Associate Director, Program & Grants Management
About The Position
The Milken Institute is a globally minded, publicly supported, non-partisan, and nonprofit think tank headquartered in Santa Monica, with offices in Washington, DC, New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. For the past three decades, the Milken Institute has served as a catalyst for practical, scalable solutions to global challenges by connecting human, financial, and educational resources to those who need them. Guided by a conviction that the best ideas, under-resourced, cannot succeed, we conduct research and analysis and convene top experts, innovators, and influencers from different backgrounds and competing viewpoints. We leverage this expertise and insight to construct programs and policy initiatives. These activities are designed to help people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities. The Milken Institute’s events and programmatic activities, involve the exchange of ideas with leaders from around the world. The Institute hosts more than 200 events each year, with our annual flagship event, Global Conference, bringing together 4,500+ participants from around the world, featuring more than 900+ speakers throughout 200+ sessions over the course of the event. About Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy One of four pillars at the Milken Institute, Strategic Philanthropy advises individuals, corporations, and foundations on the most strategic ways to ensure their philanthropic investments make an equitable, transformative impact, and offers tools and recommendations for making philanthropy more effective. In addition to in-depth research, reports, and guides, we design and build programs including funding initiatives, research collaboratives, large-scale innovation programs, and high-level events. Finally, we also foster peer learning communities to accelerate knowledge-sharing and promote partnership. Strategic Philanthropy’s three portfolios of programmatic work include SPARC (Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration), Environmental & Social Innovation Philanthropy (ESI), and Philanthropy Leadership Collective (PLC).
Requirements
- Graduate degree in public health, life sciences, public policy, business administration, or a related field.
- 5–7 years of experience in grants management, philanthropy, program management, or a related field.
- Experience managing grant or prize funding cycles from design to closeout.
- Familiarity with the philanthropic, scientific and health funding ecosystem, including knowledge of key funders, research institutions, and philanthropic organizations operating in the space.
- Familiarity with funding mechanisms and nonprofit structures.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to manage multiple funding cycles and partner relationships simultaneously.
- Experience partnering with Finance or Accounts Payable on fund disbursement or compliance processes.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop executive-level materials for diverse audiences.
- Proficiency in grants and program management platforms or CRM systems, such as SurveyMonkey, Docusign, Asana and Airtable or comparable program-management platforms.
- Experience designing or contributing to program evaluation frameworks/success metrics.
- Analytical data skills with experience tracking and reporting on program or portfolio performance.
- Collaborative, detail-oriented, and able to work across internal teams and external partners.
- Desire and aptitude to develop thought leadership pertaining to philanthropic funding, including measures and stories of impact that further the mission of funding partners and the Milken Institute.
- Comfort representing the Milken Institute and the strategic philanthropy team at external events and within professional networks.
- Mission-driven with an interest in philanthropy, science, health, and/or social impact.
Responsibilities
- Build and manage a centralized system to consolidate and track all aspects relating to award cycles — across the full Strategic Philanthropy pillar.
- Build and maintain the funding application, solicitation, and review process in close collaboration with project leads.
- Manage external communications, proposals, and materials for applicants, awardees, and stakeholders throughout each funding cycle;
- Lead and manage external contracting and award process with funding recipients by engaging with academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and individuals, through close collaboration with internal program teams, Milken Institute leadership and legal counsel, as appropriate.
- Lead internal grant and prize disbursement processes, partnering with Finance and Accounts Payable to ensure seamless fund distribution.
- Lead awardee/recipient engagement, serving as point of contact to support compliance, reporting, and relationship management throughout the award lifecycle of the funding relationship.
- Partner with project leads and funding partners to translate philanthropic goals into program design and architecture (award topic, funding mechanism, eligibility requirements, grant terms, timelines, scope) across grants, prizes, and co-funding opportunities.
- Maintain program documentation (playbooks, standard operating procedures) to support institutional knowledge across cycles.
- Support project leads on partner management across the pillar, including leading engagement with advisory boards, review panels and other partner stakeholders to support meeting facilitation, materials development, funding recommendations and follow-up actions as needed.
- In coordination with project teams, design success metrics, evaluation frameworks and track portfolio performance across grants and prize funding mechanisms, providing analysis to inform strategic decision-making across the pillar.
- Develop executive-level communications and literature in partnership with the communications team to convey program findings, funding opportunities, and strategic updates, building awareness of Milken Institute Strategic Philanthropy and expanding engagement across advisory boards, philanthropists, researchers, and the broader nonprofit and philanthropic ecosystem.
- Duties as assigned.
Benefits
- Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Plan - 403b (5% match)
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Paid Time Off (Personal, Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Family Leave (Maternity & Paternity)
- Fertility Support
- Short-Term & Long-Term Disability
- Flexible Spending Account (FSAs)
- Pet Insurance Discount
- Training & Development: LinkedIn Learning – over 15,000 self-guided classes offered
- Annual Mentor Program
- Wellness Resources: Employee Assistance Program
- CALM app membership
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
