Grants and Finance Specialist, Sustainable Finance Center

Job Summary:

As the Grants and Finance Specialist, you will support several workstreams (teams) within the Finance Center as they develop and deliver impactful research, policy, and implementation projects. You will report to the Center’s Operations & Development Manager, you will also collaborate with them to implement existing processes and improve processes where needed. Your responsibilities include managing budgets, reporting to donors, processing contract agreements, ensuring grant compliance, liaising with research staff on project deliverables, engaging with vendors and subgrantees, managing outreach efforts through multiple coalitions and platforms, guiding the team through internal processes and systems, planning events, and supporting operations for a team matrixed across multiple countries in several of our programs and centers.

This position is remote due to Covid-19, but you will be based in Washington, DC once restrictions have been lifted.

Job Responsibilities:

Financial Management (35% of time)

• Oversee day-to-day financial management of project budgets
• Monitor monthly expenses and keep direct project budgets up to date in budgeting software
• Deliver updates on project budgets to project managers and alert them of funding deadlines and other financial concerns, especially financial cliffs
• Provide strategic advice to project managers on the best use of funds to ensure achievement of deliverables while maximizing financial resources
• Provide inputs for the quarterly Finance Center budget reviews for your projects
• Lead project financial closeout and coordinate with project teams in other project closeout processes, including financial reconciliation and reporting
• Prepare proposal budgets and ensure alignment between proposed activities and budgets
• Update and maintain proposal development tools and templates.

 Grant Management (30%)

• Manage project grants and contracts, including ensuring compliance with terms and conditions and liaising with funders
• Lead the drafting of financial grant reports, including collecting team inputs and transparent accounting of financial records from WRI standard into funder-specific templates
• Support the drafting of technical grant reports as needed
• Support donor and grants management by keeping contact database updated with timely and accurate information
• Create and maintain subgrant and contract agreements with partners and contractors, including processing payments, and amending agreements when necessary
• Work with partners to build their capacity to understand and meet subgrant and contract requirements
• Track sub-awardee compliance with administrative grant requirements, including the timely submission of reports and audits

Project Management (25%)

• Provide well-rounded proactive operations and management advice to project managers, managing up when needed to ensure sound implementation of projects per donor standards and in resolving operational and coordination issues
• Monitor and track project deliverables to ensure that they are submitted within the period of performance and coordinate the submission of invoices
• Keep track of past performance and lessons learned to use on future project preparation

Administration (10%)

• Lead logistics for internal and external events, workshops, and conferences through A/V and catering preparation, participant and speaker coordination, and preparation of materials
• Assist with recruitment and on-boarding of staff members and interns
• Support the timely and accurate submission of expense reports, timesheets, cash advances, and other transactions as needed Given the dynamic nature of our work, a variety of other reasonable duties may be assigned

Job Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field; experience in lieu of education is accepted
• Minimum of 1 year of relevant full-time work experience, preferably in financial management, administration, or nonprofit operations
• Must be adaptable to rapidly change priorities and have the ability to manage multiple projects with varying deadlines
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Strong process orientation with sensitivity to quality, timelines, and organizational systems
• Strong computer skills including high level of comfort with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook), web-based communications (Skype, GoToMeeting), with CRM database (esp. Salesforce and Pardot) and budgeting (Microsoft Cognos) preferred
• US work authorization is required for this

Potential Salary:

$46,000 – $60,000. Salary is commensurate with experience and other compensable factors.

How to Apply:

Applicants must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered. Please submit a cover letter and resume or CV.

 Program Overview:

The mission of WRI’s Sustainable Finance Center is to promote the shift of finance away from environmentally unsustainable activities and toward sustainable ones. We do this through the production of data-driven, policy-actionable research and knowledge products and by convening coalitions of key stakeholders that can drive action on the ground. Our team is multidisciplinary and brings together experience from academia and the public, private, and non-profit sectors. The Finance Center supports the rest of WRI as we seek to tackle WRI’s Global Challenges. We do so through deep, multi-year partnerships with a subset of WRI Programs, through cross-cutting activities designed to influence financial institutions and markets, and through the provision of tailored technical advice to WRI’s programs and international offices.

Our work is structured around five key themes:

 (1) financing NDC implementation,

(2) “greening” private sector finance,

(3) strengthening public financial institutions,

 (4) encouraging the U.S. and China to be sustainable finance champions, and

 (5) strengthening investment in adaptation and resilience.

WRI Overview:

World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade in order to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean.

We are passionate. We value our diversity of interests, skills, and backgrounds. We have a flexible work environment. And we share a common goal to catalyze change that will improve the lives of people. Our shared ideals are at the core of our approach. They include: integrity, innovation, urgency, independence, and respect.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

We have been growing rapidly: our staff has doubled in size over the past 5 years, and our operating budget is now $150 million. Founded in 1982, WRI has a global staff of 1,000+ people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.  

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices.