Financial Assistance Manager

Financial Assistance Manager Job Description

About Zaban Paradies Center

For more than forty years, Zaban Paradies Center (ZPC) has served as Georgia’s only emergency shelter for couples experiencing homelessness. Since 2020, ZPC has significantly expanded our services within and beyond our shelter walls, moving from a seasonal to year-round shelter and adding housing assistance programs for individuals and families facing homelessness. Having expanded our services, client base, and community impact, ZPC's mission is empowering couples, families, and individuals facing homelessness to achieve self-sufficiency.

Zaban Paradies Center is located in Midtown Atlanta at 1605 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30309

Job: Financial Assistance Manager

ZPC is focused on providing solutions to end and prevent homelessness in coordination with a number of community partners, and the Financial Assistance Manager will help ZPC achieve its goals. One of Zaban Paradies Center (ZPC)’s core lines of work is our Financial Assistance programming, which includes move-in assistance and homelessness prevention support for households facing homelessness.

Our move-in assistance programs provide one-time payments on behalf of households experiencing homelessness for security deposits, 1^st month’s rent, and other costs of obtaining permanent housing. Our homelessness prevention work helps households with income remain in their homes and avoid homelessness after short-term financial crises.

The Financial Assistance Manager is a key member of the ZPC leadership team who is responsible for program management, grants management and compliance, reporting, and supervision of staff working on our Financial Assistance programs, ensuring alignment with ZPC’s mission, established best practices, and our policies and procedures.

The Financial Assistance Manager ensures that ZPC’s programs meet the requirements of our funders, which include United Way of Greater Atlanta, Fulton County Government, and private individuals and groups, and may grow to include programs with other government or private support, each funding source with its own reporting and compliance requirements. The Financial Assistance Manager also provides regular data-led insights to the Executive Director on the Financial Assistance programs and progress toward key outcomes. The Financial Assistance Manager also supervises a team of staff persons who coordinate assistance to households facing homelessness.

Financial Assistance Manager Responsibilities and Expectations

Program Management Across Multiple Programs

• Develops, implements, and regularly refines program policies and procedures for each Financial Assistance program in accordance with established best practices, grant requirements, internal policies and procedures, and ZPC’s financial policies and procedures.
• Provides supervision and support to Financial Assistance team members.
  • Empowers staff to provide excellent customer service to ZPC clients, community members seeking assistance, housing providers, and community partners.
  • Trains staff as applicable on their roles, best practices, and policies and procedures.
  • Fosters an environment of collaboration, professionalism, and respect.
  • Coordinates with direct reports, ZPC leadership, and ZPC’s Finance team on all time off requests, timesheets, mileage and expense reimbursements, and all other applicable HR and payroll matters.
  • Holds team members accountable to performance expectations and adherence to ZPC’s employee handbook and established policies and procedures.
• Provides oversight of screening and intake processes.
  • Ensures timely response to requests for assistance and clear communication with applicants and program participants.
  • Establishes clear timelines, processes, and guidance for identifying upcoming available program slots, screening potential clients, and accepting new participant households.
• Oversees payment request processes for the Financial Assistance programs, ensuring a process to approve expenses that are allowable, reasonable, and in line with program intentions and participant stability plans.
• Provides final-level review and approval of all Financial Assistance program check requests, ensuring compliance with applicable program standards and budget allowances.

Grants Management and Compliance

• Becomes an expert on each grant/funding source’s compliance requirements and trains team members on compliance documentation and practices.
  • As new staff are onboarded, provides comprehensive training on grant requirements geared toward the staff person’s role.
  • Stays up to date on grant requirements and best practices, communicating with staff on any changes or identified areas for re-training.
• Maintains tracking toward programs’ budgeted expenditures and develops plans to spend down grant funds appropriately.
• Responsible for timely completion and submission of Financial Assistance outputs and outcomes reporting to all applicable grantors.
• Responsible for timely completion and submission of Finance reporting and reimbursement requests to all applicable grantors.
  • Responds in a timely and appropriate manner to requests for changes or additional documentation from Grantors.
• Monitors and provides feedback to Financial Assistance team to ensure programs meet or exceed the performance measures and requirements set in any grant or partnership agreements.
  • Case Files
    • Every client household must have a standard case file or digital file based on funder requirements.
    • Performs internal client file audits at least quarterly. Case files should be “audit-ready” and meet the standards set by program funders.
  • HMIS
    • Serves as ZPC’s agency administrator for HMIS.
    • Ensures services and case notes, where required, are entered in a timely, accurate, and thorough manner.
    • Ensures data quality meets expectations of Partners for HOME and other Continuums of Care as applicable.
      • Responsible for monthly data quality monitoring and reports.
      • Holds regular check-ins with direct reports to identify and assign areas with data entry/cleanup needs.
• Participates in grant-writing for Financial Assistance programs
  • Responsible for tracking of Financial Assistance programs’ grant renewal deadlines, ensuring timeliness and completion of renewal applications with Executive Director’s approval.
  • In coordination with Executive Director and Director of Development, identifies and contributes to applications for new opportunities that align with ZPC’s mission and vision.

Program Outcomes and Data Management

• Stays informed on key performance measures and regularly presents outcomes and progress supported by data to the Executive Director and funders.
• Makes program adjustments and recommendations to improve outcomes and services.
• Provide program data analytics and visualization for:
  • Reports
  • Website
  • Social Media
  • Presentations
  • Grant Applications
• Seeks client feedback - responsible for designing and carrying out surveys regularly for feedback from Financial Assistance clients.
• Regularly coordinates success stories - responsible for collecting success stories from participants who are interested in sharing their stories in support of ZPC’s grant reports, social media, and marketing efforts, as well as the marketing efforts of our grant partners.

Work Hours and Location

The Financial Assistance Manager will work on site at Zaban Paradies Center 40 hours per week. The Financial Assistance Manager may be offered the opportunity to work from home up to one day per week if working from home aligns with departmental needs and individual responsibilities. Work will typically be performed during regular ZPC business hours on Mondays-Fridays, with occasional events or meetings on nights or weekends.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will hold a Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Social Work or a related social services field, or a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience may substitute for a degree. Candidates must be able to show a track record of leadership and independent management of projects, with an ability to develop and execute strategies that fit the organization’s mission and goals. Strong preference will be given to candidates with experience in administering financial assistance to people facing homelessness and candidates who demonstrate an understanding of the landscape of services to people facing homelessness, poverty, and barriers to stable housing. Supervisory experience is strongly preferred.

The Financial Assistance Manager must present genuine interpersonal skills, showing strength in forming and maintaining professional relationships with staff, clients, funders, and external partners. Candidates should have the ability to create strong systems for program management and grant compliance. Individuals with lived experience of homelessness are encouraged to apply.

Compensation and Benefits

This position is a full-time, exempt salaried position. The salary range for this position is $60,000-$65,000 per year. ZPC also offers a competitive benefits and paid time off package to full-time employees, including employer-paid medical premiums at 100% of the employee-only coverage level.

Zaban Paradies Center affords equal employment opportunities and rights to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, disability, age, genetic information, or any other class or characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.