Grant Writer

The Grant Writer is a critical member of Water For People’s Donor Impact team, tasked with writing grant concepts, proposals, and reports to secure funding for Water For People’s vision of a world where every person has access to reliable and safe water and sanitation services.

This role focuses on crafting the case for supporting our work in the four Country Programs where Water For People operates in Africa: Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Grant Writer will develop persuasive pitches tailored to the donor’s level of familiarity with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Powerful and compelling written materials will be developed for corporate, foundation, and individual Major Gifts donors to meet and exceed Water For People’s annual revenue targets.

The position operates within the Major Gifts team, reporting to the Senior Grant Writer, ensuring an efficient proposal development, review, and submission process. The role involves close collaboration with Water For People Global Program staff and Country Program teams to verify data and information used for proposals and reports, requiring the ability to synthesize multiple sources of complex information into clear and concise written products.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

• Conduct the full range of activities required to prepare, edit, review, submit, and manage grant concepts, proposals, and reports for major donors as directed by Major Gifts Relationship Managers and the Senior Grant Writer, adhering to donor requirements and deadlines.
• Work across departments and teams at Water For People to translate organizational goals and outcomes into persuasive narrative proposals.
• Adhere to Water For People’s Global Style Guide and institutional messaging to effectively communicate organizational goals and vision.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues from Global Programs, Strategic Communications, Finance, and Country Programs to ensure a seamless cross-departmental process for proposal and report development.
• Advise Relationship Managers on strategies to align programmatic work with donor interests.
• Provide support to or training for in-country funding opportunities upon request from Country Program offices in Africa, serving as a resource to local/regional Business Development teams.
• Regularly participate in Africa regional and/or country team meetings to stay updated on each country’s progress.
• Serve as an informational resource to the Donor Impact department and the Major Gifts team.
• Collaborate with the Grant Coordinator to maintain the grants calendar and ensure proper utilization of the Grant Management System.