Grants Writer / Fundraising Specialist (Freelancer/Part-Timer)

About the Nonprofit

Obsalytics is a social enterprise incorporated under the Canadian Not-for-profit Corporations Act in 2020. Through its products and services, Obsalytics aims to achieve the following three main goals:

• Inform the public, private, and non-profit sectors on sanctioned and politically exposed persons involved in rebuilding war-torn regions
• Empower refugees and displaced persons to pursue their rights and access justice in local and universal jurisdictions using data and knowledge
• Support political and social change by promoting transparency and accountability of prominent entities across all sectors of society

We released our product in Arabic: Observatory of Political and Economic Networks – Syria (OPEN) that maps Middle East actors (now Syria, soon Iraq and Egypt) and the intertwined relations between business elites and power centers, including political, security, and military centers. We connect the dots and follow the money and influence networks over time to understand the regional ecosystem; its entities and formal/informal relationships, by tapping into publicly available data sources. We leverage the same advanced tools used by ICIJ (e.g. Panama and Pandora Papers) besides other tools we developed.

Context/Area

Middle East, Syria, Iraq

Job Overview

The Grants Writer will research the public and private funding opportunities for Obsalytics through prospecting, prioritizing, review funding criteria, proposal writing, grants management and reporting. The Grants Writer is responsible for performing the pre-award activities required to prepare and submit grant proposals to public and private foundations mainly in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. The Grant Writer will work closely with Obsalytics team who could share insights and make introductions in few cases.

Major Responsibilities:

Pre-Award Grants Management (represents ~100% of time)

After understanding Obsalytics objectives, products, and strategic plans, the Grant Writer will search and analyze funding opportunities from international and local foundations, organizations, and philanthropists aligned with our program areas and projects.

The Grant Writer is responsible for filling all grant proposals forms, preparing required documents (including financial plans), and submitting the applications. This includes managing a repository of supporting documents in order to process/submit to prospective funders during the grant writing process.

The grant Writer might be required to oversee translation freelancers in case any grant translation is needed. Moreover, the writer is responsible for maintaining copies of submitted applications, contract, and files for each grant while following consistent documentation standards.

The Grant Writer will be involved in group brain-storming sessions that facilitate the grant proposals writing (e.g. listing grant-specific goals and deliverables).

The Grant Writer will contribute to grants management tracker, grants calendar, donor tracking system, and continuously update Obsalytics team with weekly reports. Also in some cases, attend info calls to better understand the donors’ focus and goals to align our proposals to them.

Job Requirements:

• Degree in journalism, media, PR, English or a related field or comparable work experience.
• Certification in grant writing, proposal development and fundraising is a plus.
• 3+ years of professional experience in grant writing/fundraising is preferred.
• Excellent writing, research, communication, and organizational skills.
• Proven record of composing successful grant proposals to public and private foundations especially dealing with the Middle East challenges
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, Outlook.
• Advanced skills in written and spoken English. Ability to speak/read Arabic is a plus.
• Strong attention to detail