Grant Writer

Grant Writer

Impact Justice advances safety, justice, and opportunity through boundary-breaking work that honors and empowers people and is changing expectations about what we can accomplish together. We imagine, build, and scale innovations, leverage research and other knowledge to connect the desire for change with informed action, and work to shift the narrative so that decision-makers and the public understand what's at stake and what's possible.

Our innovations portfolio includes a reentry housing program inspired by the sharing economy, an original AmeriCorps program for leaders impacted by the justice system, work to provide meaningful job training and fresh food access through vertical farms, efforts to improve menopause care and food in prisons, and much more.

You are a confident, fast grant writer with real proposal-writing experience — someone who doesn't need 100% of the information to start a strong draft. You write clear, persuasive language without inflating impact, and you know how to read an RFP or a funder's strategy and write toward genuine alignment. You're organized enough to run your own drafting timeline: sequencing input from program staff, building in review rounds, and tracking deadlines. You're not precious about your drafts, take feedback well, and you bring the confidence to ask questions or flag gaps even as you lean on program staff as the experts in their work. You're genuinely curious about criminal justice reform, and eager to build your writing and institutional fundraising skills.

That said, we know there are great candidates who may not think they fit into what we've described above or who have important skills we haven't thought of. If that is you, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself! We welcome all applicants, including formerly incarcerated individuals, those with family members that have been incarcerated, and persons with direct criminal or juvenile legal system experience.

The anticipated start date for this position is December 2026. You will report to the Director of Development. You'll be the owner of the organization's grants calendar and most writing for private and public funders. Your core responsibilities will be:

• Grant Writing – You will draft, edit, and submit the majority of Impact Justice's grant proposals, letters of intent, and concept notes to foundation and government funders. This means synthesizing program information into clear, funder-aligned narrative, meeting with program staff to gather what you need, and managing the internal review process to get the final language right.
• Grants Calendar Management – You will own and manage the organization's grants calendar. This involves tracking deadlines across 5+ program teams, sequencing your own drafting and review timeline, coordinating required materials, and flagging risks early.
• Stewardship Support – You will support grant reporting and institutional funder relationships on an as-needed basis.
• Prospect Research – You will research and surface new institutional funding opportunities — foundation grants, government RFPs, and other public funding — to keep the pipeline full. This involves using tools like Instrumentl, iWave, and Kindora, and evaluating fit against IJ's programs and priorities.
• Program Partnership – You will build working relationships with program teams to gather the information you need for proposals. This involves running your own check-ins once ramped up, asking clarifying questions, and balancing deference to program expertise with the confidence to flag gaps funders will notice.
• Systems & Process Improvement – You will help refine how the Development team manages proposal workflows and its language library. This involves maintaining and updating our library of proposal language and attachments, working thoughtfully with AI tools that align with the organization's AI policy, and bringing forward ideas to make the writing and review process more efficient over time.

Required Qualifications:

1. 1-3+ years of grant writing experience, including managing a real volume of proposals or a grants calendar (not just supporting one)
2. Exceptional, confident writing skills — able to draft clear, compelling, funder-aligned copy without needing complete information upfront
3. Strong organizational and project management skills — able to independently manage a drafting timeline across multiple concurrent proposals
4. Working knowledge of institutional fundraising practices (prospect research, proposal writing, funder relations) in a nonprofit environment
5. Demonstrated ability to work closely and collaboratively with subject-matter experts/program staff

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Experience working in criminal justice/legal system reform or broader social justice issue areas
2. Experience with CRMs, grants-management, and prospect research tools such as Bloomerang, Instrumentl, iWave, or Kindora
3. Experience building or reviewing program and grant budgets
4. Interest in building and refining development team systems and processes

Consistent with our compensation philosophy, our starting salaries are established to represent strong compensation in the marketplace and to maintain internal equity. The starting salary for this position is fixed at $75,927, with annual increases defined by the current collective bargaining agreement. This is a bargaining unit position with Impact Justice United represented by OPEIU International. The benefits that come with working at Impact Justice include medical, dental, and FSA plans, significant vacation and wellness leave, and immediate vesting in our 401K with a generous match. This is a full-time, salaried position.

The candidate should be located in either our Washington DC, Oakland, CA, or Los Angeles, CA offices, and will work under a hybrid schedule with at least two in-office days per week, plus additional days as required periodically for the role.

We ARE NOT considering remote staff for this position.

If this all sounds like a good fit for you, please include your resume and a cover letter explaining why you are particularly interested in the role and why we should be particularly interested in you! Please note that applications without cover letters may be rejected.

We will be reaching out to those candidates who apply by October 23rd.

Elements of the Impact Justice hiring process may include phone screen interviews, candidate exercises (written or presentations), Zoom interviews, in-person interviews, and reference checks. Candidates are welcome to ask for alternative arrangements in the process if needed (for example, conducting an interview via phone rather than Zoom), Impact Justice will do our best to accommodate reasonable requests. Please communicate any alternative arrangements requested to the hiring manager.

Impact Justice provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants without regard to race/ethnicity, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, age, criminal history, or disability.