Contract Grant Writer & Development Consultant

Contract Grant Writer & Development Consultant

Maryland Local Government Impact Hub
Contract Position | Part-Time | Remote/Hybrid
Initial Term: 4 Months, with Opportunity to Extend

About the Maryland Local Government Impact Hub

The Maryland Local Government Impact Hub is the 501(c)(3) companion arm of the Maryland Municipal League, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening Maryland's municipalities and the communities they serve through research, education, leadership development, community initiatives, and innovative solutions to challenges facing local governments and their residents.

As a growing organization, the Impact Hub is seeking an experienced Grant Writer & Development Contractor to help build and execute a sustainable institutional funding strategy.

Position Overview

The Contractor will serve as the Impact Hub's primary resource for identifying, developing, and pursuing grant opportunities from private foundations, corporations, government agencies, and other institutional funders.

This is not simply a grant-writing assignment. The successful contractor will be expected to proactively identify funding opportunities, assess their alignment with the Impact Hub's mission and programs, recommend opportunities worth pursuing, and lead development of competitive applications. You will tell the story of 160 local governments in Maryland and support the progress for both residents and leaders alike.

The ideal candidate is an experienced grant professional and communicator who can work independently, requires limited day-to-day supervision, and can translate the Impact Hub's mission into compelling proposals for funders.

The initial engagement is anticipated to last through the end of the current calendar year, with the opportunity to extend based on performance, funding success, and organizational needs.

Key Responsibilities

Grant Research & Pipeline Development

• Research foundation, corporate, State, federal, and other grant opportunities aligned with the Impact Hub's mission and priorities.
• Identify both immediate funding opportunities and longer-term prospective funders.
• Evaluate opportunities based on mission alignment, competitiveness, funding potential, eligibility, timing, and organizational capacity.
• Develop and maintain a prioritized grant prospect list and 12-month funding calendar.
• Develop standard language for the Hub to utilize.

Proposal Development

• Lead preparation of competitive grant proposals, letters of inquiry, concept papers, and related funding requests.
• Develop compelling narratives that clearly communicate organizational need, proposed impact, outcomes, and sustainability.
• Work with Impact Hub and MML leadership and staff to gather required programmatic, financial, and organizational information.
• Coordinate application requirements and deadlines from initial identification through submission.
• Review applications for quality, consistency, responsiveness, and compliance with funder requirements.

• Maintain records of applications, awards, denials, pending requests, deadlines, and reporting requirements.
• Help establish an institutional grant-development process that can be sustained as the Impact Hub grows.

Funder Strategy

• Identify prospective funders with strong alignment to the Impact Hub's mission.
• Recommend opportunities for relationship-building with foundations and other institutional funders.
• Prepare leadership for funder meetings with executive briefings to include background on the organization, leadership and vision.
• Help position the Impact Hub for larger and more competitive funding opportunities over time.

 

Initial Priorities

During the initial engagement, the contractor will be expected to:

1. Complete an initial assessment of the Impact Hub's grant readiness and funding potential.
2. Develop a prioritized 12-month grant and institutional-funding pipeline.
3. Identify near-term funding opportunities appropriate for a new 501(c)(3).
4. Establish a grant calendar and tracking system.
5. Develop core organizational grant language and reusable application materials.
6. Prepare and submit agreed-upon high-quality grant applications, including those with decision deadlines ahead of the year end.
7. Identify longer-term funder prospects and relationship-development opportunities.
8. Provide leadership with a concise weekly report on grant-development activity and results.

Desired Qualifications

The successful contractor should demonstrate:

• Significant professional grant-writing and grant-development experience.
• A demonstrated record of developing successful competitive grant applications.
• Experience working with nonprofit organizations, preferably 501(c)(3) organizations.
• Strong grant prospect-research skills and demonstrated ability to independently develop a funding pipeline.
• Excellent written communication and storytelling skills.
• Ability to understand complex public policy, governmental, community, and organizational issues and translate them into compelling funding proposals.
• Strong project-management skills and ability to manage multiple deadlines independently.
• Experience with foundation and corporate philanthropy.
• Success with corporate, Maryland based foundations, State and federal grants.
• Knowledge of Maryland's philanthropic and grantmaking community is strongly preferred.
• Experience in local government, community development, public policy, civic engagement, leadership development, research, economic development, infrastructure, or related areas is a plus.

Contract Structure

This is an independent contractor engagement, not an employee position.

The Impact Hub anticipates an initial four-month engagement, with the possibility of extension based on performance, organizational needs, and demonstrated progress in developing the organization's institutional funding portfolio.

The organization is open to an individual consultant or small consulting firm. The contractor will work primarily remotely with periodic virtual and/or in-person meetings with Impact Hub and MML leadership. The Hub uses Instrumentl currently as its grant prospecting and management service.

Compensation will be commensurate with experience and proposed scope of work with a monthly retainer. Compensation will not be structured as a percentage of grant awards.

Measures of Success

Success during the initial engagement will be evaluated based on:

• Development of a strong and realistic grant pipeline;
• Number and quality of qualified funding opportunities identified;
• Quality and timeliness of proposals submitted;
• Total funding requested;
• Funding secured and applications progressing through funder review;
• Development of relationships and future opportunities with prospective funders;
• Creation of sustainable grant-development systems and materials; and
• Ability to independently manage the grant-development process with limited demands on staff time.

Because grant decisions often extend beyond the initial six-month contract period, performance will not be evaluated solely on dollars awarded during the contract term.

 

To Apply

Interested individuals or firms should submit:

• A brief statement of interest;
• Resume or firm qualifications;
• Examples of relevant grant-development experience;
• A summary of grants secured or other demonstrated results;
• Experience with Maryland-based funders, if applicable;
• Two to three professional references;
• Proposed monthly fee or fee structure; and
• Availability to begin the engagement. MML and the Hub are ready to begin immediately.