Associate Director, Scholarships & Grants Management

The Community Foundation For Greater Atlanta•Atlanta, GA

4d•$110,000 - $130,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director, Scholarships & Grants Management provides strategic leadership for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta’s scholarship portfolio and discretionary grantmaking operations. Reporting to the Vice President, Community Impact, the role leads scholarship donor stewardship and development, directs end-to-end scholarship and discretionary grant administration, and supervises a Scholarships and Grants Associate. The Associate Director works with program leadership and cross-functional partners to oversee portfolio budgets, establish due-diligence standards, and guide systems implementation and process improvement. This role combines relationship management, data-informed portfolio oversight, and people development to ensure equitable and effective administration aligned with donor intent. The position leads relationships for approximately 30 scholarship funds and a supporting-organization scholarship partnership, and works with the Director, Community Impact to oversee approximately $12 million in scholarships and $10 million in discretionary grants. The role partners across the organization on compliance, financial transactions, agreements, technology platforms, policies, and workflows. The position is based in a hybrid work environment, with staff working in the office three days per week and the opportunity to work remotely two days per week if in good standing.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and at least 8 years of professional experience relevant to the responsibilities, including people leadership, or equivalent experience.
Community perspective informed by lived experience and professional engagement, with an asset-based view of community.
Clear commitment to equity of opportunity and genuine respect for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Demonstrated senior-level experience managing donor, funder, or client relationships.
Demonstrated experience setting due-diligence, compliance, or grantmaking standards and managing aligned systems and platforms.
Demonstrated leadership skills and ability to manage and motivate direct reports to strong performance and engagement.
Demonstrated experience managing cross-department workflows and relationships.
Strong strategic, budgeting, portfolio-management, and data-analysis skills, and ability to manage competing priorities as a flexible, resourceful self-starter.
Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
Demonstrated success building and maintaining constructive partnerships across departments and navigating professional relationships with care and emotional intelligence.
Commitment to the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta mission of equity and shared prosperity for all.

Nice To Haves

Experience with grants or scholarship systems.
Experience with Foundant and Blackbaud philanthropy products.

Responsibilities

Lead strategy, stewardship, and guidance for approximately 30 scholarship funds and their donor relationships, including fund design, use, and impact.
Lead strategy and coordination for a supporting-organization scholarship partnership.
Coordinate donor referrals and scholarship-fund relationship handoffs with the Philanthropy department.
Cultivate, scope, and onboard new scholarship donors and programs, and develop standard program packages for donor conversations.
Coordinate with Marketing and Communications on external scholarship communications and collateral, including donor cultivation and stewardship materials and stories about program impact.
Represent the scholarship portfolio to donors, families, community and university partners, and other external stakeholders, including at donor and recognition events.
Direct end-to-end scholarship and discretionary grantmaking operations to ensure quality, timeliness, equity, and alignment with donor intent.
Partner with the Director, Community Impact to oversee approximately $12 million in scholarships and $10 million in discretionary grants, monitoring commitments, payouts, and budget variances.
Set and monitor scholarship portfolio indicators, dashboards, and reporting, and use analysis to identify improvements and opportunities to strengthen scholar retention and postsecondary persistence.
Develop annual workplans, cycle calendars, and resource plans for scholarships and discretionary grants, aligning staffing with portfolio volume and complexity.
Partner with the Director, Community Impact to establish and maintain scholarship and discretionary grant due-diligence standards aligned with industry best practices.
Use data with the Director, Community Impact to guide scholarship and discretionary grantmaking strategy, reporting, and decisions.
Serve as the department liaison to Finance and Shared Services for transaction handoffs, disbursements, reconciliation, and payment resolution.
Partner with Shared Services to establish compliance standards covering eligibility, applicant and grantee risk, award terms, expenditure responsibility, and reporting, and ensure adherence to IRS and Foundation requirements.
Partner with General Counsel on scholarship and discretionary grant agreements and contracts, providing expertise on scholarship regulations and best practices.
Partner with IT to oversee implementation, configuration, and change management for Asana and Foundant Scholarship Lifecycle Management and Grants Lifecycle Management platforms.
Establish departmental relationship-management workflows for fiscally sponsored organizations and manage select fiscally sponsored relationships.
Improve scholarship and discretionary grant policies, processes, and workflows; maintain documentation and lead cross-role training.
Support Foundation-wide initiatives and represent Community Impact operations on cross-departmental projects.
Supervise and develop a Scholarships and Grants Associate, including recruiting, hiring, orientation, coaching, performance management, and professional development.
Set shared standards, priorities, and accountability for the Scholarships and Grants Associate, and model equitable, accountable, community-centered leadership.

Benefits

Paid time off, including two weeks of accrued paid vacation, two weeks of accrued paid sick leave, four mental health days, two personal days, two floating holidays, and ten holidays.
Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employee-only plans, fully paid by the employer, effective on the date of hire.
Employer-paid life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.
Employer-paid short-term and long-term disability insurance.
Employer-paid downtown Atlanta parking or a monthly MARTA card.
Affordable legal insurance, critical illness coverage, supplemental life insurance, and other plans.
Immediate eligibility to contribute to a 403(b) plan, with a 6% employer-paid contribution after one year of employment, regardless of employee contributions.
Cell phone stipend.
Employee Donor Advised Fund after one year of employment.
Employee Assistance Program.
Individual Development Plans with training, resources, and development opportunities.
Two wellness rooms with self-care items.
Monthly employee engagement activities.