Job Description | August 2026
The Organization
Girl Scouts River Valleys (GSRV) serves over 13,000 girls across southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and surrounding communities, supported by thousands of volunteers who deliver the Girl Scout Leadership Experience every day. We are one of 111 councils nationwide, united by a shared mission: building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place.
We believe all girls belong here. That belief is embedded in how we operate, how we hire, and how we lead. Our work is grounded in five core values that are not aspirational, they are our standard:
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Be Joyful
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Be Willing to Work Through It
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You Can Count on Me
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Community First
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Girls Are at the Center of Everything We Do
GSRV operates within the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) - aligning staff through clear accountability, scorecards, Rocks, and weekly L-10 meetings.
Position Information
Position Title: Grant Writer
Job Code: GRW
Reports To: Senior Development Manager
Department: Development
FLSA Status: Non-exempt, Part-time
Salary Grade: 6
Last Updated: August 2026
Hiring Range: $30.00-$35.00 per hour
About This Role
Fueling girls’ futures through grants.
The position of Grant Writer at GSRV is integral to successful fundraising, particularly in identifying, cultivating, and securing funding from foundations and corporations. The Grant Writer is constantly identifying current and new relationships with foundations and corporations, quickly assessing GSRV’s qualifications, working with program leaders, and writing grant proposals to support GSRV and program priorities. The Grant Writer will utilize an innovative way of communicating GSRV’s stories and aligning these stories with funding priorities from foundations and corporations. At times, the Grant Writer will build relationships and meet with grant officers to understand their priorities so that the GSRV’s stories can be articulated in funding proposals.
This position requires strong organization, reliability, and a willingness to learn. While it does not have direct people management responsibilities, it has a high impact on outcomes, relationships, and the experience of girls, volunteers, and partners.
Essential Functions
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Serves as the lead grant writer for GSRV as it relates to all foundation and corporation grants – includes writing and gathering organizational documents and reports for submission.
- Researches and identifies potential funders and aligns their priorities with GSRV programs and services.
- Develops and maintains tracking sheets of all local and federal funders who support GSRV’s work.
- Creates grant proposal submission strategies and presents to leadership for approval before submission.
- Partners with program staff to understand program priorities to articulate grant proposals.
- Communicates all grant outcomes with program staff to ensure outcomes are met.
- Supports all annual grant reports.
- Oversees post-award grant management and delegates grant outcome responsibilities to appropriate departments (programming, finance, compliance, etc.)
- Partners with other development team members on grant submission and award communication.
- Enters all awards into Raiser’s Edge and continuously tracks reporting progress.
- Collaborates with the finance team on all financial and accounting reports and obligations.
- May have to submit up to 30+ grant applications annually.
- Support GSRV’s fundraising initiatives to increase funds annually.
Additional Duties and Responsibilities
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Collaborate with colleagues across the council, GSUSA staff, and colleagues from other councils.
- Actively participate in all-staff meetings, staff in-service training, and other meetings.
- When representing the council to both internal and external audiences, articulate GSRV’s desired image and position to all audiences.
- Actively support the council’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, access, racial justice, and anti-racism. Conduct all activities with a high degree of cultural competency.
- Contribute to building a cohesive, flexible, and productive staff environment that demonstrates the values and mission of Girl Scouts and delivers high-quality customer service.
- Subscribe to the principles of the Girl Scout Movement
What You Bring
Required
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Minimum 5+ years of grant writing experience, with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Must be able to work independently, manage multiple grant projects, and maintain a high degree of professionalism and confidentiality.
- Ability to interpret and utilize data to tell stories, including the ability to appropriately cite data sources.
- Ability to tell compelling stories and align stories to funders' expectations.
- Demonstrated experience using a CRM. Experience using Raiser’s Edge NXT is a plus.
- Excellent technical computer skills in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
- Excel knowledge including how to create tables, insert basic functions, perform basic analysis, and create reports.
- Comfortable working on remote servers, navigating cloud environments, and navigating multiple data applications at the same time.
- Ability to independently create measures to ensure data integrity and manage a multi-step workflow.
- A self-starter who can work independently with minimal oversight and takes initiative; is flexible, adaptable, self-manager, organized, and has a strong attention to detail; thrives in an ever-changing/fast-paced environment.
- Proven communication skills, including written, in person, and over the phone; demonstrated ability to work with a wide range of sensitive and confidential issues; and communicates effectively with a diverse group of girls, volunteers, and staff.
- Ability to work a flexible schedule, including some evenings and weekends as required by position responsibilities.
Preferred
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Experience in a nonprofit, youth-serving, or community-focused organization
Competencies
These competencies define what exceptional leadership looks like at GSRV. Performance is evaluated against each competency during regular reviews. They are not categories — they are a commitment to how we lead.
Competency
What This Looks Like in Practice
Competency 1
Team Engagement
Each employee plays an integral part in the overall success of their team and our organization. Employee demonstrates the practices of having courageous, clear, friendly, and productive conversations with co-workers, leaders, youth, families, and community members. Demonstrates the value to team building and contributing to the team; understanding that strong teams enable success of Girl Scouts River Valleys. This engagement is translated into positive and respectful team and organizational dynamics, which fosters a positive work culture. At GSRV, all team members are expected to contribute to building a respectful work environment.
Competency 2
Communication & Accountability
Employee is able to effectively communicate with others in multiple ways to be successful in completing work and tasks. Employee can articulate thoughts and expresses ideas to others providing valuable and timely information. Listening with the goal of understanding within the team, the organization, and the community. The employee is driven to accomplish outcomes, deliverables, and communicates proactively about impacts to deadlines or work. The employee is open and clear when receiving and providing feedback, using it to grow and improve. Employees understand that different groups we work with communicate differently so using those ways of communicating that are most relevant.
Competency 3
Professional Growth
Employees utilize multiple pathways to support growth at GSRV. Employees actively participate in training provided by GSRV and available external opportunities. The employee seeks growth pathways through ongoing education, volunteering/participating on committees, taking on additional responsibilities beyond current roles, attending community events, leading, and designing training, learning, and adapting to feedback, and/or attending conferences and training sessions. Shows enthusiasm for learning and growing in a diversity of ways. Eagerness to apply knowledge gained in their work and the organization.
Competency 4
Innovation Leading Impact
The employee contributes ideas and solutions to improve work strategies showing willingness to take thoughtful risks and fail-forward, creating new and improved ways of doing things. The employee includes key people in the development and implementation of innovations ensuring success and transforming our work in new and impactful ways. The employee utilizes data and cultural knowledge to accomplish work in alignment with organizational strategies.
Competency 5
Equity-Focused
Incorporates GSRV’s equity framework and anti-racism guidance document into their work, decisions, and actions. The employee actively participates in organizational and self-directed learning and/or committees and shows the impact of the learning in their work. The employee utilizes the framework and guidance document as a lens to guide their work and to reach the strategic goals for the organization. The employee demonstrates the ability to build and maintain positive diverse relationships with co-workers, leaders, volunteers, members, and the community. The employee takes ownership of mistakes and seeks support turning mistakes into learning opportunities.
Competency 6
Work Performance
Employee is proactive in working to understand the goals, roles, and responsibilities of their current position based on their job description and their managers guidance. The employee works with their manager to meet outcomes staying current and updating manager as determined. When the employee falls short on goals, they can regroup, re-strategize, and plan for success. The employee acts as a problem-solver, bringing solutions forward not focusing on blame. Overall, if goals are not being met, there are strategies put in place to support outcomes. The employee demonstrates awareness that things do not always go as intended, they show that they can shift strategies while keeping in communication strong and being flexible for new goals or work.
Working Conditions
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
This role operates across office environments, community settings, donor meetings, and external events. Must be able to travel regularly throughout the GSRV service area (southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and surrounding region). The employee is frequently required to speak, present, read, and use a computer. Occasional lifting of up to 50 pounds. Noise levels may vary by location.
Disclaimer
This job description is designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed within this role. It is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required. Management retains the right to assign or reassign schedules, duties, and responsibilities at any time.
