Hiring Organization Information
Position Information
The Organization
Ballmer Group Philanthropy is committed to improving economic mobility for children and families in the United States, funding leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunity and reduce systemic inequities.
Ballmer Group Philanthropy is both a national and regional funder – we have a presence and invest deeply in southeast Michigan, Washington state, and Los Angeles County. Our organization was co-founded by philanthropist Connie Ballmer and her husband Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, founder of USAFacts, and chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers. Learn more at ballmergroup.org and linkedin.com/company/ballmer-group.
Our Approach
Since our founding in 2015, our focus and impact areas have continued to expand, informed by our grantees' work and by data that shows where the deepest inequities lie. We invest in multiple impact areas and systems that can impact economic mobility - such as early learning, K-12 education, college and career pathways, housing, behavioral health, and criminal justice - and we support leaders and organizations that focus on undoing systemic racism and the barriers it has created. In addition, we make grants in “Levers” that can improve outcomes across these issue areas and in the priority regions, such as improving data/tech infrastructure for data collection and reporting, achieving community impact through rigorous local Place Based Partnerships, and partnering with Government to invest in what works.
The Opportunity
Ballmer Group seeks a proactive, collaborative, and detail-oriented Senior Grants Manager as part of their Philanthropy Team. The Senior Grants Manager will oversee broad grantmaking processes and provide high-quality consultative support to colleagues, grantees, and prospective grantees. This includes providing internal process consultation and training for staff and leadership, prioritizing day-to-day tasks for the Grants Management Team, and identifying opportunities for system and process improvements and collaborating on solutions. The role will help manage and facilitate use of the backbone grantmaking software.
The Senior Grants Manager reports to the Director, Grants Management and Operations and will join the team as one of three Senior Grants Managers within a highly collaborative six-person Grants Management Team. This role does not include direct people management.
Key Priorities & Responsibilities
- Ensure integrity in the grantmaking process through consistent and accurate management of decision-making processes, including ensuring protocols are followed and evidence of decision-making is accurately recorded, decision makers’ intentions are implemented in accordance with BGP policies, and process compliance issues are escalated appropriately.
- Maintain an up-to-date decision-making pipeline by building and maintaining collaborative relationships with program staff and leadership, conducting regularly scheduled portfolio reviews, holding 1:1 meetings with staff to provide guidance, and participating in team-specific meetings as appropriate.
- Drive staff fluency in grantmaking processes and protocols through holding regular office hours, providing ad hoc consultation on specific process questions, and lead training of staff related to grantmaking systems and processes.
- Contribute to on-time payments to grantees by producing accurate payment recommendation reports, collaborating with the donor-advised fund and/or the Ballmer Group Finance team to execute payments and resolve payment issues.
- Provide timely and clear advice and information to grantees and potential grantees, often serving as the face of BGP to external organizations and reflecting our values of collaboration, respect, agility, and accountability.
- Identify opportunities for grantmaking process and grants management system improvements and support the design and implementation of changes in collaboration with the Director of grants Management & Operations.
- Serve as subject matter expert on the grants management system, diagnosing/resolving system issues or escalating to the vendor as appropriate, supporting development/testing of new system configurations, and supporting rollout, training, and documentation on system features.
- Develop, implement, and maintain process documentation for both grants management and non-grants management staff, in collaboration with other grants management team members.
- Partner with the Director, Grants Management & Operations to design and implement new resources, including reporting products, information repositories, staff resources, and training materials to support knowledge sharing.
- Administer Ballmer Family giving portfolios and employee giving programs.
- Support accuracy of the Grants Management Team by reviewing grant, payment, and reporting set ups, answering questions and addressing issues for Grants Managers, and sharing information or resources as appropriate.
- Support coverage for other Strategy & Operations team members due to vacation, sick days, etc.
Required Experience, Skills, Education:
- Committed to supporting and driving Ballmer Group’s mission and core values of respect, collaboration, agility, and accountability
- 7+ years of experience working in a professional office environment in grants management, philanthropy, non-profits, or similar industries
- 5+ years of experience learning and using database solutions
- Bachelor’s degree
- Ability to operate effectively, even where there is uncertainty; secure and disseminate information and resources to address problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes
- Adept at making sense of complex, high-quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems
- Affinity for learning, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing
- Excellent communication skills, including both written and verbal
- Skilled at growing strong stakeholder relationships; listening and working collaboratively to deliver solutions that balance the needs of all stakeholders
- Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments; acts with a clear sense of ownership
- Excellent time management and task prioritization skills for themselves and others, with the ability to adapt and take on a variety of projects and tasks
- Strong comfort level with numbers and data, including experience producing data-driven reports, pivot tables, and/or dashboards
- Technology-oriented with strong troubleshooting skills, adaptability to new technologies, and fluent in the MS Office suite, particularly Excel and PowerPoint
- Moves with ease through complex policy, process, and people-related organizational dynamics to build understanding, gain buy-in, and achieve individual and shared goals
Preferred Experience, Skills, Education:
- Master’s degree in business, nonprofit management, or philanthropy
- Experience developing and delivering training on processes and operations
- Change management experience
- Experience with database solution SmartSimple and reporting tools such as Power BI