Grant Writer Human Resource
Resume:
Millaniyage Samanthi Visaka De Costa
Senior Specialist – Accounting, Grants and Contracts
Senior Specialist with over 15 years of experience in grants management, providing financial and budget support to more than 20 different grant programs and providing leadership to 10 Grants Officer Representatives to manage over 100 grant programs of
$625,000. 13 years of experience managing a budget of $725,000. Experience
Senior Specialist Accounting, Grants and Contracts American Council on Education (ACE)
May 2023 – Up to date
Provides technical support to 50 diverse ACE (Foundation) grants and awards programs, both federal and non-federal, overseeing Federal Financial Reporting, associated drawdowns for reimbursement of costs incurred by 50 ACE programs, and private foundation grant reporting.
Managing over 50 grants and contracts throughout ACE, advising, researching, and interpreting relevant regulations, guidelines, and federal and non-federal awards standards.
Serve as a liaison between more than 10 funding agencies and program staff for federal awards and assist staff in developing, preparing, and submitting award proposals to support ACE’s potential funders, including budgets, documentation, and interpretation of funding requirements.
Maintain records of 50 grants and sub-award files in proper and up-to-date conditions, including agreements, sub-agreements, and copies of all reports submitted to funding agencies.
Support and participate in 50 budgeting, reprogramming, and monthly statement analyses for sponsored awards and general fund projects.
Prepare required compliance reports and schedules for review, monthly reports, and reconciliations, including cyclical compliance reports. Program Assistant (Grants Management)
U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka
October 2007 – February 2023
15 years delivering “life-cycle” support to above 1,000 Federal grant programs with mentorship to 10 Grants Officer Representatives (GORs), coaching them in monitoring grants worth more than $50,000,000 to spearhead efficient and accurate communication with grantees and advising the Grants Officers on Federal grant regulations and procedures including programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Have directly overseen more than 100 grant programs of $5 million through their lifecycle as a senior GOR.
Trained different grantees including organizations working on diversity, equity, and inclusion on successfully executing 100 grant programs related to Integrated Country Strategy goals, producing timely deliverables, meeting program deadlines, supervising more than 50 sub-awards worth $425,000, and grant proposal writing workshops guaranteeing more than 20 successful submissions for vibrant grant programs.
Written 20 multi-faceted Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for submission on Grants.gov and the U.S. Embassy Grants Opportunities portal enabling greater than 20 successful applications to work on high-impact programs each year.
Reviewed more than 100 grant application packages sent by grant recipients to ensure the accuracy of application packages.
Written Proposals and won over 14 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) grants worth 1,103,942. Monitored AFCP grants in compliance with 2 CFR 200 Federal grant regulations for programs that worked towards preserving tangible and
intangible cultural heritage and Cultural
Antiquities Task Force project in both
Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Managed the organization’s budget
worth US$10 million from 2009 to 2021
which provided funding for greater than
100 successful projects aligned with the
country’s strategy.
Steered more than 20 site visits to grant
programs worth $100,000,000 quarterly
to confirm compliance with grant
regulations.
Education
Master of Business Administration
London Metropolitan University
January 2017 to September 2019.
Tech Stack
Salesforce/CRM Teams
Knowledge of CFRs, FAR, ADS, FAM
Sage Intacct
Concur
Solver
Achievements
Length of Service Award (with the
United States Government)
Meritorious Honor Award for
exceptional performance in managing a
record number of Embassy grants in the
Public Diplomacy section.
Customer Service Award for excellent
support in the grant process during a
critical period of year-end deadlines
Eagle Award in recognition of
outstanding performance and for being
instrumental in organizing events.
Industry Expertise
Project Management
Grant proposal writing
Budgeting
RFP Writing
Language Proficiency
English and Sinhala – Fluent
Instrumental in organizing events.
Certifications
Introduction to Not-for-Profit Entities:
Accounting, Tax and Compliance
Essentials
CPE-Not for Profit Financial Statements
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