Description
Position Summary
Under the supervision of the Grants Manager or designee, the Grants Assistant is responsible for helping to ensure that various multi-team grant requirements and funder expectations are timely met. The Grants Assistant is responsible for tracking and communicating grant requirements and deadlines, assessing and coordinating grant compliance, monitoring the completion of grant deliverables, preparing invoices and backup documentation, and assisting with grant reports.
About the Organization
Legal Aid Society of San Diego (LASSD), the largest poverty law firm serving San Diego County since 1953, strengthens our communities by redressing our clients’ legal problems, empowering our clients to access and effectively participate within the legal, governmental and social systems and encouraging self-empowerment in the fight against poverty and injustice. LASSD continues to be a proud, committed and compassionate group of people dedicated to providing equal access to justice for San Diegans through aggressive, quality legal services. #justicebeginshere
Essential Functions:
• Provide administrative and clerical support to the Grants Manager for a variety of administrative, operating, and grant responsibilities.
• Coordinate the planning and preparation of grant proposals, invoices and reports, and ensure that each is formatted, packaged, and submitted in accordance with grant requirements.
• Work collaboratively with staff, management, accounting, and subcontractors to promote understanding of and compliance with grant guidelines, reporting deadlines, and deliverables.
• Manage timelines and deliverables for multiple funding sources, timely communicate the information and requirements to grant staff, subcontractors, and management.
• Assist with file reviews and data entry.
• Run database reports, monitor and analyze data and ensure its accuracy.
• Optimize the grant administration process, develop and implement policies and procedures that allow for accurate data collection.
• Help implement and monitor grant budgets across teams, assist with invoicing and accounting.
• Collect, maintain and organize all data, paperwork and documentation related to grant proposals, invoicing, reporting, and monitoring.
• Coordinate, prepare, and submit to management for review all reports necessary for funding sources and for a proper evaluation of the grant work.
• Assist with grant writing, tracking grant applications, and monitoring renewal deadlines as necessary.
• Communicate, coordinate, and reinforce relationships with staff, funders, partners, subcontractors, and vendors.
• Assist in preparation of routine correspondence, reporting, audits, and site visits.
• Compliance with all program and grant requirements.
• Other tasks or projects as assigned.
Requirements
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s Degree
• Must have a minimum of one-year experience in grants administration and/or nonprofit accounting, or equivalent experience in an increasingly responsible position.
• Excellent organizational, planning, and project management skills, including the ability to work independently and organize workload including setting priorities, goals and schedules.
• Working knowledge of basic accounting principles and grant administration.
• Must be extremely detail oriented.
• Must have clerical skills sufficient to provide clerical assistance to management.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft office products, including Word, Teams, PowerPoint, and Excel and an ability to learn other software and case management programs.
• Must have knowledge, understanding and application of the principles required to accurately and reliably collect and analyze data.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly in writing and orally.
• Must have reliable transportation
Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• Experience with or knowledge of federal, state, and local grant requirements.
• Experience working with Salesforce/Justice Server or similar data base.
• Experience in working with and reporting to internal and external stakeholders.
• Must have education, training and/or experience which demonstrates the mastery of the knowledge and skills listed above.
• Demonstrated commitment to serving low-income people.
• Ability to work successfully with people from diverse backgrounds.
Salary and Benefits:
The Grants Assistant is a non-exempt (hourly) position with annual pay salary range of $46,000 - 47,000 per year. LASSD offers a generous benefits package, a 35-hour workweek, paid vacation leave and sick leave and 100% employer-paid medical premium, 50% employer-paid premium for dependents under LASSD health plan, as well as, dental, vision and life benefits. Staff also have the option to participate in a 403(b)-retirement plan and dependent and health flex savings accounts (FSA). LASSD has its own loan repayment program, as well as LASSD is an eligible nonprofit employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. In addition, there is a bilingual pay increase of 2% for passing an oral test and 2% for passing a written test for threshold languages other than English.
LASSD is an equal opportunity employer, we hire without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age (40 years and over), sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status, domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by state or federal law.
Hybrid Work Environment:
Legal Aid Society of San Diego (“LASSD”) has adopted a hybrid work environment in which most staff are required to work in the office part of the week and permitted to work remotely for the remainder of the week, provided their job duties allow. All employees are issued LASSD computers and provided appropriate supplies to perform their work. LASSD has implemented and continues to explore additional technologies to make our hybrid working environment as efficient and connected as possible. All employees must be available to travel to LASSD offices and service locations throughout San Diego County as needed and in compliance with public health advisories. Applicants must reside in or near San Diego County or plan to relocate in or near the County prior to their start date and must be able to commute to the physical Legal Aid Society of San Diego office locations or service delivery locations within San Diego County. LASSD’s normal business hours are 9am-5pm, but we are open to providing flexible work schedules to the extent feasible for the position.
LASSD Mandatory Vaccination Policy:
LASSD has implemented a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. We will consider individual requests for exemption from the policy for: (1) medical reasons, and/or (2) based on an applicant or employees sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance. Any applicant or employee requesting an exemption should submit a completed exemption request form to Human Resources. Upon receipt of a completed exemption request form and any supporting documentation, LASSD will engage in an interactive discussion with the applicant or employee to determine whether an exemption is appropriate and can be granted without posing an undue hardship to LASSD or a direct threat to the health or safety of the individual making the request or others at LASSD. Any individual granted an exemption from the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirement may be subject to conditions and restrictions (such as being required to use additional personal protective equipment or submit to LASSD-provided COVID-19 testing) to mitigate the risk to the individual and others at LASSD. LASSD will require employees to be up to date on their vaccinations which will include at least one booster.
Diversity and Inclusion:
It is vitally important to LASSD that we represent the community that we serve. LASSD is a signatory to the San Diego County Bar Association’s Diversity Pledge. We pledge to promote diversity and inclusion through hiring and retention, promotion and leadership, engagement of outside counsel, and participation in legal community diversity initiatives. We strongly encourage applicants of diverse backgrounds to apply.