Grants Management and Executive Assistant, Chesapeake

Position Overview
The Grants Management and Executive Assistant provides administrative and grants management support for the Foundation’s Chesapeake office and staff, primarily Kenneth Turner, the Program Director, Community Engagement; Julie Hester, the Program Director, Watershed Advocacy, and Alex Echols, the Program Strategist, Agriculture.

The successful candidate has a passion for being helpful and supportive, with a natural inclination to anticipate the needs of others, whether that be Chesapeake staff or grantees. They are capable of managing up and assuring that the staff have all the information in place that they need for projects. They are supremely organized and continuously seek to refine their own systems.

They have the ability to focus on minute details while balancing and instinctively prioritizing tasks. They are meticulous, a talented planner, and are able to consistently forecast three to six months out, maybe even a year.

The candidate is good at taking direction and following current procedures, but also willing to make suggestions for improvement in any area. They are not afraid to ask for help or clarification, and can also integrate feedback, even at a rapid pace. The candidate will have proven skills maintaining confidentiality and being discreet. Familiarity with grants terminology, grantmaking scenarios and due diligence is a plus.

Signs that you may be the right candidate include: you get a feeling of great satisfaction when you balance an account, have a specific way you like to set up file naming conventions, love it when formatting is immaculately consistent, are notoriously punctual, and/or think data cleanup is actually fun.

While some candidates with experience in support roles may have been treated as “just an assistant” by other employers, the opposite is true at The Campbell Foundation. We have the utmost respect for those in support roles and have a deep understanding of how their contributions keep all systems running smoothly and efficiently. Our high volume and rapid-paced grants portfolio absolutely depends on the support staff, and we strive to listen with sensitivity as issues arise. Senior leadership at the Foundation have decades of experience in support roles themselves.

There are tools in place that will help this candidate be successful, including:

• A collection of well-developed systems to manage the operations of the Foundation
• Regular and frequent meetings with the Program Directors and other team members
• A thorough onboarding/training process
• A first-six-months, and then annual, employee review
• Professional development and mentoring opportunities

As you consider if this role is right for you, keep in mind that the Foundation is happy to consider candidates who may not meet all the listed requirements, as well as candidates who are at various stages of their career or come from other industries or fields. We are most interested in candidates whose values align with the Foundation and who have diverse backgrounds that would contribute meaningfully to our work.

Position Type
Administrative

Reports To
Program Director, Community Engagement and Program Director, Watershed Advocacy

Location
Annapolis, MD, with frequent opportunity to work remotely

Compensation
$79,000

Estimated Start Date
March 9, 2026

FTE Status/Hours per week
Full-time, 40 hours per week, Non-exempt

Benefits
The Campbell Foundation offers exceptional benefits, including medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account with employer contribution, 403(b) retirement plan, generous paid leave, matching gifts, tuition assistance, and wellness reimbursement.

Process
The hiring process for this candidate will include:

• A questionnaire/video submission
• Skills assessment*
• Interview with the Program Director, Community Engagement or the Program Director, Watershed Advocacy*
• Reference and background/credit check

*If candidates advance to these stages, they will be compensated at a standard rate of $20 per hour for time spent on submitting materials and participating in hiring process requirements.

Travel
Infrequent, only as needed for conferences or staff events

 

Job Duties, Roles, and Responsibilities

Grants Management, Chesapeake

• Use the grants management system to:
  • Send out invitations to grantees to submit materials
  • Manage the grants agendas to assure timely and complete submission of all grant materials
  • Process and distribute all incoming grant materials for Chesapeake program staff
  • Prepare grants dockets for Foundation President’s approval
  • Process approved grants, to include generating and distributing grant agreements and reporting guidelines, managing payment preference forms, and all other associated tasks in the grant cycle
  • Create and maintain placeholders for future grants
• Lead capacity building grant program, including grant review, for Chesapeake Office. This includes Tech Capacity Building, DEIJ, Professional Development and other RFP grants.
• Serve as lead on all Chesapeake Event Sponsorship grant materials, including collecting and tracking information about tax deductibility
• On an annual basis, draft a Chesapeake grants budget and assist the Chesapeake team in presenting the budget
• Develop an understanding of current relationships with grantees and manage ongoing grantee communications regarding grants processing (e.g. responding to grantee questions)
• Serve as a grantee primary and/or supporting point of contact, at the direction of the Program Director
• Provide grantee technical support for Chesapeake grantees, in collaboration with Tech Specialist
• Participate in weekly Operations Team meetings to collaborate on improving the grantmaking and grant seeking process and associated technology
• Participate in quality assurance testing for the grants management and other systems
• Assist with documenting grant-related and other technical instructions

Administrative/Operations

• Provide, as needed, executive administrative support to Chesapeake staff
  • Compile expense reports, wellness reimbursements, matching gifts, pre-expense approvals and other documents
  • Update and track work plans for yourself and Program Directors
  • Draft communications, 1:1 agendas, and follow-up on action items related to internal meetings
  • Ensure completion of tasks assigned during weekly Staff Bulletins
  • Monitor grantee newsletters related to events and significant organizational updates
  • Manage travel, calendar scheduling, and email response/organization support as needed for Program staff
  • Assist with in-person and virtual event planning

• General Office Management
  • Organize and coordinate office operations, procedures, and resources to facilitate Foundation effectiveness and efficiency
  • Support in-house meetings
  • Coordinate logistics for special events
  • Supervise office repairs/renovations/maintenance, including indoor plants
  • Order all office supplies as needed
  • Distribute or unsubscribe to hard copy mailings
  • Serve as the primary and first point of contact for the Chesapeake Office
  • Track office fixed assets
  • Maintain office Disaster Management Plan and Kits

Background/Experience (Preferred)

• Bachelor’s degree
• Six or more years of experience in an administrative support role for an executive within a dynamic organization, preferably one that interacts with many external partners/customers
• Five or more years of applicable grant administration experience

Technical Skills (Preferred)

• Able to function well in a paperless environment
• Mac/iOS fluency
• Strong experience and comfort learning and using a wide variety of software, including, for example:
  • Salesforce or other database/CRM software
  • Microsoft Office Suite for Mac, with emphasis on Outlook
  • Zoom
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro
  • Adobe Sign
  • Expensify
  • SmartSheet
  • Tech Smith Capture

Abilities (Preferred)

• Comfort communicating with partners and troubleshooting problems and concerns
• Actively manages competing priorities to balance responsibilities and complete assignments in a timely fashion
• Works with minimal supervision and a strong desire to independently problem-solve
• Thoroughly understands the office systems and operational requirements and confidently anticipates, identifies, and addresses issues to keep the office running smoothly
• Organized and demonstrates keen attention to detail in a highly dynamic environment
• Consistently sees tasks through to completion while handling multiple issues at any one time
• Demonstrates commitment to the Foundation’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policy
• Responsive, concise communication style
• Operates within the Foundation as a confident team member and projects a respectful, constructive, conscientious image on behalf of the Foundation
• Integrates feedback into ongoing performance
• Solid skills and interest in researching topics, working with Customer Relationship Management systems and collecting and synthesizing quantitative and qualitative information