Community Support Lead- Grantmaking

Reports to: Community Support Manager 
Contract: Full-time 

Role Purpose 

As Community Support Lead: Grantmaking, you will provide the day-to-day administrative and operational support that enables HOST to deliver hosted grantmaking activities accurately, safely, and efficiently for our hosted partners. 

You will be line managed by the Community Support Manager and work closely with the Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers to deliver Hosted Grantmaking. Your primary focus will be grantmaking administration: due diligence coordination, grant agreement support, process tracking, records management, and audit-ready documentation. 

You will also provide secondary cover for general Community Support activity, including onboarding administration, payment or invoice queries, routine partner communications, and escalation. Relationship ownership and strategic funder or partner management will sit with the Community Support Manager, Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers, and relevant senior colleagues. 

Core Responsibilities 

1. Hosted Grantmaking Administration and Process Tracking 

• Maintain clear, accurate, and up-to-date grantmaking records across ClickUp, Zendesk, CRM systems, shared folders, and relevant internal trackers. 

• Track hosted grantmaking processes from initial request through due diligence, agreement preparation, approval, disbursement, and reporting. 

• Monitor deadlines, dependencies, missing information, and next steps, following up promptly and clearly. 

• Support the Community Support Manager and Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers to maintain visibility of live grantmaking activity, bottlenecks, risks, and upcoming priorities. 

• Keep grantmaking documentation organised, complete, and accessible to Finance, Legal, Partnerships, and Community Support colleagues. 

2. Due Diligence Coordination and Documentation 

• Administer due diligence processes for hosted grantmaking activities, ensuring required checks are initiated, tracked, and documented. 

• Coordinate the collection of information and supporting documents from hosted partners, grantees, funders, or internal colleagues as directed. 

• Maintain audit-ready due diligence records, ensuring forms, evidence, approvals, and risk notes are saved in the correct systems. 

• Spot missing information, incomplete checks, or process delays and escalate promptly to the Community Support Manager, Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers, or relevant colleagues. 

3. Grant Agreement and Grant Process Support 

• Coordinate the administrative steps required to prepare, review, issue, sign, and store grant agreements and related documentation. 

• Track agreement status, including drafts, internal reviews, approvals, signatures, amendments, and filing. 

• Liaise with Legal, Finance, Partnerships, and Community Support colleagues to keep grant agreements moving through the agreed process. 

• Flag inconsistencies, missing approvals, unusual terms, or unclear documentation for review by the Community Support Manager or Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers. 

4. Payment, Disbursement and Finance Coordination Support 

• Support the administrative coordination of grant disbursements, payment requests, invoice corrections, and related finance workflows. 

• Check that payment-related documentation is complete before progressing requests to Finance. 

• Track payment and disbursement status, following up on missing information or delays where appropriate. 

• Respond to straightforward payment or invoice queries from hosted partners, escalating complex or sensitive issues as needed. 

5. Community Support 

• Provide flexible cover across general Community Support activities, including onboarding administration, system guidance, routine hosted partner queries, and follow-up actions. 

• Support onboarding processes by preparing materials, updating records, tracking completion of onboarding tasks, and ensuring next steps are clear. 

• Maintain accurate records of partner interactions, ensuring relevant issues, risks, and decisions are documented and shared with appropriate colleagues. 

• Escalate relationship-sensitive, complex, or higher-risk matters to the Community Support Manager or relevant Partnerships lead. 

6. Systems, SOPs and Process Improvement 

• Support the creation, testing, and improvement of SOPs for hosted grantmaking, due diligence, grant agreements, onboarding, and payment-related workflows. 

• Identify gaps, duplication, or unclear steps in grantmaking and Community Support processes, and suggest practical improvements. 

• Keep internal checklists, templates, and guidance up to date so grantmaking processes are easier to follow and audit. 

7. Risk Identification and Escalation 

• Identify potential financial, operational, compliance, or reputational risks arising from hosted grantmaking administration or partner support activity. 

• Escalate risks promptly to the Community Support Manager, Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers, Legal, Finance or Partnerships colleagues as appropriate. 

• Maintain clear records of risks, decisions, approvals, and follow-up actions. 

You Bring 

• Experience in administration, operations, grants administration, programme support, community support, or client service. 

• Strong organisational skills, with excellent attention to detail and confidence managing multiple tasks, deadlines, and trackers. 

• A process-minded approach, with the ability to follow agreed steps carefully and spot where information, approvals, or documentation are missing. 

• Clear written communication skills, with the ability to provide warm, accurate, and practical updates to partners and colleagues. 

• Confidence using digital tools such as ClickUp, Zendesk, CRM systems, shared drives, spreadsheets, and cloud-based documents. 

• An understanding of, or willingness to learn about, due diligence, compliance, grant agreements, and audit-ready record keeping. 

• Good judgement about when to resolve straightforward issues independently and when to escalate complex, sensitive, or higher-risk matters. 

Key Relationships 

Internal: Community Support Manager, Partnerships Manager: Grantmakers, Partnerships Manager: Changemakers, Community Support Team, Finance Team, Legal Team. 
External: Hosted partners, grantees, funders, fiscal sponsorship partners, service providers, and other stakeholders involved in hosted grantmaking and project hosting processes. 

Performance Indicators 

• Grantmaking records and trackers are accurate, current, and easy to use. 

• Due diligence, agreement, approval, payment, and reporting steps are tracked and followed up on time. 

• Missing information, delays, unusual terms, and risks are escalated promptly. 

• Grant agreements and supporting documents are complete, correctly filed, and audit-ready. 

• Routine hosted partner queries and CS cover tasks are handled clearly, warmly, and within agreed timeframes.