Development Operations & Grants Specialist

TLC Operations • Raleigh, NC

5h • Hybrid

About The Position

TLC (founded as Tammy Lynn Center) is a non-profit based in Raleigh, NC, providing services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. TLC is seeking a highly organized, detail-oriented Development Operations & Grants Specialist to support the Strategic Impact & Outreach (SI&O) team’s fundraising, grants, donor stewardship, and appeals operations. The person in this role will manage the moving pieces of TLC’s grants process, help lead the operations of TLC’s annual mailing appeal, manage donor acknowledgments, and ensure donor actions and interactions are accurately tracked in the donor database. They will work closely with the Director of SI&O, the PR team, finance staff, program experts, and other SI&O teammates. While not exclusively a grant-writing role, this position does involve guiding the development of high-quality funding proposals, reports, and materials. The ideal candidate naturally brings order to complexity and is energized by timelines, details, follow-up, clean systems, and helping a team stay on track. While not expected to be the organization’s primary grant writer, they should possess strong writing, editing, and project management skills, with the ability to guide the development of high-quality funding proposals, reports, and materials. The ideal candidate should be a clear communicator who is comfortable working across departments, asking for information, tracking down missing pieces, and making sure nothing falls through the cracks. This person understands that timely acknowledgments, accurate donor records, and thoughtful follow-up are central to strong donor relationships. This role is a strong fit for someone who enjoys bringing structure to meaningful work and helping a mission-driven team follow through with care, accuracy, and consistency. Above all, they are energized by teamwork and ready to help wherever needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education, certification, and experience
• 3+ years of nonprofit, fundraising, grants, project management, development operations, or donor stewardship experience.
• Growth-minded, team player, comfortable working with people of diverse backgrounds.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with excellent attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to gather and synthesize information from multiple people and departments.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines and competing priorities.
• Comfort working with donor databases, spreadsheets, tracking tools, or similar systems.
• Ability to handle confidential donor and organizational information with discretion.
• Collaborative work style and ability to follow up with colleagues in a clear, respectful, and persistent way.
• Commitment to TLC’s mission and core values.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with grants coordination or grant reporting.
• Experience with annual appeals or other fundraising appeals.
• Experience with Raiser’s Edge NXT or a comparable donor database.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365.

Responsibilities

• Manage the grants calendar, deadlines, proposal requirements, and reporting timelines.
• Coordinate with program staff, finance, leadership, and other internal experts to gather needed grant and report information.
• Compile, draft, edit, and submit grant proposals, reports, updates, and letters of inquiry in partnership with the SI&O Director.
• Schedule and facilitate grant kick-off meetings, internal check-ins, and follow-up conversations.
• Track post-award requirements, including reporting deadlines, stewardship needs, and program or finance deliverables.
• Help find new grant opportunities and improve grant systems, templates, workflows, and internal processes over time.
• Build and manage the annual appeal timeline, task list, and internal workflow.
• Coordinate mailing logistics, donor lists, segmentation, review timelines, and follow-ups.
• Partner with the SI&O Director and PR team to align direct mail, social media, digital communications, and appeal messaging.
• Assign and track related donor call outreach or follow-up actions for staff, leadership, volunteers, or board members as needed.
• Support post-appeal reporting, stewardship, and process improvements.
• Prepare and send donor acknowledgment letters by mail or email, maintaining templates for different events, appeals, gift types, and donor needs.
• Coordinate with the teammate responsible for gift entry to ensure gifts are acknowledged accurately and promptly.
• Track donor stewardship actions, call notes, preferences, and follow-up needs in the donor database.
• Write donor cards, notes, and other stewardship communications as needed.
• Identify donors who may need personalized follow-up from the SI&O Director, CEO, board members, volunteers, or fundraisers.
• Ensure donor actions, interactions, opportunities, notes, and stewardship activity are entered consistently, and maintain accurate donor, funder, volunteer, and partner records.
• Support regular database clean-up, including duplicate review, missing information, and incomplete action tracking.
• Assist with list pulls for appeals, donor outreach, invitations, stewardship, and reporting.
• Coordinate closely with the team member responsible for gift inputting and finance coding.
• Maintain project plans, checklists, templates, tracking tools, and standard operating procedures.
• Provide regular updates to the SI&O Director on grants, appeals, acknowledgments, database activity, and outstanding follow-up.
• Help document and improve team processes, and support fundraising events, volunteer engagement, and other SI&O activities as needed.

Benefits

• Health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
• Retirement savings: 403(b)
• Paid time off: PTO, sick time, and personal leave
• Supplemental coverage: hospital indemnity, accident, and critical illness insurance
• Pre-tax accounts: flexible spending and dependent care spending accounts
• Employer-paid coverage: short-term and long-term disability

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level