Organization: International Council for Refugees and Immigrants (ICRI)
Location: Omaha, Nebraska or Remote
Position Type: Full-Time
Reports To: Chief Executive Officer
Department: Development and Fundraising
Position Summary
The International Council for Refugees and Immigrants (ICRI) seeks an experienced, strategic, and results-driven Grant Writer and Fundraising Manager to lead and strengthen the organization's fundraising, grant development, donor engagement, and resource mobilization efforts.
The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive fundraising strategy that diversifies ICRI's revenue sources and strengthens its long-term financial sustainability. This includes identifying, researching, cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individual donors; developing and submitting competitive grant proposals to federal, state, and local government agencies and private foundations; cultivating corporate and institutional partnerships; and planning and executing fundraising events and campaigns.
A central responsibility of this position is to build a sustainable individual giving program, moving beyond transactional fundraising toward meaningful, long-term relationships with individual donors, major gift prospects, community philanthropists, and supporters who believe in ICRI's mission.
The position requires exceptional grant writing and communication skills, demonstrated success securing competitive funding, strong relationship-building abilities, and the capacity to translate organizational programs, community needs, and measurable outcomes into compelling funding proposals and investment opportunities.
The Grant Writer and Fundraising Manager will work closely with the CEO, program directors, finance department, and other organizational leaders to ensure that fundraising priorities align with ICRI's strategic objectives, programmatic needs, and financial sustainability goals.
Key Responsibilities
1. Individual Giving and Donor Cultivation (25%)
Develop, manage, and grow ICRI's individual giving program by establishing a structured donor engagement and cultivation strategy.
Responsibilities include:
- Develop and implement an annual individual giving strategy with measurable revenue targets and donor acquisition goals.
- Identify, research, cultivate, solicit, and steward individual donors, including first-time donors, recurring donors, major donors, high-net-worth individuals, and philanthropic families.
- Build and maintain a sustainable donor pipeline through prospect research, relationship mapping, networking, and personalized engagement.
- Develop strategies to convert one-time donors into recurring monthly and annual contributors.
- Establish a major gifts program focused on cultivating donors capable of making significant annual and multi-year contributions.
- Develop personalized donor solicitation letters, proposals, giving opportunities, and impact statements.
- Create and manage annual giving campaigns, year-end appeals, Giving Tuesday campaigns, and special fundraising initiatives.
- Develop donor recognition, appreciation, and stewardship strategies that encourage continued engagement and increased giving.
- Organize donor meetings, cultivation events, organizational tours, and opportunities for donors to interact with ICRI's programs and leadership.
- Build relationships with local philanthropists, business leaders, community members, former program participants, and other individuals interested in supporting refugee and immigrant communities.
- Develop a planned giving and legacy giving strategy as organizational capacity permits.
- Maintain accurate donor records, giving histories, communications, and engagement activities in the organization's donor management system.
- Track donor retention, acquisition, upgrades, and lifetime giving trends.
2. Government Grant Writing and Institutional Funding (25%)
Lead the identification, development, preparation, submission, and coordination of competitive government grant applications.
Responsibilities include:
- Identify and monitor federal, state, county, and municipal funding opportunities relevant to ICRI's mission and programs.
- Research opportunities through federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Department of Justice, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Homeland Security, and other relevant agencies.
- Monitor funding opportunities through Grants.gov, state funding portals, local government procurement systems, and other relevant grant platforms.
- Develop compelling and technically sound grant applications that meet funding requirements, eligibility criteria, evaluation standards, and submission deadlines.
- Lead the preparation of grant narratives, executive summaries, statements of need, program descriptions, logic models, theories of change, work plans, performance measures, evaluation plans, and sustainability strategies.
- Coordinate with program and finance departments to develop realistic budgets, budget justifications, staffing plans, and required financial documentation.
- Ensure applications demonstrate organizational capacity, measurable outcomes, community impact, and alignment with funder priorities.
- Coordinate letters of support, memoranda of understanding, partnership agreements, organizational attachments, and other required application documents.
- Develop and maintain a government grant calendar and funding pipeline.
- Monitor funding announcements, notices of funding opportunities, requests for proposals, and requests for applications.
- Maintain a centralized repository of grant narratives, organizational documents, program data, budgets, and other reusable application materials.
- Coordinate grant submissions and follow up with funding agencies regarding application status, clarification requests, and award decisions.
- Support the preparation of grant reports and ensure that funder reporting requirements and deadlines are communicated to relevant departments.
3. Foundation, Corporate, and Institutional Fundraising (20%)
Develop and strengthen ICRI's relationships with private foundations, corporate foundations, community foundations, philanthropic institutions, and corporate partners.
Responsibilities include:
- Identify and research local, regional, national, and international foundations whose funding priorities align with ICRI's programs and mission.
- Develop and maintain a foundation prospect pipeline with funding priorities, eligibility requirements, deadlines, historical giving patterns, and relationship opportunities.
- Cultivate relationships with foundation program officers, philanthropic advisors, corporate social responsibility representatives, and institutional donors.
- Prepare letters of inquiry, concept notes, proposals, grant applications, and supporting documentation.
- Develop customized funding proposals that clearly communicate ICRI's organizational impact, program outcomes, and funding needs.
- Pursue multi-year, unrestricted, program-specific, capacity-building, and general operating support opportunities.
- Identify opportunities for corporate sponsorships, employee giving, matching gifts, workplace giving, and corporate philanthropy.
- Develop strategic partnerships with banks, healthcare institutions, businesses, universities, and other organizations.
- Coordinate foundation visits, donor briefings, organizational presentations, and program site visits.
- Maintain ongoing communication with existing funders and identify opportunities for renewed and expanded support.
- Develop strategies to diversify ICRI's funding portfolio and reduce dependence on any single funding source.
4. Fundraising Events, Campaigns, and Community Engagement (15%)
Lead the planning, coordination, implementation, and evaluation of fundraising events and campaigns that generate financial resources and expand ICRI's visibility.
Responsibilities include:
- Plan and coordinate annual fundraising events, donor receptions, fundraising dinners, benefit events, community campaigns, and other resource development activities.
- Develop event fundraising goals, sponsorship packages, ticketing strategies, donor solicitation plans, and event budgets.
- Identify, cultivate, and secure corporate sponsors, individual event sponsors, table sponsors, and philanthropic supporters.
- Coordinate fundraising committees, volunteers, board members, and community leaders to maximize event participation and financial returns.
- Develop event marketing materials, sponsorship proposals, donor invitations, presentations, and promotional campaigns.
- Coordinate auction opportunities, pledge drives, matching gift campaigns, and other event-based fundraising activities when appropriate.
- Work closely with ICRI's communications and program teams to ensure events effectively communicate the organization's mission and impact.
- Lead post-event donor follow-up, acknowledgments, reporting, and stewardship.
- Evaluate event performance, including gross revenue, net revenue, expenses, donor acquisition, and sponsorship retention.
5. Fundraising Strategy, Data Management, and Organizational Coordination (10%)
Establish effective systems, processes, and accountability measures to strengthen ICRI's overall development operations.
Responsibilities include:
- Develop an annual development and fundraising plan in consultation with the CEO and organizational leadership.
- Establish annual fundraising targets, revenue projections, donor acquisition goals, and performance indicators.
- Maintain a comprehensive fundraising calendar covering government grants, foundation applications, individual giving campaigns, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising events.
- Develop and maintain a donor and funder database using appropriate customer relationship management (CRM) software.
- Track proposal submissions, awards, declined applications, renewal opportunities, donor engagement, and fundraising performance.
- Prepare monthly and quarterly fundraising reports for the CEO and leadership team.
- Analyze fundraising results and recommend strategies to improve revenue generation and donor retention.
- Coordinate with program directors to collect program statistics, success stories, participant outcomes, and other evidence of organizational impact.
- Work with the finance department to ensure that proposed budgets are accurate, reasonable, and consistent with organizational financial policies.
- Support the CEO and board of directors in donor engagement, fundraising initiatives, and strategic resource mobilization.
- Maintain ethical fundraising practices, donor confidentiality, accurate representations of program outcomes, and compliance with applicable fundraising requirements.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in nonprofit management, communications, public administration, business administration, international development, social sciences, or a related field. A master's degree is preferred.
- At least three to five years of progressively responsible experience in grant writing, fundraising, nonprofit development, or institutional resource mobilization.
- Demonstrated experience preparing and submitting competitive grant applications to government agencies and private foundations.
- A proven record of securing grants, cultivating donors, or generating philanthropic revenue.
- Demonstrated knowledge of individual giving, donor cultivation, major gifts, corporate sponsorships, and fundraising campaigns.
- Excellent grant writing, editing, research, and persuasive communication skills.
- Experience developing grant budgets and coordinating with finance and program departments.
- Strong project management, organizational, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to manage multiple proposals, deadlines, and fundraising priorities simultaneously.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, donor databases, CRM platforms, and online grant application systems.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience securing federal grants through agencies such as HHS, DOJ, DOL, HUD, and other federal funding entities.
- Experience working with community foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations, and national philanthropic organizations.
- Experience developing individual giving and major donor programs from the ground up.
- Familiarity with nonprofit fundraising regulations, donor stewardship practices, and grant compliance requirements.
- Experience working with refugee, immigrant, underserved, or culturally diverse communities.
- Experience with fundraising platforms, donor CRM systems, and prospect research tools.
- CFRE certification or willingness to pursue professional fundraising certification.
Performance Expectations and Key Performance Indicators
The position will be evaluated based on measurable fundraising outcomes, the quality of grant submissions, donor engagement, and the development of sustainable fundraising systems.
Expected performance measures include:
- Individual Giving: Establish and grow an individual donor portfolio, including recurring donors, annual donors, and major gift prospects.
- Grant Development: Maintain a diversified pipeline of government, foundation, and institutional funding opportunities.
- Grant Success: Demonstrate a competitive record of submitting high-quality proposals and securing awards.
- Foundation Relationships: Establish and maintain productive relationships with foundation representatives and institutional funders.
- Fundraising Events: Successfully plan and execute fundraising events that meet established net revenue targets.
- Corporate Partnerships: Develop new corporate sponsorships, workplace giving opportunities, and philanthropic partnerships.
- Donor Stewardship: Ensure timely donor acknowledgments, personalized follow-up, and consistent donor engagement.
- Reporting and Accountability: Provide accurate monthly and quarterly fundraising reports and maintain an updated development pipeline.
Professional Competencies
The ideal candidate will demonstrate:
- Strategic thinking and the ability to identify emerging funding opportunities.
- Strong persuasive writing and storytelling skills.
- Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building abilities.
- A results-oriented approach to fundraising and revenue generation.
- Professional judgment, integrity, accountability, and attention to detail.
- The ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with organizational leadership.
- Commitment to ICRI's mission of supporting refugees, immigrants, and underserved communities.
Equal Employment Opportunity
ICRI is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive workplace. We encourage qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds, including individuals with lived experience of displacement, migration, and resettlement, to apply.
— Sarah J.
·
Marketing Manager
★★★★★
Verified
