Public Grants Manager

Public Grants Manager

The Public Grants Manager serves as the centralized administrator for the Minnesota Land Trust's portfolio of 60+ government grants totaling $10-20 million annually, with primary funding from state sources including the Minnesota DNR's Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF). This role ensures organizational compliance with grant requirements throughout the full grant lifecycle—from proposal submission through final closeout—including the project management and submission of reports, processing amendments, and maintaining comprehensive documentation.

The position acts as a critical liaison between departments, as well as external partners, and serves as an in-house expert on state and federal grant requirements. The role manages subcontractor agreements to ensure procurement compliance, maintains the organization's grant calendar, trains staff on compliance requirements, and develops standardized processes to improve grant management efficiency across the organization.

Grant Compliance – 40% The Grant Manager understands the requirements of our public funders and integrates compliance into the Land Trust's standard processes.

• Serve as an in-house expert for public grant compliance: maintain a working knowledge of the state and federal requirements for grantees. Work with legal dept to interpret guidelines as necessary and proactively seek answers to compliance questions.
• Ensure compliance for new awards: before a new grant award is signed by CEO, review 'boiler plate' language in grant awards to confirm the Land Trust can meet funder's requirements.
• Maintain Land Trust grant calendar: track key dates for new and existing grants and communicate reminders and deadlines to staff.
• Implement efficient processes for grant compliance: maintain SOPs for key grant processes for the grant life cycle and communicate to staff who have a role in the process.
• Training: provide annual grant training to staff and integrate grant administration into new employee onboarding.
• Serve as point of contact for federal Single Audit, when required.
• Maintain grant documentation guidelines: implement internal audit process and ensure record retention practices are followed.

Grant Reporting and Proposals – 40%

• Grant proposals: coordinate the submission process with program leadership; incorporate input from other departments during the submission process (Government Relations/Legal, Communications, Finance); submit accomplishment plan amendments (OHF) as needed; assist with OHF proposal hearings.
• Status/Interim reports: lead the semi-annual status report process for OHF, work with partners to secure required information, review reports before submission; assist with interim report requirements for other public grants.
• Final Reports: alert staff when a grant is scheduled to close, assist with collection of final information for grants including partner information, coordinate final reviews by program leaders, submit final report.
• Grant Amendments:
  Coordinate with internal staff and external partners to amend budgets or program details in funder systems, communicate amended information to pertinent staff once approved, and retain amendment records.
• Serve as point of contact for DNR staff for day-to-day grant communications.

Subcontract Management and Compliance – 10% The Grant Manager ensures that agreements with subcontractors meet the procurement compliance requirements for grant awards.

• Subcontract templates:
  Ensure program staff are using the subcontract templates developed by legal dept to ensure consistency and minimize risk.
• Subcontract review:
  Serve as quality review for subcontracts prior to obtaining signature, ensuring there are adequate funds in the budget and that grant compliance language is correct.
• Execute the contract: send the agreement to subcontractors via Docu Sign, collect required W-9 and Certificates of Insurance as needed, follow up with unsigned agreements, save signed agreements in Land Trust files.

Other Support – 10%

• Seek opportunities to improve grant processes and systems.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education, Experience, Licenses/Certifications

• Bachelor's degree and three (3) years grants…