Organization Overview:

StreetWise Partners is on a mission to drive career mobility and help build the workforce of today and tomorrow. For more than 25 years, we have expanded access to opportunity through high impact mentoring, career coaching, and employment support, supporting over 25,000 adults on their path to meaningful employment.

Our programs connect unemployed and underemployed adults in New York City and Washington, D.C. to life-changing career opportunities, while providing employers with access to a highly capable talent pool that reflects a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.

StreetWise Partners’ Bridge Program delivers customized, individualized support to job seekers. Through one-on-one mentorship and career coaching, participants build professional skills, social capital, and an expansive network of advocates who open doors and support long term career success.

The organization is entering a new chapter under CEO leadership focused on strategic growth, sharpened program impact, and a materially diversified base of contributed revenue.

Position Overview:

StreetWise Partners is hiring a Grant Manager (Independent Contractor) to build the acquisition engine this next chapter requires. This is a builder's role for a fundraising professional who has run a real pipeline before: someone fluent in moves management, comfortable qualifying prospects independently, and skilled at converting cold relationships into funded partnerships.

You will report to the Chief Development Officer and work in close partnership with the CEO, taking primary ownership of new business generation across foundation, corporate, and government funding streams. Where this function has historically run on renewal and maintenance, your mandate is acquisition: dossier-level prospect intelligence, a disciplined cultivation cadence, and the proposal infrastructure that turns StreetWise Partners growth strategy into a fundable, forecastable pipeline.

StreetWise Partners has committed to scaling its revenue base substantially over the next several years. This role sits at the center of that push, and its scope will grow as the pipeline proves out.

This is a remote (U.S.) position; candidates in NYC or D.C. Metro are preferred but not required. This is hourly independent contractor role, approximately 40 hours per month. No benefits.

What Success Looks Like:

• A steady cadence of 3 to 5 new funding applications submitted per week, across philanthropic, corporate, and government sources, that grows the pipeline rather than just maintaining it.
• A qualified, well-researched prospect portfolio deep enough to underwrite real revenue forecasting, not guesswork.
• A Master Proposal library you built and own, that lets the function move fast without sacrificing quality.
• Pipeline reporting sharp enough that leadership makes decisions off it, not just reads it.

Responsibilities Include:

• 40%: Prospect Development & Portfolio Management
  • Build and manage an active portfolio of qualified foundation, corporate, and government prospects, each backed by a funder-specific dossier: giving history, program priorities, decision-makers, and cultivation timeline.
  • Apply moves management discipline to advance prospects from identification through qualification to solicitation, in coordination with the Chief Development Officer and CEO.
  • Source new relationship pathways, including via LinkedIn and funder networks, to keep the top of the pipeline full.
  • Own the portfolio in a shared tracking system built for forward-looking revenue forecasting, not just historical reporting.
  • Own end-to-end submission of every proposal, LOI, and funder report, from first draft through final upload or mail, confirming receipt where required.

• 35%: Proposal Strategy & Development
  • Write and submit high-quality LOIs, proposals, and funder reports at a pace of 3 to 5 new applications weekly, without sacrificing the tailoring each funder requires.
  • Build and own the Master Proposal library, the organization's core narrative, outcomes data, and AI-enabled program use cases, so every proposal starts from a position of strength.
  • Partner with finance to build and align grant budgets and budget narratives.
  • Position every ask in the funder's own language and priorities. No generic, reused copy.

• 15%: Pipeline Forecasting & Reporting
  • Own a grant tracking system that separates new business from renewals and gives leadership an honest, current read on revenue in motion.
  • Deliver a weekly pipeline report tight enough to drive real decisions, not just document activity.
  • Surface deadline risk and resourcing gaps early enough to act on them, not after.
  • Maintain a master deadline calendar covering every application, LOI, and funder report due date, with enough lead time built in to review and refine before submission.

• 10%: Strategic Collaboration
  • Partner with program and finance to translate outcomes and evidence into funder-ready narrative.
  • Stay embedded in organizational strategy through regular internal engagement.
  • Lead adoption of AI tools that increase research and drafting velocity, consistent with board direction to modernize the development function.
• Other tasks as assigned

Who We Are Looking For

• 5+ years of institutional fundraising experience, with grant writing and prospect research as core disciplines, ideally in workforce development, education, or economic mobility.
• A track record of proposals that convert, not just proposals that go out the door. Comfortable being measured on win rate and dollars raised, not only volume submitted.
• Sophisticated prospect research instincts and comfort building a pipeline from a cold start, using LinkedIn, funder databases, and public philanthropic data.
• Experience building and defending grant budgets alongside a finance team.
• Fluency in a CRM and project management tool (Salesforce and Asana preferred).
• An operator's mindset: someone who has built a fundraising system before, not only worked inside one.
• Strong command of funder voice, able to move fluidly between an organization's strategic priorities and a program officer's evaluation criteria.
• Available during core U.S. Eastern business hours and able to work independently as a remote consultant.
• Demonstrated fluency using AI tools to automate prospect research and build an efficient grant workflow, such as faster funder qualification, first-draft generation from a proposal library, or a repeatable pipeline process. Be ready to describe a specific AI-enabled workflow you have built or used.

Compensation

• $75/hr. - approximately 40 hours per month. This is an independent contractor role; no benefits offered.

StreetWise Partners is an equal opportunity employer. We value and welcome diversity in the workplace and strongly encourage all qualified persons to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

For more information about Streetwise Partners, please visit: www.streetwisepartners.org