Grants Specialist II - UPMC Washington's Foundation

UPMC•Washington, PA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Join our dedicated Foundation team and play a key role in advancing our mission to improve patient care, expand community programs, and support innovative healthcare initiatives. As a Grant Specialist II, you will help secure critical funding by managing the full lifecycle of grant opportunities—from research and proposal development to compliance and reporting. This role is ideal for a detail‑driven professional who thrives in a collaborative environment and is passionate about making a meaningful impact within a healthcare organization.

Requirements

Bachelors degree in communications, nonprofit management, public health, or related field or equivalent combination of training and experience.
Minimum 5 years in grantmaking, grant writing, grants management, or nonprofit program management; experience building authentic relationships across diverse communities strongly preferred.
Familiarity with grants management systems (Foundant preferred); strong data stewardship and systems improvement skills.
Excellent writing, facilitation, and relationship building abilities; clear, accessible, and empathetic communicator.
Strong organizational skills; ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines with attention to detail.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite; comfort with Excel and dashboarding; ability to translate data into meaningful insights for diverse audiences.
Understanding of the nonprofit sector, social determinants of health, and health equity initiatives is a plus.
Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and trust based philanthropy; cultural humility; responsiveness; and continuous learning.
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Responsibilities

Serve as a supportive first point of contact for applicants and grantees providing timely, transparent guidance and clear expectations throughout the grant lifecycle.
Simplify and right size application and reporting requirements (e.g., accept existing reports, offer flexible formats like brief narratives or interviews, minimize duplicative data collection, provide plain language templates, and ensure language accessibility).
Proactively share decision criteria and timelines, offering constructive feedback to applicants and grantees; facilitate Q&A sessions and office hours to enhance clarity and access.
Reduce administrative burden by doing the homework (gathering publicly available information) and streamlining due diligence practices in partnership with Finance, consistent with legal and policy requirements.
Coordinate equitable and inclusive review processes, including standardized evaluation, bias aware practices, and participation of community advisors when appropriate.
Support timely awards and payments, tracking cycle times and removing bottlenecks; communicate proactively about status and next steps.
Collaborate on compelling, community informed proposals that align with the Foundations strategic priorities and community health needs; ensure narratives avoid extractive storytelling and reflect strengths based framing.
Research and maintain a balanced pipeline of local and national funding opportunities; prepare concise briefings for leadership and Board committees.
Coordinate cross-functional and interdisciplinary proposal development and submission timelines, ensuring internal alignment, timely reviews, and consistent, accessible documentation.
Maintain and optimize the Foundant CommunitySuite (CSuite) and Grant Lifecycle Manager (GLM) with a focus on accessibility and ease of use; configure workflows to eliminate redundant steps and automate routine tasks.
Build simple, equity centered dashboards to track key indicators (e.g., application cycle times, reporting burden, geographic reach, populations served, social determinants of health focus areas).