WHAT DOES A GRANTS MANAGER DO?

Published: May 06, 2025 - The Grants Manager ensures compliance with financial regulations by monitoring grants and contracts, approving expenditures, and providing financial updates to Principal Investigators and sponsors. The role includes coordinating timely payroll changes, preparing financial projections, and reconciling budgets to support effective decision-making. This position involves proposal preparation, reviewing application requirements, and collaborating with various departments to ensure proper award management.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Grants Manager

1. Grants Manager Duties

  • Grant Research: Engage in ongoing research to identify potential grants that support the College’s mission and strategic initiatives.
  • Collaboration: Work with faculty and all campus departments in the application, monitoring, reporting, and closing processes required for grants.
  • Grant Management: Ensure that grants are managed and documented, and that required reporting objectives are met for awarding agencies.
  • System Tracking: Create and maintain a system for grants management to track records of all grant applications, deadlines, and awards.
  • Compliance Communication: Communicate compliance requirements to appropriate campus personnel in a timely manner.
  • Grant Submissions: Serve as the College’s clearinghouse and primary contact for grant submissions and awards, including third-party contracts.
  • Budget Compliance: Work closely with the Office of Business Services to ensure compliance with internal processes, various regulations, and budget law.
  • Training Oversight: Organize, conduct, and oversee campus training and educational materials/resources for employees related to grant application processes, compliance, and reporting.
  • Donor Stewardship: Collaborate with the Advancement team on stewardship processes to creatively recognize all giving-level donors in ways that reflect the UCC brand and mission.
  • Best Practices: Utilize and stay abreast of current concepts, techniques, technologies, and best practices.
  • Application Coordination: Plans, coordinates, and manages the functions and actions to ensure completion of various grant applications.
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Works closely with various groups including accounting and budget.
  • Technical Assistance: Provides technical assistance to grant applicants within the department.
  • Document Coordination: Prepares and coordinates the signature and distribution process for applications, notices, correspondence, and other pertinent documents.
  • Software Expertise: Acts as subject matter expert on ECivis (grants management software system) and training for DCS employees regarding grant applications.

2. Grants Manager Details

  • Grant Knowledge: Maintains knowledge of grant and resource opportunities and communicates with the department of authorized grants.
  • Monitoring System: Develops and maintains a monitoring system to track awarded grants and funding notices.
  • Budget Preparation: Prepares annual federal fund budget schedules and monthly status reports.
  • Liaison Management: Acts as a liaison between the Department, federal, state, and local government agencies and other granting agencies by monitoring progress.
  • Task Management: Performs other duties appropriate to the assignment.
  • Background Check: Successfully clear background and employment reference checks.
  • Logistics Support: Provide logistics, administrative and operations support to ensure the smooth functioning of Alliance initiatives.
  • Goal Understanding: Understand organizational goals and objectives, donor reporting requirements and fiscal sponsor policies and procedures.
  • Contract Preparation: Prepare contracts, memoranda of understanding, letters of agreement and other contractual documents for partners and vendors through Tides’ system.
  • Invoice Payment: Complete payment of invoices from consultants and vendors and ensure payments are charged to the appropriate accounts according to Tides’ policies and procedures.
  • Ledger Review: Review monthly general ledger entries and ensure expenses are charged to the appropriate accounts.
  • Financial Reporting: Prepare and coordinate financial reports with Tides, including monthly financial reports for the Director, quarterly financial reports for the Steering Committee, quarterly grant financial reports and year-end financial reports.
  • Grant Support: Support staff in diverse aspects of the administrative management of grants.
  • Finance Coordination: Responsible for the coordination of finance-related issues that pertain to the daily operation of PACT, CFSP and FSS.
  • Information Transfer: Coordinating the transfer of information between the programs and Kennedy Krieger’s Finance Department.

3. Grants Manager Responsibilities

  • Grant Coordination: Responsible for the coordination, submission, and tracking of grant proposals and renewals.
  • Proposal Preparation: Assisting with the preparation of materials, developing budgets, maintaining and communicating proposal deadlines, interpreting sponsor requirements, and serving as final review to ensure that proposals meet all university, school, and sponsor deadlines and requirements.
  • Sponsor Liaison: Serve as a resource for and liaise with sponsors, the Office for Sponsored Programs (OSP), and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Research Administration Services (FAS RAS) on behalf of PIs, researchers, and administrators on pre-proposal inquiries and grant proposals.
  • Sponsor Communication: Respond to sponsor requests for reports, financial statements, and other inquiries.
  • Infrastructure Management: Responsible for creating and maintaining infrastructure to sustain a growing portfolio of sponsored research work.
  • Expenditure Approval: Responsible for reviewing and approving grant-related expenditures.
  • Grant Monitoring: Monitors grants and contracts on a regular basis to ensure expenses are paid in accordance with contract and government regulations within budgetary limits and timelines.
  • Vendor Management: Manages all subcontracts and vendors.
  • Award Compliance: Responsible for interpreting, keeping up-to-date on, and being the source of information on award terms and conditions as well as serving as a resource to the rest of the staff on University (especially OSP and FAS RAS) financial and administrative policies pertaining to sponsored awards.
  • Financial Forecasting: Provides budget reconciliation and financial forecasts, providing accurate financial analyses on expenditures and revenue to PIs and relevant staff.
  • Funding Notification: Responsible for notifying relevant staff or PIs of funding shortfalls or under-spending, and recommending contingency plans or options that take into account university policies and award terms.
  • Effort Reporting: Responsible for ensuring compliance with effort reporting.
  • Transactional Work: Responsible for all transactional work (e.g. requests for no cost extensions, part of accounts, cost sharing, etc.) related to sponsored research management.
  • Payroll Processing: Processes journals, submits payroll and other changes for faculty and staff.

4. Grants Manager Job Summary

  • Subrecipient Oversight: Maintaining close subrecipient oversight, ongoing monitoring of special terms and conditions.
  • Financial Reporting: Preparing financial updates/reports (including ad hoc reports) for Principal Investigators, sponsors, and the Office for Research Operations and Global Programs and data analysis to present for use in planning and decision-making.
  • Grant Monitoring: Daily monitoring of grants and contracts for Principal Investigator(s) to ensure expenses are paid according to contract and government regulations within the budget limit and timelines.
  • Expenditure Approval: Authorizing payments and approving expenditures including vendor invoices, individual reimbursements, and other accounts payable and receivables up to $25K and oversee the billing of subcontracts.
  • Effort Reporting: Maintaining accounting records and coordinating timely effort reporting.
  • Payroll Submission: Submission of timely payroll changes for faculty and staff.
  • Budget Reconciliation: Monthly budget and expenditure project reconciliation, interpreting and applying financial and compliance-related policies.
  • Financial Projections: Preparing financial projections by reviewing current financial status, forecasting future financial scenarios and suggesting alternative spending plans.
  • Funding Notification: Notifies PI's about any funding shortfalls and plan for contingencies.
  • Pre-award Preparation: Pre-award responsibilities include proposal and budget preparation (in support of faculty and other project leads).
  • Application Review: Reviews and completes pre-award application requirements and submission.
  • Account Management: Reviews options for account set-up and makes recommendations to ORA, in order to appropriately manage new awards in accordance with sponsor requirements.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Interaction with the HMS Office of Research of Administration and Office of Technology Development (OTD) on industry-sponsored research agreements as well as OSP to ensure compliance with HMS, University, and sponsor regulations.

5. Grants Manager Accountabilities

  • Budget Preparation: Initiate the preparation of an annual PACT, FSS and CFSP budget.
  • Grant Budgeting: Prepare budgets and financial attachments for new grant and funding proposals for PACT, CFSP and FSS.
  • Grant Assistance: Assist with Kennedy Krieger’s clinical department grants.
  • Grant Management: Set up and maintain grant files for pending and awarded grants for PACT, CFSP and FSS.
  • Budget Allocation: Allocate the budget in accordance with grant award.
  • Grant Monitoring: Monitor grants and make recommendations for proper adjustments to the Department Directors.
  • Journal Entries: Prepare journal entries to close grants and reconcile accounts.
  • Check Processing: Process check requisitions for PACT programs.
  • Credit Reconciliation: Reconcile credit card payments and submit for payment.
  • Account Management: Prepare deposits, monitor accounts receivable, distribute petty cash, and process PCN’s and annual merit increases for PACT, CFSP and FSS.
  • Productivity Analysis: Prepare weekly productivity analysis for World of Care, CFSP and FSS.
  • Budget Analysis: Prepare monthly analysis of budget to actual revenue and expenses for PACT, CFSP and FSS.
  • Director Meetings: Meet with department directors monthly to review results.
  • Quarterly Review: Participate in quarterly meeting with Executive Director, Financial Manager, and Directors to review quarterly results.
  • Statistical Analysis: Prepare quarterly statistical trend analysis of PACT, CFSP and FSS to include the number of patients, number of new patients, number of visits, payor mix, catchment area, no shows and other pertinent statistical information.
Relevant Information
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