Grants Specialist

The Grants Specialist is a hands-on role focused on writing grant proposals and reports for MWK and supporting the full grants lifecycle. This position will collaborate across organizational teams to identify funding opportunities, prepare and submit grant applications, develop proposals, maintain compliance with grant requirements and reporting, and track opportunity status. This position combines exceptional writing skills with strong organization and attention to detail.

Miami Waterkeeper (MWK) is an award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Biscayne Bay and the surrounding watershed. Launched in 2010, MWK has become a leading advocate for clean water, inspiring a movement of empowered citizens dedicated to protecting South Florida’s waterways by advocating for resilient solutions grounded in science, rooted in nature, and driven by community. Addressing issues on multiple fronts, we use community outreach, scientific research, and civic and legal action to advance our mission.

Miami Waterkeeper is a fast-paced and dynamic work environment. We are a small and hard-working team that is mission-driven and passionate about our environment and our community.

• Prepare, write, and submit competitive LOIs, grant proposals, and renewal requests, including narratives, budgets, and supporting documentation.
• Collaborate with program staff to gather necessary information and data for grant proposals, co-developing programming and projects as needed to align proposals with funder priorities while maintaining focus on the organizational mission.
• Coordinate with program, marketing, and finance teams to collect content, data, and budgets for proposals.
• Submit timely grant reports on behalf of Miami Waterkeeper, meeting all funder deadlines.
• Lead assigned post-award grant launch meetings with relevant staff to streamline understanding of grant deliverables, timelines, marketing, and reporting expectations.
• Manage the report development process, ensuring compliance with funder guidelines and deadlines.
• Track grant report deadlines and communicate updates to relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare, write, and submit high-quality grant reports — including narratives, output and outcome data, expense reports, and supporting documentation — that highlight the impact a funder had.
• Support post-award grant management, including follow-up with program teams as needed to ensure grant deliverables are on track to be met on time, and with finance to ensure grant funds are spent in alignment with the grant budget on time.
• Collect information on grant project progress from program teams, including metrics, success stories, photos, and videos, and anything else that’s needed to accurately and comprehensively draft reports.
• Collect expense information from finance and develop expense reports for funders in the required formats.

• Identify and qualify potential funding opportunities to assess fit with MWK priorities and funding needs.
• Recommend approaches for funder cultivation and projects for grant opportunities based on MWK priorities and funding needs.
• Proactively build and maintain a pipeline of prospective grant funders using prospecting tools, databases, team referrals, and strategic outreach.
• Stay informed on current environmental issues, policy developments, scientific research, and funding trends relevant to Miami Waterkeeper’s campaigns and mission areas, ensuring alignment with emerging opportunities and challenges.
• Collaborate with finance to understand grant budgets, ensuring budgets align with allowable expenses, and…