver

• Commitment to racial justice and equity

Desired

• Experience in a philanthropic, fiscal sponsor, nonprofit intermediary, funder collaborative and/or other type of grantmaking organization (or equivalent)

• Experience successfully operating in a start-up environment

• Knowledge of Grants Management Systems and Processes (Fluxx Preferred)

• Understanding of the financial and regulatory environment for nonprofit and philanthropic entities. 

• Demonstrated experience working effectively with colleagues of diverse backgrounds and perspectives:

• Appreciation of the diverse cultural traditions of rural people and places 

• Comfort working with a range of individuals in nonprofit organizations, government, foundations, and private sectors 

• Working proficiency of a second language that is spoken in rural America

• Experience living and/or working in rural America is strongly preferred.

Compensation & Job Design

This is a full-time, exempt position. The organization is virtual, and the position may work remotely from their home within the United States. The starting salary range for this position is $59,500 - $70,000.

The comprehensive benefits package includes 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for employees (and their families). Employees are able to enroll in a 401k retirement plan and are eligible for a 3% automatic contribution and up to a 3% employer match on 401k contributions. Employees are also eligible for pre-tax transportation benefits. Full-time employees will receive 120 hours of vacation time, 80 hours of health leave, up to 2 days of casual leave, and 20 hours of volunteer leave annually. Employees will also receive 13 paid holidays throughout the calendar year. Employees are eligible for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave after 90 days of employment. All employees of Windward are required to complete timesheets.

Heartland Fund is a project of Windward Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. Windward Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential.

Windward Fund’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

The individual holding this position will also work part-time for a coordinated project, Rural Victory Fund, in Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization, under a resource-sharing agreement between Windward Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund. The responsibilities under that position will be overseen by Sixteen Thirty Fund.

Windward participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with employees’ Form I-9 information to confirm authorization to work in the United States. Job candidates and employees authorized to work may not be discriminated against on the basis of national origin or citizenship status.

Travel Requirements

This position requires occasional travel within the United States.

How to Apply

Applications will be reviewed and considered on a rolling basis. A limited number of screening calls and interview spots will be filled starting in September 2026, with a desired start date by November 2026. Early applications are strongly encouraged.