Grants & Sponsorships Lead — Strategic Fundraising

Fernbank-Museum-of-Natural-Histor; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta seeks a Manager of Grants & Sponsorships to drive fundraising, grant development, and sponsor fulfillment. You will lead the full lifecycle from prospecting to reporting, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and funder priorities.

The role requires strong writing, strategic thinking, and cross-department collaboration to maximize funding impact and program outcomes for exhibitions, education, and initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Three to five years of progressive experience in nonprofit fundraising, grant administration, sponsorship development, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success securing and managing grants and sponsorships from proposal development through final reporting and stewardship.
• Strong experience with online grant application systems and reporting portals.
• Proficiency with fundraising and CRM platforms such as Altru, Raiser's Edge NXT, Salesforce, or comparable systems.
• Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple deadlines simultaneously.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage grant and sponsorship proposals and requests that generate more than $900,000 annually in support of general operations, educational programming, exhibitions, scholarships, and strategic initiatives.
• Write compelling and persuasive narratives that align Fernbank's mission, programs, and outcomes with funder priorities and objectives.
• Conduct research to identify and qualify prospective corporate, foundation, and community partners.
• Manage all phases of the grant and sponsorship lifecycle, including proposal submission, award administration, compliance, reporting, stewardship, renewal, and closeout.
• Partner with Marketing and Communications to develop sponsor recognition plans, grant-related communications, and other engagement materials.
• Collect, analyze, and communicate program outcomes, evaluation metrics, and success stories for use in proposals, reports, and stakeholder communications.
• Ensure timely fulfillment of all sponsorship benefits, recognition commitments, and grant requirements.
• Collaborate regularly with colleagues across Education, Finance, Marketing, and other departments to ensure accurate information sharing, compliance, and seamless execution of funded projects.
• Maintain a comprehensive grants and sponsorship calendar and leverage CRM systems to track prospects, proposals, reporting requirements, and partner engagement activities.
• Prepare briefing materials, funding summaries, prospect profiles, and other supporting documents for internal and external meetings.
• Responsibly leverage artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to enhance research, proposal development, reporting, and operational efficiency.
• Monitor trends in philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and foundation giving to identify new funding opportunities and strengthen Fernbank's funding pipeline.

Skills

Grant writing

Storytelling

Project management

Research

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Altru

Raiser's Edge NXT

Salesforce

Job description

Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta seeks a Manager of Grants & Sponsorships to drive fundraising, grant development, and sponsor fulfillment. You will lead the full lifecycle from prospecting to reporting, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and funder priorities.

The role requires strong writing, strategic thinking, and cross-department collaboration to maximize funding impact and program outcomes for exhibitions, education, and initiatives.