Managing Director, Grants Management

Skoll Foundation; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 182,000 - 291,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Retirement plan

Medical insurance

Flexible time off

Paid holidays

Vision coverage

Job summary

The Skoll Foundation in Washington, DC seeks a Managing Director of Grants Management to lead the grants lifecycle, ensure compliance, and oversee roughly $100 million in annual grants. The role drives strategy, systems, and policy across the foundation’s grantmaking operations.

Reporting to the General Counsel, you will partner with program teams, manage vendor relationships, and develop a high-performing team while advancing the foundation’s mission and impact in a fast-paced, collaborative

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10+ years in grants management, nonprofit, and/or operations with grantmaking responsibilities.
• Robust knowledge of private foundation grantmaking IRS expenditure responsibilities and related compliance.
• Experience designing, implementing, and training staff on grants management policies and systems.
• Strong leadership, strategic planning, and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and day-to-day operations of grants management, ensuring efficiency and service quality.
• Oversee the full lifecycle of grants—from review to closeout, including compliance and reporting.
• Collaborate with Finance on annual grant budgets and payout planning; advise on multi-year budgeting.
• Develop and maintain grants management policies, manuals, and system documentation.
• Manage partnerships with external vendors and monitor data quality and reporting.

Skills

Grants management

Nonprofit operations

IRS compliance

Leadership

Project management

Salesforce

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

The Skoll Foundation is hiring a Managing Director of Grants Management based in Washington, D.C. The Managing Director of Grants Management is eligible for a hybrid work schedule, including Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday required on-site in the Washington, D.C. office.

Skoll is a private grantmaking foundation that seeks to build a sustainable world of peace and prosperity for all by investing in, connecting, and championing social entrepreneurs and other social innovators. Together, we advance bold and equitable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. The Skoll Foundation fosters a mission and values-based approach to the work we do focused on the vision of doing good.

Position Description

Reporting directly to the General Counsel, the Managing Director of Grants Management leads the Foundation’s grants management team in the execution and fulfillment of Foundation grants designed by our program teams. This role leads the short- and long-term strategy for grants management, including supporting the administration of approximately $100 million in grants each year. The Managing Director will be an internal expert on private foundation grantmaking, will provide support and training on grantmaking practices within the Foundation, and will build strong working relationships across programs to execute grantmaking strategies and advance the Foundation’s mission.

The Managing Director serves as a trusted advisor and key partner to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and directs a centralized approach to grantmaking systems, compliance, policies, and processes that are optimized for the Foundation’s innovative grantmaking environment. The Managing Director will also oversee external grants management vendor relationships and partners (Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Submittable, etc.) in the execution of the Foundation’s grantmaking activities and will consider ways to continually advance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Foundation’s grantmaking operations.

The Managing Director will have one direct report, the Grants Manager. With a team of this size, both roles are expected to work directly on the grants pipeline: the Managing Director will regularly review and process grants alongside the Grants Manager, in addition to leading the function's strategy and standards.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Strategy and Leadership

• Provide leadership on the design and day-to-day operations of grants management, with a keen eye for efficiency and service quality. Build and maintain feedback mechanisms to ensure early detection of end-user problems. Apply foresight and judgment in adjusting grants management service, training, and communications to support program goals.
• Design and manage the overall grant workflow to support the full grant lifecycle, including pipeline management, grant recommendation, board approval process, grant agreement execution, payments, amendments, and reporting. Identify opportunities to streamline and improve the grantmaking workflow, further partner with external vendors, and enhance user training on systems and processes.
• Partner with Finance on short- and long-term grants budget planning, including the development of the annual grant allocation and payout. Regularly advise teams on progress toward the current fiscal year’s grant payout while also ensuring flexibility in future years.
• Support the development of the Grants Manager, overseeing training, professional development, and performance management.

Grants Management

• Oversee all aspects of pre-and post-award grant activities, including supporting the full lifecycle of the grant process, from review, approval, payment, reporting, amendments, and closeout.
• Review all grants, programmatic contracts, and Program-Related Investments for compliance with IRS regulations and Foundation requirements, working in partnership with the Grants Manager and collaborating with legal to ensure resolution of complex grantmaking issues, as needed.
• Regularly participate in program meetings to advise and guide teams on appropriate charitable giving mechanisms to achieve programmatic objectives and impact, necessary legal due diligence, and to collaborate on pipeline planning.
• Serve as primary relationship manager for the Foundation’s grantmaking partner, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, in the administration of the Skoll Fund, including coordinating fund grant recommendations, reconciling grants management system data against provider records, monitoring compliance with fund requirements, and partnering with Finance and Legal on entity selection for grant awards.
• Develop institutional grantmaking policies and procedures for staff and grantees. This includes overseeing the development and maintenance of a grants management manual that joins the Foundation’s grantmaking policies, processes, and tools with complete grantmaking system documentation.
• In close partnership with the Finance Department, oversee development of the annual grants-related data for Skoll Foundation’s 990-PF and Skoll Fund’s 990. Support Finance staff with the annual audit requirements.

Systems, Data, and Reporting

• In partnership with the Technology Team, serve as the primary business owner and champion of the grants management functionality within the Foundation’s Salesforce system, with accountability for developing and prioritizing a roadmap of grantmaking enhancements and features. Partner with the Technology Team on infrastructure, security, integration standards, and architecture review.
• Advise, coordinate, and collaborate on Foundation data strategy and governance for grantmaking data, including determining what data to capture and report for internal and external audiences.
• In collaboration with internal teams, continually review, refine, and re-align on definitions and consistent uses of programmatic codes and tags, and regularly review grantmaking data to ensure accurate representation of information for data analysis purposes.
• Prepare reports and data visualizations to provide a clear and compelling illustration of the Foundation’s grantmaking for internal and external stakeholders.
• Design, monitor, and report on key operational metrics for the grantmaking function, e.g., annual trends on grant types and transaction volume, to support continuous improvement and inform resourcing decisions.
• Continually stay abreast of new developments in Foundation grants management systems and technologies and their applicability to the evolving needs of the Foundation.

Sector Engagement

• Actively participate in philanthropy serving organizations, communities, and conferences as a Foundation representative.
• Research, synthesize, and share knowledge on grantmaking practices and funding mechanisms that are relevant to the Foundation.
• Advocate for equitable, values-aligned grantmaking approaches consistent with the Foundation’s mission.

Qualifications

• A passion for the Foundation’s mission.
• Minimum of 10+ years of experience in grants management, nonprofit, and/or an operations environment with grantmaking responsibilities, including at least 5+ years in foundation grants management or grantmaking operations.
• Robust knowledge of legal requirements and complexities of private foundation grantmaking is essential. This includes IRS expenditure responsibility requirements, equivalency determinations for international grants, fiscal sponsorship arrangements, and OFAC/sanctions screening protocols. Experience in a multi-entity grantmaking structure a plus. Experience in a multi-entity grantmaking structure a plus.
• A deep understanding of grantmaking processes and approaches and experience training staff on grantmaking policies and systems.
• Strong working knowledge of grants management systems, such as Salesforce, including experience prioritizing feature enhancements and partnering with other teams on configuration, testing, and rollout of new functionality.
• Experience designing and maintaining internal controls over private foundation grant disbursements, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting, and supporting both internal and external audit processes.
• Strong interpersonal and diplomacy skills and the ability to interact effectively with individuals at all levels of the organization.
• Excellent organization, project management, problem-solving and workflow/process design skills.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, manage heavy workload, and juggle competing priorities to meet tight deadlines in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
• Demonstrated ability to proactively communicate challenges and proposed solutions to problems.
• Demonstrated leadership and management skills, including organizational planning, goal setting, and people management and oversight.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Able to work on-site three days a week including Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Washington, DC.
• This role requires residence within 50 miles of our Washington, D.C. office; Candidates who live outside this radius must relocate within an agreed-upon timeframe; Fully remote arrangements are not available.
• Ability to travel up to 10% including domestic and international travel.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.
• Other duties as assigned.

The Skoll Foundation offers a comprehensive benefits package including a discretionary 10% employer sponsored retirement contribution, flexible time off, paid holidays, medical, dental, vision coverage, and generous retirement plan offerings.

Salary Range

$181,642 to $290,628

The full salary range for this role is $181,642 to $290,628 USD. New hires typically start between the range minimum and midpoint, or $181,642 to $236,187 USD, based on job-related skills, experience, and expertise evaluated during the interview process.

The Skoll Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.