SR. GRANTS WRITER

JOB SUMMARY:

CARE USA is seeking a Senior Grant Writer to join the Content Development team and serve as a critical driver of the organization’s institutional and major gifts fundraising engine. This role is responsible for the strategic development, writing, and cross-functional coordination of grant reports — up to 500 annually — spanning corporate partners, institutional funders, and major and principal gift donors.

The Senior Grant Writer will translate complex, technical program data into clear, compelling, donor-ready narratives that build trust, demonstrate impact, and inspire continued investment in CARE’s mission to save lives and defeat poverty. This is a high-volume, deadline-driven role that requires exceptional organizational rigor, strong cross-functional relationship management, and the ability to balance creative storytelling with technical precision — ensuring every report is accurate, on-brand, and donor-centric.

The Senior Grant Writer will also serve as CARE USA’s functional lead for grant-reporting quality, establishing reporting standards and providing authoritative guidance to fundraising, program, finance, and country-office stakeholders. The position will exercise final editorial judgment over complex and high-risk reports, resolve significant reporting issues, and recommend improvements that strengthen donor stewardship, compliance, and continued investment.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Grant Report Development & Writing

• Lead the development and finalization of CARE’s most complex, high-value, or high-risk grant reports, determining the appropriate narrative strategy, evidence, and donor messaging.
• Exercise final editorial authority for assigned reports, resolving conflicting or incomplete programmatic and financial information and determining whether deliverables meet CARE’s technical, quality, and donor-readiness standards.
• Establish and maintain grant-reporting standards, templates, and quality-control practices to ensure consistency, accuracy, and donor focus across fundraising portfolios
• Write, edit, and finalize up to 500 grant reports annually for corporate, institutional, and major/principal gift donors, ensuring each is accurate, concise, and compelling.
• Translate technical program, MEL (monitoring, evaluation, and learning), and financial data into donor-friendly narratives that communicate impact clearly without sacrificing accuracy.
• Balance creative and technical writing skills so every report feels fresh and tailored to the donor relationship — not formulaic or repetitive.
• Ensure every report clearly answers the donor’s core questions: What did their funding accomplish? How were funds used? What lives were changed, and how?

Cross-Functional Coordination & Tracking

• Establish reporting priorities based on donor significance, complexity, deadline risk, and organizational commitments, and direct the cross-functional actions required to deliver reports successfully.
• Serve as the senior technical resource for grant reporting, advising relationship managers, program teams, finance colleagues, and country offices on donor requirements, narrative strategy, reporting quality, and risk resolution.
• Identify significant reporting, compliance, or donor-relationship risks; require corrective action when necessary; and escalate material concerns to fundraising leadership with recommendations.
• Analyze recurring reporting challenges and donor feedback and recommend improvements to CARE’s reporting systems, standards, and organizational practices.
• Build and maintain a comprehensive tracking system for all grant reporting deadlines, ensuring on-time delivery across corporate partnerships, institutional funding, and major/principal gifts portfolios.
• Partner closely with the Research & Development team, Corporate Partnerships, Institutional Funding, and Major/Principal Gifts officers to gather programmatic updates, financial data, and donor-specific requirements.
• Coordinate with program teams and country offices to source accurate, current content and impact data.
• Serve as the central point of accountability for report status, proactively flagging risks and bottlenecks.

Agency & Vendor Management

• Establish agency performance and quality standards, determine the allocation of overflow assignments, and hold the agency accountable for meeting CARE’s technical, editorial, budget, and delivery expectations.
• Manage the relationship with CARE’s outside grant-writing agency partner, directing overflow report writing as volume requires.
• Track and manage the agency budget, ensuring spend aligns with scope and forecast.
• Lead regular check-in meetings with the agency lead to review workload, quality, timelines, and deliverables.
• Review and edit agency-produced reports to ensure consistency with CARE’s voice, brand, and quality standards.