Grants and Development Manager

MERCY COLLEGE; Village of Dobbs Ferry (NY); Hybrid; USD 67,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Retirement plan with matching

Laptop provided

Paid Time Off

Job summary

Mercy College in NYC seeks a Grants and Development Manager to lead grant lifecycle, proposal writing, and donor engagement. The role drives fundraising through grants, individual giving, and events, reporting to the Executive Director.

You will manage the donor CRM, ensure timely reporting, collaborate across teams, and identify funding opportunities to sustain growth and literacy initiatives in New York City.

Qualifications

• Professional, institutional fundraising experience (4+ years) or equivalent education/experience.
• Strong writing and editing for funder-facing narratives.
• Detail-oriented with ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Grant Management and Proposals: identify opportunities, write proposals, manage reporting.
• Tracking and Compliance: maintain grants systems, budgets, and deadlines.
• Individual Giving and Donor Stewardship: manage CRM, donor history, and acknowledgments.
• Cross-team Collaboration: coordinate with program staff to prepare impact metrics.
• Fundraising Strategy: assist in plans for grants, donations, and events.
• Systems Monitoring: audit organization profiles in key portals and rating services.

Skills

Fundraising experience

Organizational skills

Communication

Technology proficiency

Tools

Bloomerang

MS Office

Google Workspace

Job description

Grants and Development Manager

Recruitment began on August 27, 2026

and the job listing Expires on September 27, 2026

A mission-driven nonprofit organization located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard is dedicated to increasing the number of homes with 100 or more books for children and youth ages 0-18 throughout New York City. Through free book distribution, literacy-focused community programming, and educational events, the organization promotes access to and ownership of books, strengthens communities, and inspires a lifelong passion for learning. Since its founding in 2018, the organization has experienced steady growth and expanded its impact each year.

To support its mission, the organization secures funding from both public and private sources. The Development Team is responsible for implementing a strategic fundraising plan that will generate $1.3 million in annual revenue for FY26 while positioning the organization for long-term sustainability and continued growth.

The Grants and Development Manager plays a key role in advancing these efforts. Reporting directly to the Executive Director and Co-Founder, this position serves as the lead grant writer and grant lifecycle manager while supporting donor engagement initiatives and special fundraising events. This is a highly collaborative, execution-focused role suited for a detail-oriented fundraising professional who excels at building processes and managing multiple priorities.

Working closely with leadership, the Grants and Development Manager identifies foundation and government funding opportunities, researches and responds to RFPs, develops compelling grant proposals and reports, manages compliance and reporting requirements, and maintains the organization’s donor database. The role oversees the grant pipeline, ensures deadlines are met, proactively identifies new funding opportunities, facilitates communication across teams, and maintains accurate, actionable donor data.

As the primary driver of institutional fundraising efforts and donor operations, the Grants and Development Manager directly contributes to the growth, impact, and sustainability of a rapidly expanding nonprofit dedicated to advancing literacy and educational equity across New York City.

Key Responsibilities to Include:

• Grant Management and Proposals: Identify grant opportunities, write proposals, and manage reporting requirements – effectively managing the “life-cycle” of a grant. Develop and lead drafting of persuasive letters of inquiry, grant proposals and applications, and related materials.
• Tracking and Compliance Maintenance: Maintain the grant administration process. Utilize the established, appropriate systems to manage and track grants, proposals, budgets, and timely, accurate report submissions. Establish and calendar project plans for grants; manage timelines and deliverables to meet deadlines for grant submissions and reporting requirements. Keep relevant staff informed about upcoming deadlines and deliverables, ensuring smooth completion of tasks and responsibilities.
• Individual Giving and Database Administration and Donor Stewardship: Anchor the operational systems for individual giving campaigns by accurately managing the donor CRM, tracking donor giving history, and executing segmentation pulls. Oversee back-end stewardship workflows to ensure timely acknowledgement and receipt of donations.
• Cross-team Collaboration: Take the lead on internal collaboration to ensure proper allocation, tracking, and reporting of grant funding. Coordinate with program staff and management to aggregate impact metrics, narratives, and field deliverables for compliance reports. Ensure all application and reporting materials are ready when needed and resolve open issues relating to monitoring grants, deliverables, reports. Proactively identify potential challenges, identify gaps, and make a plan to resolve open issues.
• Fundraising Strategy: Contribute to the development and execution of plans to raise funds through grants, individual donations, and special events, under the guidance of senior team members.
• Systems Monitoring: Audit and maintain organization profiles across key government portals (e.g., grants.gov, New York Statewide Financial System, Passport) and all online rating agencies (e.g., GuideStar) to ensure records are current and accurate.

Education, Skills, and Experience:

• Experience: Professional, institutional fundraising experience (4+ years preferred) or any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience that demonstrates the ability to perform the duties of the position (4+ years required).
• Organization and Project Management: Strong organizational and time management skills; ability to handle multiple tasks and prioritize. Detail-oriented.
• Communication: Exceptional writer and editor who can quickly understand complex program information and translate it into clear, persuasive funder-facing narratives.
• Technologically savvy: Proficiency in donor CRMs or Bloomerang, research systems, MS Office, and Google Workspace.
• Mindset: Proactive problem-solver with critical-thinking abilities to address challenges. Constant learner who is responsive to and able to incorporate feedback. Able to take initiative combined with the ability to work as part of a team.

Salary: $67,000-75,000/year (exempt, full-time)

Availability: Full-time, Monday-Friday, with occasional evening/weekend work as needed

Location: NYC; this role is hybrid, with a minimum of 1-day in office weekly, and travel to funder visits and meetings, etc.

Start Date: Rolling

Work flexibility: Hybrid model with a minimum of 1-day per week on-site

Retirement: Eligible for retirement plan with matching contributions

Tech provided: Dedicated laptop and Google voice number provided for business use

Time Off: Paid Time Off (PTO), annual paid holidays, and sick days

You may be a great fit, if you are:

• Passionate about the company’s mission of expanding access to books and literacy for NYC kids,
• Resourceful and creative energized by identifying new funding opportunities and translating program ideas into compelling proposals
• Collaborative and energized by working cross-functionally-collaborating with program, operations, and leadership to bring grant applications and reports across the finish line,