Grants Officer @ Schmidt Sciences

Operations & Logistics (2)
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Operations & Logistics (2)

Salary Range: 107000 to 153000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

About Hillspire, LLC

Hillspire is an integrated family office management company serving all the investments, foundations and activities of Eric and Wendy Schmidt and family, including The Schmidt Family Foundation, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Schmidt Sciences, and employing across all entities 400+ employees worldwide.

GPS Team Values

Consistent with Schmidt entity and Hillspire organizational values, our team is guided by core values that shape our internal goals, strategies, and the ways we work as a team and with our partners, including:

● Sense of Purpose - The work we do matters. We don’t lose sight of the larger impact of our day to day work - how it can positively impact grantees and communities.

● Bring out the Best - There is strength in diversity. We need different voices and perspectives to achieve our goals. Using a growth mindset, we strive to bring out the best in ourselves and support different ways of thinking and doing in our work.

● Collaboration - The work we do is too big and too complex to go it alone; collaboration is essential. We remain flexible and adaptable in engaging with others in order to foster shared understanding and make progress towards goals.

● Innovation + Creativity - We passionately imagine new ideas and invent new routes forward. New doesn’t necessarily mean the best. Innovation means acknowledging the work of our predecessors. We advance lessons learned: valuing new experience while not losing the insights of the past.

● Gratitude - We’re grateful for the opportunity to do this work. We stay humble and recognize the privilege inherent in the work we do.

The Opportunity

With substantial growth at Hillspire and across all of the Schmidt entities, Hillspire’s Grants and Philanthropic Services team is poised to play an increasingly pivotal role in supporting the philanthropic ambitions of the Schmidt family. Reporting to a Director of the Grants and Philanthropic Services team, the incoming role will serve as a resident expert in grantmaking and philanthropic practices, leading with a collaborative and client service approach.

Building and maintaining relationships with program leads and business partners across the Schmidt charitable organizations, the position will operate as a resource and thought partner throughout the entirety of the grant life cycle and grantmaking practice. This person will encourage and inspire best-in-class grantmaking strategies and approaches, advise on how to leverage best practices in the sector, as well as help to leverage collective knowledge and skills to benefit the Schmidt philanthropic ecosystem.

Given the expansion of the Schmidt family’s charitable endeavors and ambitions, the new hire will join Hillspire at a time of innovation, increased impact, and elevated leadership in the sector. This role provides an exciting opportunity to influence, support, and implement the philanthropic systems and practices that will foster greater impact in the years ahead.

Key Priorities:

Consulting and Collaboration

Build trust, rapport, and respect with program staff working within Schmidt entities on specific and broad charitable approaches. Act as an operational and advisory partner to support activities and goals for grantmaking.

Advise, lead, and support grantmaking efforts with presence and confidence to facilitate conversations, advocate a point of view, and incorporate multiple perspectives.

Cultivate relationships and touchpoints with colleagues from across the enterprise, including Legal, Finance, and Communications, to ensure grantmaking activities, operational goals and overall strategic priorities are integrated, aligned, and on track.

Grants Management and Grantmaking Practice

Support the ongoing establishment of a sophisticated culture of grants management and effective philanthropic practices across the Schmidt entities.

Provide expert advice for individual grants and to grantees on matters such as charitable purpose, effective due diligence, assessing grantee organizational capacity/health, grant and portfolio structuring, as well as monitoring and measuring impact.

Serve as a grantee advocate by designing processes that consider equity and partnership as well as streamlined and purpose-driven processes.

Take a holistic big-picture view to advisement on grantmaking strategies, portfolios, and goals, while also working on individual grants from inception through the complete lifecycle. Ensure alignment between the set-up of individual grants and overall operational and charitable goals, as well as overall alignment with Hillspire values and priorities.

Proactively identify and propose workflow improvements, leading the iteration and refinement of critical operating structures and processes for grantmaking.

Utilize AI Tools to create process improvements and efficiencies. Proactively learn about, identify and propose new uses of AI that will increase effectiveness.

Serve as a key contributor to the ongoing development and implementation of the current and future Grants Management system to support the grantmaking process.

Grant Processing

Coordinate with Programs to manage the grantee application process, including answering grantee questions and problem-solving application submission issues

Process grants that are approved by the Schmidt entities, including conducting due diligence, coordinating with Legal to manage compliance issues and risks, coordinating with Finance for grant payment, ensuring a complete grant file via data entry and document upload, reviewing grantee reports, and completing grant close-out, among other grant processing tasks and responsibilities

Manage the compliance and regulatory aspects of grantmaking with 501(c)4 social welfare organizations, 501(c)3 private foundations, and public charities, as well as via donor advised funds.

Data/Insights/Learning

Develop and socialize frameworks for data collection and to share data-driven insights, including the use of AI tools to analyze, understand and share collected data. Use data for knowledge sharing, monitoring, forecasting and planning, and other learning and operational needs.

Share knowledge and create resources/tools. This includes taking an analytical and problem-solving approach to improve how the Schmidt entities collect, curate and use knowledge and information about grants and grantees.

Coordinating with others, create and deliver staff onboarding sessions and trainings on Salesforce, philanthropic best practices, and grants management.

Collect and encourage feedback across Schmidt entities to be able to identify and respond to training needs and opportunities

Qualifications:

Hillspire seeks a grants professional with three or more years of operations/data/systems work in the philanthropic sector, preferably within or for private philanthropic institutions.

Ideal Candidate:

The successful candidate knows first-hand the nuances and complexities of grantmaking operations from their work across a breadth of charitable vehicles and with a diverse array of grantees and partners. While previous experience in grants management is not required, candidates must be well read, interested and knowledgeable regarding current debate, practices, and perspectives within the philanthropic sector.

As a primary contributor to the development and management of Hillspire’s grants infrastructure and process workstreams, the ideal candidate will be a systems thinker and data-driven. Experience working in a grants management system and with AI tools is a distinct advantage.

The hire will work with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders in this position which requires they possess an innate ability to tailor their approach and communication style for diverse audiences. Seeking to learn and understand others’ perspectives, the ideal candidate will bring diplomacy and professionalism to every interaction. Self-driven motivation is key, as is the comfort and confidence to express one’s expertise and manage through influence. Demonstrated discretion and unimpeachable ethics and honesty are required.

Success in this position requires a hire who leads with strong emotional intelligence, a client-service orientation, and a drive towards continuous process improvements. This individual has the ability to move seamlessly across teams and contexts. They effortlessly maintain a holistic view of the work and simultaneously track the details to execute. Demonstrating superb project management skills, the candidate will thrive in an environment that requires navigating competing and shifting priorities, timelines, and deadlines. Comfort with ambiguity and change is essential as the hire will be joining an organization experiencing significant growth and development.

This is an exempt position.

Grants Officer

Schmidt Sciences

Compensation Overview

Key Priorities:

Qualifications:

Ideal Candidate:

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