The Organization
Founded in 1948, the San Francisco Foundation is one of the nation’s largest community foundations — a grantmaking public charity dedicated to improving life within a specific local region. Our mission is to mobilize resources and function as a catalyst for change to build strong communities, foster civic leadership, and promote philanthropy in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Director of Grants Administration
The Semi-monthly (per pay period) compensation for this position in FY23 is:
$6,760 per pay period
Location: San Francisco, CA Department: (Operations) Type: (Full-Time, Exempt) Min. Experience: (Sr.-Level/Experienced)
POSITION SUMMARY
The following sections are designed based on the Results Based Leadership for Racial Equity Framework that the Foundation uses to accomplish our work.
The Director of Grants Administration (“Director”) leads a Team to create and implement effective grant making strategies. The Director establishes and maintains strong and trusted relationships with Foundation Staff, the Board, and external partners to support grant making strategies that effectively advance the Foundation’s Equity Agenda. In partnership with a cross functional team, the Director helps position the Foundation to be a knowledge center and leader on areas that directly impact the community the Foundation serves. The Director is a key member of the Operations Team and will provide guidance to the Foundation’s Senior Leadership Team and Board and collaborates with external counsel on a variety of issues pertaining to grantmaking and the fiduciary responsibilities linked to the Foundations 501(c)(3) status.
Supervisory
The Director collaborates with and supervises the Grants Manager and Grants Associates. The Director fulfills supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws and is responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; and all aspects of performance management. The Director is also responsible for addressing employee matters in partnership with the COO and Human Resources.
Strategy and Cross Departmental Collaboration
The Director plays a pivotal role in co-creating activities, policies, and procedures that impact the institution. The Director meets regularly with their peer group to support the organization’s adaptive and technical needs. The Director works collaboratively across teams and partners most closely with Community Impact (Programs), Philanthropic and Gift Planning, and Finance. The Director works closely with the broader sector to share expertise with community leaders, grantees, donors, and donor-advisors.
Manage the Arc of Grantmaking
- Ensure smooth coordination and communication between Community Impact staff, Finance, Operations, and Donor Services department managers for grant-related issues and Board material preparation.
- “In partnership with the Grants Team provides and oversees customer service to grantees throughout the grantmaking process including online technical support, general inquiries and process requests and changes.
- The Director is responsible for conferring with Community Impact (CI) and Philanthropy and Gift Planning (PGP) staff to implement changes to grant processes.
- Design, document, communicate, and implement grants administration and compliance policies and procedures.
- Monitor and coordinate timeliness of grantmaking and payment preparation to smooth the flow of grants.
- Manage, lead, and implement continuous improvement initiatives ensuring solutions align with strategic goals.
- Monitor grant budgets from various fund types and work with Finance staff to ensure proper fund and grantmaking budget administration.
- Recommend policies for and oversee maintenance of grant files (paper and electronic).
Analyze, and report on data
- Develops and implements mechanisms for conducting institutional research, documentation, analysis, and reporting on key data related to the Foundation’s grantmaking and overall impact and effectiveness.
- Oversees production of reports for internal and external use, on a regular basis and as needed by management, staff, and trustees, including grants activity reports, payout reports, regular monthly reports to staff, and publication mailings. Works with staff to create useful standards and ad hoc reports.
- Coordinate with other internal stakeholders, such as the Strategic Learning and Evaluation team, to ensure consistency with reporting needs from our grants management system.
- Provide support to Finance in preparation of the annual tax return, including accurate reporting of grants, grants to individuals and lobbying expenditures.
- Provide data and analysis to board liaisons as needed.
Oversee Compliance
- Ensure Foundation compliance with all laws applicable to the grantmaking process. In partnership with legal counsel, maintains up-to-date knowledge of IRS rules and regulations affecting the grantmaking process, both for community foundations and for applicants/grantees.
- Understand and support proper fund administration as it relates to grantmaking compliance including working knowledge of restricted gifts and trusts.
- Oversee lobbying tracking in compliance with related regulations and internal policies.
- Coordinate aspects of the expenditure responsibility and provide audit support to the external auditor’s annual audit.
- Oversee and monitor data accuracy, coding compliance, etc. and communicate and resolve grant-related data issues.
Collaborate as the Grants Management System Application Lead
- Oversee the processes of the grants management system (which tracks all inquiries, proposals, grants, grant reports, and contacts). Also, this position will partner with IT and other departments to work with our vendors to support modifications including implementation, security, protocols, utilization, data integrity, maintenance, coding, reporting, analysis, and training for our system.
- Become a Fluxx expert who can assist staff and grantees who need help using the system; support Fluxx enhancements and upgrades; and facilitate data reporting from the system
- Contribute to the creation of policies and procedures to support and maintain records in Fluxx to ensure an elevated level of data integrity and accuracy
- Work collaboratively with other Foundation staff and departments to ensure that maximum utility of the database is achieved for various uses and users of the product. Works with IT staff and external consultants to ensure ongoing quality of data and use.
- Establish training goals and curriculum for training individuals to meet SFF objectives via internal or external training sources.
Competencies & Qualifications
The ideal candidate has a combination of:
- 6+ years of relevant experience
- 2+ years leading Teams
- Background contributing to creating and implementing innovative and creative strategies that lead to Equity based grantmaking and creating operational effectiveness, a plus
- Strong systems orientation, with a track record of improving and enhancing existing approaches and developing innovative solutions; familiarity with Fluxx, a plus.
- Experience with 501(c)(4) grants management, a plus.
- Proven ability to work collaboratively and execute across a cross departmental set of objectives that require adaptive and technical solutions.
- Support and act in service of the organization’s strategic plan and equity agenda
- Able to thrive in an evolving organization and culture, seeking to adopt new routines and systems for the Foundation’s grants management function in alignment with an emergent program strategy approach.
- A deep understanding of grants management processes and related financial and compliance regulations.
- Possess effective communication skills that can influence decision-making, build consensus, and engage the community and Foundation Staff at various levels.
- Understanding of current IRS regulations related to foundations and knowledge and application of best practices in grantmaking.
- Ability to communicate technical, budgetary, and program details to staff, grantees, and applicants.
- Proficiency with MS Suite, SharePoint, and the curiosity to learn new systems.
- Ability to design and implement effective workflow processes and procedures.
We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your experience does not align exactly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
Compensation: When determining compensation at the Foundation, we consider total compensation including base wage, variable pay, discretionary and legally required medical and fringe benefits, education and development expenses, taxes and insurance. Each position offers a set pay based on external market and internal equity factors. In compliance with the California pay transparency law, salaries are listed for each position on the posting sites where positions are posted. More information about our compensation philosophy and benefits may be found on the career page of the San Francisco Foundation website.
Remote Work Policy: The Foundation has adopted a long-term hybrid in-person and remote work policy. Dedicated to its employee health and safety, The Foundation will continue to make decisions in accordance with San Francisco County and California mandates. Employees must reside or plan to relocate to California if hired.
Requesting Accommodations: The Foundation is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, The Foundation will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact hr@sff.org.
The San Francisco Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people of diverse backgrounds to apply.
How To Apply