Grants & Contracts Coordinator

THE NEED:

WITNESS helps people use video and technology to protect and defend human rights. With a cellphone camera, anyone can become a human rights defender and expose injustice, making it harder for perpetrators to hide or for systems of oppression to remain invisible. But using video for community organizing or justice and accountability can be dangerous – videos can put defenders (or those they film) at risk, can be used against communities in court or deceitfully discredited by tired old power narratives. Filming is almost never enough – for videos to make a difference they need to work alongside strong advocacy or legal strategies; they also need to be created, preserved and shared in ways that avoid creating more harm or trauma. And the actions of courageous individuals and communities at a grassroots level are conditioned by the structures and decisions of global technology platforms and emerging technologies that are distant and unaccountable to their needs. New threats to human rights are emerging at the intersection of artificial intelligence, misinformation and disinformation and a global wave of rising authoritarianism.

WITNESS pairs grassroots community support, and broad learning and sharing of tips and guidance to activists, with advocacy at a systems level on challenges. Our team works holistically on a global scale to understand how communities are using and want to use video and technology for human rights. When it comes to systemic challenges we are on the watch for both existing problems – like how large amounts of critical human rights footage are lost because of the arbitrary decisions of platforms – but also emerging threats and opportunities, such as those posed by ‘deepfakes’, new ways to manipulate media to make it look like someone said or did something they never did, or an event happened that never occurred.

THE ROLE

PRIMARY FUNCTION/PURPOSE

The Grants & Contracts Coordinator serves as a liaison among the Development, Finance and Program teams of our growing, global organization. The Coordinator leverages their nonprofit grants coordination experience and collaborates across the organization to ensure execution of grant deliverables, accurate spending against grant budgets, and compliance with funder requirements and applicable laws. The Coordinator brings a detail-oriented approach to managing competing priorities and deadlines, and works exceptionally well across cross-functional teams.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Grants & Contracts Coordinator is responsible for the day-to-day coordination and compliance of WITNESS’ institutional grants (including multi-year government contracts and private foundation grants) in a dynamic, collaborative, and mission-based environment.

Grants Oversight:

Review existing and incoming grant agreements for their programmatic and operational deliverables and financial requirements
Liaise among the Development, Program, and Finance teams to ensure cross-organizational compliance of grant requirements, including data collection and analysis for monitoring and evaluation of grant deliverables
Coordinate the life cycle of grants to stay abreast of deadlines, and lead regular cross-departmental meetings to check in on project progress and grant deliverables
Tag expenses to relevant grants and monitor appropriate spending against grant budgets
Support decision-making on grant expenses when and if grant budget adjustments need to be made, as appropriate and allowable within the grant framework and general conditions
Review budgets for prospective grants to ensure alignment with existing grant contracts
Draft and communicate best practices for operational grants compliance to relevant staff
Monitor and review timesheet allocations to grants to ensure compliance with funding requirements
Support Development team in managing ad hoc financial and programmatic requests from funders

PRINCIPAL RELATIONSHIPS

Associate Director – Philanthropy
Associate Director – Finance and Operations
Global Programs Director
Institutional Giving Manager
Accounting & Finance Manager
Institutional Giving Associate
Regional Program Team

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

Required skills and experience:

Educational or professional background and/or other experience that has built a robust understanding and skillset to fulfill the responsibilities of this position (Ideally minimum of 2-3 years of experience)
Exceptional ability to set priorities, coordinate projects, and exercise sound judgment
Experience with nonprofit grants coordination and budgeting best practices
Familiarity with budgets, including excel skills and data analysis
Ability to work independently, meet deadlines, and multi‐task
Strong orientation toward working as part of a fast-paced team
Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills
Detail-oriented approaches with keen analytical and organizational skills

Preferred skills and experience:

Experience with bilateral or multilateral funding agreements
Familiarity with Salesforce or other customer relationship management (CRM) system
Interest in human rights, media and/or technology for social change

Location:

This is a part-time, remote, contract position for a fixed term of six months with no benefits. Applicants from anywhere in the world will be considered. The successful candidate must have the legal right-to-work in the location in which they will be based. We are unable to sponsor visas or relocations for this role.

How to apply

To apply, send your cover letter, resume, and contact information for 3 references to erjobs@witness.org with the subject line “Grants & Contracts Coordinator ” [Your name]”.

Please include a cover letter. We are interested in hearing about what you’ve done, what you can do, and what you want to do at WITNESS.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Applications accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled; early applications encouraged. Please note that due to the volume anticipated, we will not be able to respond individually to each applicant. We kindly ask that you do not send duplicate applications via mail or email, and no phone calls.

WITNESS is an equal opportunity employer. People of all ages, races, ethnicities, national origins, religions, genders, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, and individuals protected by any other statuses under federal, state or local laws, including but not limited to, disability, marital, domestic partnership, familial, caregiver, transgender, military or veteran statuses, are encouraged to apply.

Thank you.

The position description is a guide to the critical duties and essential functions of the position, not an all-inclusive list of responsibilities, qualifications, physical demands and work environment conditions. Position descriptions are reviewed and revised to meet the changing needs of WITNESS at the sole discretion of the management.