Background
The African Climate Foundation (ACF) is the first and only African-led climate change re-granting organisation on the continent. Through a combination of grant making, fellowships, transformational research, technical assistance, coalition building and advocacy the ACF seeks to support interventions at the nexus of climate change, and development that have the greatest potential to deliver long-term socio-economic transformation and inclusive development. ACF also provides Fiscal Hosting (also called Fiscal Sponsorship) services to support emerging and mission aligned organisations and initiatives.
Purpose
The Grants Associate is a member of the Grants team, supporting and coordinating grants and contracts administration processes with a focus on compliance and data management. Reporting to the Senior Grants Manager, the Grants Associate ensures effective grant management processes and a high level of compliance and organisation for the ACF’s re-granting processes.
Responsibilities include but not limited to:
Grant application process
- Participate and contribute to the continuous improvement of the ACF grant application process and grants cycles.
- Produce high-quality minutes and trackers of the proposal review meetings decisions.
- Send invitations for application via the grants management system to applicants approved for full application at the proposal review meeting.
- Assist applicants to effectively access the online application process to complete and submit the application. Import received applications into the grants management system.
- Conduct initial review of the applications to ensure all the required documents have been submitted and due diligence requirements met.
- Follow up with applicants to address any due diligence or budget review comments.
- Notify the relevant internal stakeholders for the next steps of the application review process.
Progress Reports
- Coordinates and monitors completion of grant processes, in accordance with defined requirements.
- Ensure internal approvals of all progress reports, deliverables and any related payments.
- Follow up with partners to address any progress report review comments.
- Communicate agreement amendment requirements and follow up for required documentation and approvals to facilitate amendment.
- Ensure all grant requirements have been met and get final confirmation to send out close-out letters for grants and requests that are closed in the system.
Grants compliance
- Ensure ongoing compliance by maintaining the grants management system and associated filing is kept up to date according to protocols.
- Monitoring and tracking of all progress reports for active grants, consultancies and approved no-cost extensions.
- Maintain and update progress report schedules and due dates within the grants management system.
- Notify grantees of reporting due dates, disseminate reports to the relevant internal stakeholders for review and keep the record of reports received up to date.
- Ensure application and due diligence documentation received are in accordance and in compliance with required standards.
Financial Management
- Support the timely and accurate processing of all approved grants, consultancies, Service providers and sponsorships payments.
- Monitor and track grantee, consultant, Service provider and sponsorship payments.
- Communicate payment schedules internally.
- Capture proof of payments in grants management system and send out the proof of payments to partners as soon as they are available.
- Ensure accurate record-keeping of proof of payment for all grants, consultancies and sponsorships to support financial assurance and audit readiness.
- Support Finance with annual audit preparation and provide information to auditors as required.
Knowledge management/ Grants Management System
- With other Grants Associates, ensure grant- related folders are up to date and in line with ACF’s knowledge management protocols.
- With other Grants Associates, ensure and maintain the accurate capture of reporting schedules, payment date for grant tranches within the grants management system.
- Maintain complete, up-to-date, and consistent grant records across ACF’s systems (including GivingData, SharePoint and Teams), ensuring data integrity and audit readiness.
- Serve as Super-User for the ACF Grants Management System (GivingData), troubleshooting support, and continuous improvement recommendations.
- With the Grants Manager, coordinate system user onboarding and training, manage user access and profiles, and ensure appropriate system usage across teams.
Requirements include but are not limited to:
- Minimum 3 years proven experience working in Grants Administration.
- Experience working with non-profit organizations or in donor-funded environments.
- Fully computer literate (Microsoft Office) with advanced Excel proficiency.
- Experience with donor and grant making software advantageous (e.g GivingData).
- Experience working collaboratively in cross-functional teams.
- Ability to organize multiple tasks and manage deadlines.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English are essential. Proficiency in French would be a strong advantage.
- Exceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to foster positive working relationships.
- Detail oriented and works with high levels of accuracy.
- Team focused.
- Proactive, self-motivated, and able to work independently while contributing to a collaborative team environment.
- High levels of integrity, discretion, and professionalism.
- Coordinate with program staff on grantees correspondence, including clarifications, follow-ups and issue resolution, to ensure timely and consistent communication.
- Providing other grant-related assistance as needed, coordination, and problem-solving.
- Actively participate in weekly grant progress meetings providing portfolio status updates.
Start date: Position available immediately.
Contract duration: 12 months (renewable based on mutual agreement).
Location: ACF’s operational hub is in Cape Town, South Africa. Remote working will be considered for
candidates based in Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa.
Closing date: 01 November 2026
Application Details:
- Applicants must have the legal right to work in the country where they are based.
For further information about the ACF, visit www.africanclimatefoundation.org.
Should you not hear back from us by 31 December 2026, please consider your application to be unsuccessful.
The ACF strives to be an equitable organisation with a team which reflects the diversity of Africa.
In compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), The ACF assures all applicants that any personal information provided during the recruitment process will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and used solely for recruitment purposes. Your privacy and data security are of paramount importance to us. By applying for this position, you consent to the collection, processing, and storage of your personal information for recruitment-related activities only. The ACF is committed to safeguarding your privacy and maintaining the trust you place in us.
