Sr. Program Associate - Education Sector

Hawaii Community Foundation; Honolulu (HI); On-site; USD 58,300 - 64,130; Full time

Job summary

Hawaii Community Foundation seeks a Senior Program Associate to join its Education Sector in Honolulu. This role combines grant and scholarship administration with direct student support, emphasizing service excellence and data-driven processes to advance equitable education access.

You will coordinate internal and external communications, manage scholarship applications, and support program budgets, reports, and partnerships.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience.
• Experience with NextGen’s Scholarship Manager and Smart Simple preferred.
• Demonstrated passion for the betterment of Hawaii and its people.
• Ability to thrive in a highly collaborative and flexible organization.

Responsibilities

• Provide excellent customer service and manage the scholarship program hotline and email.
• Coordinate and deliver strategic communications to students, families, and staff.
• Assist in design, implementation, and evaluation of education grant and scholarship programs.
• Maintain scholarship and grants databases and generate reports.

Skills

Customer service

Data management

Communication

Project coordination

Training

Analytical

Tools

NextGen Scholarship Manager

SmartSimple

Excel

PowerPoint

Outlook

Job description

Sr. Program Associate - Education Sector

Full Time - Admin/Support Clerical Honolulu, HI, US

9 days ago Requisition ID: 1153

Salary Range: $58,300.00 To $64,130.00 Annually

Hawaii Community Foundation is seeking a Senior Program Associate to join our Education Sector team. This role requires a unique combination of skills: someone who is equally comfortable working directly with grant and scholarship applicants on a one-on-one basis, as well as detail-intensive administrative work that supports HCF’s strategy. Success in this role requires the ability to shift seamlessly between highly interpersonal work and data-intensive work while maintaining strong organization, accuracy, responsiveness, and follow-through.

At the Hawai’i Community Foundation (HCF), we believe that an organization’s team as a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" (Aristotle). To us, this means that we are committed to be a collaborative ‘ohana (family) that lives and actionizes our mission, respects and cares for each other, and innovates and learns together. We understand that we must rely upon all our individual strengths as we partner to provide excellent value and achieve effective results for our generous donors, community partners, and all of Hawai’i’s people.

Position Summary

Like all HCF team members and volunteers, the Sr. Program Associate exudes the heart and passion for HCF’s mission to inspire the spirit of giving and invest in people and solutions to benefit our community. Specifically, the Sr. Program’s Associate ‘s (PA) role is to ensure effective and efficient delivery of services to current clients of HCF’s scholarship and education grant programs to increase equitable access to education. The position provides this programmatic support through strategic coordination of internal and external communications and serves as the primary student support contact for scholarship applicants and recipients.

Key responsibilities fall within primary areas of focus and are as follows:

Strategic Student Support, Outreach & Communications

• Provide excellent customer service support and coordination as a primary manager of the scholarshipprogramhotline and email.
• Create, manage, and deliver timely and strategic communications to students, families, and student support staff about HCF’s scholarship program and process.
• Develop and deliver strategic outreach support to targeted student populations in alignment with program goals.
• Professionally represent HCF and advertise its scholarship program at outreaches and community events as needed.

Grant and Scholarship Administration & Project Management

• Contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of new and continuing education grant and scholarship programs to improve its impacts.
• Assist the Director and Officers with scholarship fund administration, conduct application review and due diligence, prepare for committee meetings, and record awards.
• Assist with development of Funding Opportunities and bids, conduct initial proposal due diligence, input grant proposals, prepare evaluation templates.
• Develop and maintain document files for grant programs to track requirements, final reports, contingencies, payments, and related grant/contract information.
• Lead in the documentation of processes or procedures to develop depth in support of programs or in the department.
• Assist with preparation, execution, payments and monitoring of scholarship payments, contracts and grants.
• Assist in preparing reports and project budgets for project leaders and relevant partners.
• Manage grant and scholarship project plans, communication and timelines.
• Assist in the collection and analysis of data, conduct research, and contribute to program impact and effectiveness.

Grants and Scholarship Management Systems (GMS & SMS)

• Support scholarship applicants, recipients, and related third parties to navigate the SMS.
• Provide support and coordination in managing the online GMS, SmartSimple, and SMS, Scholarship Manager, under the direction of the Education Team Director and Officers.
• Provide support in building and maintaining online and scholarship applications, fund profiles, platform messages, and user accounts.
• Provide support in building and maintaining online grant applications, progress/final reports, internal/external evaluations, and other forms through the GMS as applicable.
• Provide training and technical assistance to scholarship applicants, external decision-makers and fund advisors.
• May participate as a member of the Grants System Admin team as applicable/needed.

Records & Database Maintenance

• Maintain scholarship databases, including applicant, awardee, and scholarship fund information.
• Maintain grants database with grantee and grant seeker information.

Training and Support

• Act as a lead resource to other and/or new Education Team program associates, providing training as appropriate and assistance or support.

Customer Service

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with HCF partners, prospective applicants/grantees, existing awardees/grantees, and stakeholders at a variety of levels.

Meeting/Event Support (both virtual and in-person)

• Arrange and attend meetings and events to support Program Officers and/or Directors.
• Prepare meeting materials, produce meeting minutes, notes or summaries.
• Coordinate logistics and travel arrangements as necessary.

Strengthen the Team

• Motivate top performance and accountability through shared, and clear communication of collaborative goals and shared objectives.

Collaboratively Drive the Success of HCF

• Deliver and partner collaboratively as a team member internally with HCF colleagues to achieve greater resultsto ensure effective outcomes.
• Serve as collaborative partner with the donor development department to ensure comprehensive relationship management strategies are utilized.

Other Responsibilities

• Provide Welcome Experience reception coverage on a rotation and as needed.
• Serve as a knowledgeable and collaborative representative of HCF in the community.
• Perform other tasks as assigned.

Position Requirements

HCF believes in ensuring that our team members are capable of thriving in their positions. Accordingly, the Sr. Program Associate must possess the following knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, and education:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience required.
• Experience with NextGen’s Scholarship Manager and Smart Simple preferred.
• Demonstrated passion for the betterment of Hawaii and its people.
• Knowledge, sensitivity, and understanding of the history and complexities of Hawaii’s multicultural community.
• Capable of thriving in a highly collaborative and flexible organization with an appreciation and respect for colleagues of diverse backgrounds and perspectives and an enthusiasm to continually shift and evolve to meet the needs of the community, clients, and donors.
• Proven ability to recognize and balance competing interests, policy implications, and practical considerations within diverse groups of external and internal constituents to achieve effective outcomes.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate effectively with varied constituents including government officials, business and nonprofit leaders, and donors.
• Ability to be extremely discrete in working with or having knowledge of sensitive or confidential information related to client and donor information, relationships, and funds.
• Strong research, analytical, writing, presentation and organizational skills, and general math skills to review and produce business reports.
• Excellent time management and organizational skills to effectively meet multiple deadlines on various projects often running concurrently.
• Ability to perform work with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Demonstrates initiative.
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel/Databases, Outlook, and PowerPoint

Work Environment, Physical, and Mental Demands

• Works under regular office conditions with the ability to work remotely.
• General office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, with flexibility per needs of the business .
• Required to travel as needed.
• Ability to operate general office equipment including computer, copier, printers, fax machine, etc.
• Ability to lift, carry, push, pull, up to 25 lbs. of general office material or equipment.

This provides a general description of the common duties performed by a person in this position. It does not include every possible duty an individual in this position may be asked to perform and is not all-encompassing. Positions also may require “other duties as assigned” and such assignments are considered part of this position’s assignment. This job description is provided as a general summary and does not constitute a contract for employment and does not in any way alter Hawai`i Community Foundation’s employment “at-will” relationship with any employee in this position.