Director, Grants Initiatives; UWGLA

Reporting to the Vice President, Community Impact, the Director, Grants Initiatives will lead United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ (UWGLA) grantseeking and grantmaking efforts in the areas of homelessness, education, and economic mobility. The Director will lead innovation and growth in UWGLA’s grantmaking and grantseeking operations to ensure a comprehensive and integrated approach to grantseeking and grantmaking that allows the organization to deepen its community impact across Los Angeles County.

The Director will oversee a newly configured team within the Community Impact Department and will be responsible for leading:
1) the development and implementation of a comprehensive strategy to secure, diversify and grow new and existing funding from private, community, and corporate foundations, as well as government sources, and
2) UWGLA’s grantmaking strategy and operations across all impact work. The Director, Grants Initiatives will play a critical role in building a grants function within the organization that includes strong internal coordination and alignment across the organization. This position will also have a key role in sharing and promoting UWGLA’s mission and impact efforts with the funding community, grantees and other key stakeholders.

As a member of UWGLA’s leadership team, the Director will provide strategic input and participate in efforts to promote the organization’s values and participate in the design and implementation of organizational strategy and initiatives. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a deep passion for ending homelessness and poverty, possess a strong work ethic, enjoy dynamic problem-solving, operate with a mission-first mindset, and exhibit a track record of cultivating meaningful and productive relationships internally and externally.

Grantseeking

• Plan, organize and direct all of the organization’s grantseeking efforts, including restricted and unrestricted grant funding to support the organization’s impact work and operations
• Lead development of organization-wide comprehensive fund development plan for grant seeking that supports the organization’s impact and funding priorities
• Develop and oversee an internal process and database to track grants to ensure excellent grant stewardship, including work plans, commitments and timelines
• Partner with Community Impact and Finance teams to develop budgets for all grant submissions that capture the full cost of UWGLA’s efforts
• Research grant prospects and cultivate long-term relationships with local, statewide, and national foundations to support UWGLA’s community impact work
• Partner with the organization’s Performance & Evaluation Team to build a robust process and practice for measuring and collecting impact data and outcomes across impact areas, including evaluation of grantee impact to produce results-oriented grant submissions and reports
• Coordinate with the Marketing & Communications and Development & Engagement teams to ensure proper recognition of funders
• Provide strategic guidance, leadership and oversight around UWGLA’s Home for Good Funders Collaborative grantmaking program
• Work in partnership with Marketing & Communications to share key impact metrics through various communications channels and support development of impact reports for funders

Grantmaking

• Plan, organize and direct all of the organization’s grantmaking strategy and operations
• Lead a team that is responsible for developing, managing and tracking all grantmaking for the organization, including grantmaking aligned with the organization’s Creating Pathways Out of Poverty plan, the Home for Good Funders Collaborative, Southern California Disaster Relief Fund, and other grant initiatives that arise
• Oversee all stages of United Way’s grantmaking to community-based organizations, including strategy development, RFP design and issuance, grantee selection, reporting, relationship management and outcome data analysis
• Identify and implement new grantmaking strategies and approaches in partnership with the Community Impact team leadership and ensure a comprehensive and integrated approach to grantseeking across the housing, education and…