We are seeking a detail-oriented, highly organized, and proactive Finance & Operations Intern to directly support our Head of Finance & Operations during an exciting period of digital transformation. As our family foundation transitions to a centralized grants management and CRM system, you will play a critical role in data governance, operational auditing, and process optimization.
This role sits at the intersection of non-profit finance, philanthropic governance, and systems management. It offers a rare look behind the scenes at how a modern foundation manages its capital, risk, and compliance. Beyond consolidating data spread across various SharePoint folders, you will get hands-on exposure to foundational finance processes, system configuration, and innovative operational workflows. This is an ideal opportunity for university students looking to build a unique resume combining corporate governance, financial administration, and social impact technology.
Key Responsibilities
1. Data Governance & CRM Migration Prep
- Platform & System Configuration: Assist in translating operational workflows into the new system. This includes helping map out grant stage definitions, defining user roles and permissions, and participating in post-migration data validation to ensure system integrity.
- Grantee Portal Prep: Support the potential rollout of a dedicated Grantee Portal by auditing, gathering, and mapping existing grant application templates into formats required by the platform.
- Dedicated Contact Record Auditing: Conduct targeted data cleanup and mapping for contact records (independent of grant data) to ensure external stakeholder profiles are deduplicated and accurately structured for migration.
- Data Consolidation: Audit existing SharePoint directories and localized trackers to extract vital information on active and past grantee partners, organizing them into clean master Excel templates optimized for system migration.
- Relationship & Interaction Tracking: Review correspondence, meeting minutes, and operational notes to map out external engagement histories, tracking who met whom and what was discussed.
2. Finance & Disbursement Support
- Disbursement Reconciliation: Assist in cross-checking scheduled grant milestone payments against bank records and internal disbursement trackers to ensure accurate financial reporting.
- Audit & Asset Mapping: Assist in organizing financial files, grant agreements, and supporting documents to maintain a high standard of audit readiness.
3. Grants Operations & Compliance Monitoring
- Report Tracking & Reminders: Monitor the master grant calendar to proactively flag upcoming narrative or financial report deadlines, and draft reminder notifications for partner organizations, ready for system migration.
- SOP Documentation: Help document step-by-step Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the new CRM/Grants Management workflows as they are being established, creating clear documentation for future users.
Qualifications & Skills
- Education: Currently pursuing a university degree in Business Administration, Finance, Accountancy, or a related discipline.
- Technical Proficiency & Adaptability:
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel (e.g., vlookups, text-to-columns, data formatting) and comfort navigating cloud-based document structures (SharePoint).
- High tech-literacy and a quick learning curve when adopting new cloud platforms, SaaS, or database tools; you will be interacting directly with the selected system
- BONUS: Prior experience with data migration projects, CRM configuration, or system implementation
- Analytical & Detail-Oriented: An exceptional eye for data accuracy and formatting consistency. Ability to extract structured data points from unstructured text (such as emails or meeting notes).
- Basic Financial Literacy: Familiarity with basic accounting concepts, invoice and expense tracking is highly advantageous.
- Strong Communication: Excellent written communication skills for drafting internal SOPs and external partner reminders.
- Discretion: Absolute commitment to maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive financial and partner data.
Learning Outcomes & Benefits
- Gain hands-on experience in end-to-end tech implementation and data migration strategy culminating in a live system launch using an industry-leading grants management platform.
- Develop practical skills in platform configuration, translating operational grant processes, workflows, and user permissions into software architecture.
- Benefit from rich cross-functional exposure, gaining insight into how finance, operations, grantmaking, and systems integrate within a philanthropic organisation.
- Develop practical skills in financial reconciliation, invoice processing, and operational compliance within the non-profit sector.
- Deepen your understanding of family foundation governance, impactful capital deployment, and risk management.
- Direct mentorship under the Head of Finance & Operations.