Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation Seeks Director of Grant Programs
The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation is hiring a Director of Grant Programs to lead the
operational and strategic aspects of its grantmaking. This is a new position intended to provide
additional staffing and focus on grants at the Community Foundation. The Director of Grant
Programs will be a member of the leadership team and will report to Karla Twedt-Ball, Senior Vice
President, Programs and Community Investment. Applications will be accepted through Monday,
February 6, 2017 by 4:30 p.m. CST. Resumes and cover letters can be sent to [email protected]. The
full job description is at www.gcrcf.org.
Director of Grant Programs Position Description
Title:
Director of Grant Programs
Reports to:
Senior Vice President, Programs & Community Investment
Direct Reports: Program Officers (2), Program Assistant
Total Team: 4
Position Summary:
 Connect grantmaking to organizational mission of supporting a vibrant community by guiding
policy and strategy for the Community Foundation grantmaking work
 Provide leadership to and management of grants team
 Analyze, evaluate and maximize the effectiveness of the Community Foundation’s grantmaking
on the quality of life in Linn County
 Contribute to overall Community Foundation leadership through participation on Leadership
Team, providing a grantmaking perspective
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
Grantmaking:
 Analyze and recommend unrestricted grantmaking strategies that support the organizational
mission and community leadership efforts, through working with the grants team, nonprofit
community, the Committee on Grantmaking & Community Leadership and the Board
 Generate and analyze reports on grantmaking data to evaluate patterns, trends and possibilities;
share for organizational learning with staff and board, as appropriate
 Supervise grants team, including providing leadership on hiring, training, and scheduling; as well
as evaluating and ensuring accuracy, timeliness and the completion of work
 Assess and revise grants team duties and responsibilities as needed to optimize staff strengths
and skills and enable staff capacity for emerging opportunities
 Design and implement annual plan for professional development in conjunction with grants
team
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Oversee design, implementation and maintenance of workflow processes and procedures to
optimize efficiency and accuracy
Develop and monitor the discretionary grants budget in conjunction with the finance team
In partnership with program officers, work with Community Foundation staff and leadership to
recruit diverse, engaged grant committee members
Oversee structure and content of grant applications
Maintain a working knowledge of current community trends and activities that relate to the
wide-ranging Community Foundation grantmaking interests, drawing on program officer
expertise and incoming grant applications
Monitor legal compliance and maintain departmental policies and procedures as appropriate to
adhere to IRS regulations and grantmaking best practices, including the National Standards
grants and scholarships policy documents
Maintain, update and revise grant award and agreement documents, terms and conditions;
assume responsibility for letters generated from the foundation management system, including
adaptation to updates and changes whether technical, content or organizational
Maintain expertise in the foundation management system and provide backup and support to
the program officer lead for the online grant application portal
With the Senior Vice President, provide staff leadership to the Grantmaking & Community
Leadership Committee related to grantmaking goals
Connecting Donors to Mission
 Ensure timely, accurate management of donor advised grantmaking
 Work with program officers and development staff to ensure high quality service to donoradvisors
 Review and verify all data, reports and invoices for competitive donor-advisors
 Assume responsibility for direct communication with donor-advisors as needed
 Support the grants and development teams in their work to ensure that donors have access to
current community information and knowledge of effective strategies that will enable them to
accomplish their desired philanthropic intent
 Work with a cross-department team to create and maintain reports for grant committees and
competitive donor-advisors that incorporates data from grant applications and grant reports
Community Foundation Leadership
Leadership team members are expected to:
 Collaborate across organizational functions to identify and operationalize opportunities for
organizational growth and improvement
 Continuously improve organizational policy and operations to ensure efficiency and adaptation
to change and growth
 Support a staff learning model to achieve high level knowledge of the field as well as emerging
trends in philanthropy
 Ensure continuity of operations
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
 Proven ability to lead a team, including assessing and refining complex operational processes
and procedures and managing team dynamics
 Proven relationship building skills and ability to both lead and participate in work
 Ability to define problems, engage in quantitative data analysis, establish facts and draw valid
conclusions
 Ability to read, analyze, and interpret complex documents
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Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from board members,
donors, staff, managers and the general public
Ability to design, implement and monitor workflow processes
Exemplary writing skills
Commitment to the team effort of the organization
Experience in working collaboratively with persons from diverse backgrounds and sectors of the
community.
Ability to use information technology to support operations and decision-making
Education & Experience:
 Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
 Minimum of five years of management experience with at least some of that in a leadership role
 Prior experience in a foundation or other nonprofit environment desirable
Resumes and cover letters should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, February 6, 2017 by 4:30
p.m. CST.
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