The Business Development Associate/ Public Grants Writer is responsible for developing grant proposals for public funding donors, collaborating with the country and regional Business Units’ technical staff, Grants, Legal, Finance, and Contracts teams. They provide coordination support to keep grant proposals moving in a timely manner, meeting deadlines, and managing required supplemental materials to meet specific goals and funding targets. They understand and apply the principles of developing public donor strategies. They collaborate with local and global partners in the field in the development of proposals. They involve staff at the TNC Worldwide Office, and Latin America Region, keeping them apprised of interactions, issues or concerns, and direct questions as appropriate, ensuring proposals meet TNC’s policies and procedures. They identify and screen public funding opportunities fit for the LAR region. They are well-written in English and Spanish and/or Portuguese. They know how to communicate persuasively and to utilize their experience preparing public funding proposals, including writing technical text and log frame, and creating a budget, to help TNC achieve our conservation goals. The Business Development Associate/ Public Grants Writer will utilize the Conservancy’s donor database to track interactions with public funding donors and the proposals developed.

The Business Development Associate/ Public Grants Writer for the Latin America Region is responsible for obtaining funds through grant mechanisms from public funding sources to support The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) conservation goals for the Region. They work closely with the LAR Associate Director of Public Institutions and country and regional Business Unit (BU) staff on the development of grant proposals, acting as a process lead, supporting writing, and editing, ensuring alignment of the proposal with donors’ interests, and facilitating the engagement of different TNC teams. The Business Development Associate/ Public Grants Writer reports to the LAR Associate Director of Public Institutions.

RESPONSIBILITIES & SCOPE

• Coordinate public funding grant proposals, including leading proposal development teams, writing, editing, and preparing final grant proposal applications for public donors including, but not limited to USAID, IKI, UK DEFRA, NICFI, NORAD.
• Revise proposal drafts and recommend changes in response to feedback and comments in collaboration with the grant proposal team.
• Ensure the team meets proposal development timelines, goals and objectives.
• Work collaboratively and share proactive communications across multiple regions, global teams, and functional areas.
• Act independently and in supervisor’s stead as needed, exercising independent judgment to identify and solve problems.
• Maintain a line of communication with internal stakeholders (e.g., relationship managers) and/or the target agency as relevant for the development of the proposal.
• Ensure compliance with TNC policies and procedures and external (donor/legal/IRS) requirements.
• Support evaluation of the grant proposal development process and develop corrective strategies as needed.
• Persuasively convey the mission of TNC to diverse groups who are important to the organization’s overall prosperity.
• Understand that some decisions may have program-wide impact and may bind the organization financially or legally.
• Demonstrate sensitivity in handling confidential information.
• Financial responsibility includes working within the team’s budget and meeting fundraising objectives.
• Support internal approval processes.
• Travel up to 25% and on short notice, work long and flexible hours as needed.
• Work environment involves only infrequent exposure to disagreeable elements and minor physical exertion and/or strain.
• Manage an ongoing and rotating portfolio of public funding proposals from a variety of public funding donors. Responsible for approximately 5 – 10 proposals (Expressions of Interest, Concept Papers, or Full Proposals) annually. Annual fundraising goal of USD $5,000,000 or more.