Associate Director, Scholarships & Grants Management

Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
Associate Director, Scholarships & Grants Management

POSITION: Full-time Exempt

DEPARTMENT: Community Impact

REPORTS TO: Vice President, Community Impact

About the Organization

A FOUNDATION BUILT ON GREATER ATLANTA’S FUTURE

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta is one of the nation's largest community foundations, with over $1.7 billion in assets and more than seven decades of philanthropic leadership. Through grants, donor services, and civic partnerships, CFGA advances equity and opportunity across 23 counties in the Greater Atlanta region.

The Role

WHERE PHILANTHROPY MEETS COMMUNITY IMPACT

Reporting to the Vice President, Community Impact, the Associate Director, Scholarships & Grants Management provides strategic leadership for the Foundation’s scholarship portfolio and discretionary grantmaking operations. The Associate Director leads scholarship donor stewardship and development, directs end-to-end scholarship and discretionary grant administration, and supervises a Scholarships and Grant Associate. Working with program leadership and cross-functional partners, the role oversees discretionary portfolio budgets, establishes due-diligence standards, and guides systems implementation and process improvement. The position combines relationship management, data-informed portfolio oversight, and people development to ensure equitable, effective administration aligned with donor intent.

Key Responsibilities

WHAT YOU’LL DO
Scholarship Donor Relationships and Development

• Lead approximately 30 scholarship funds and aligned donor relationships, providing strategy, stewardship, and guidance on fund design, use, and impact.

• Lead a supporting organization scholarship partnership, overseeing strategy and coordination.

• Partner with the Philanthropy department to coordinate donor referrals and scholarship-fund relationship handoffs.

• Lead cultivation, scoping, and onboarding of new scholarship donors and programs, including active prospects, referred by the Philanthropy department; develop standard program packages for donor conversations.

• Coordinate with the Marketing and Communications department on all external facing communication and collateral on scholarships including for donor cultivation and stewardship, and storytelling on the programmatic impact of the scholarships portfolio

• Represent the scholarship portfolio to donors, families, community and university partners, and external stakeholders, including donor and recognition events.
  

Scholarship and Grantmaking Portfolio Leadership

• Direct end-to-end scholarship and discretionary grantmaking operations, ensuring quality, timeliness, equity, and alignment with donor intent.

• Partner with the Director, Community Impact to oversee approximately $12M in scholarships and $10M in discretionary grants, monitoring commitments, payouts, and budget variances.

• Set and monitor scholarship portfolio indicators, dashboards, and reporting; use analysis to identify improvements, additional services, and opportunities to strengthen scholar retention and postsecondary persistence.

• Develop annual workplans, cycle calendars, and resource plans for scholarships and discretionary grants, aligning staffing with portfolio volume and complexity.

• Partner with the Director, Community Impact to establish and maintain scholarship and discretionary grant due-diligence standards aligned with industry best practices.

• Partner with the Director, Community Impact to use data to guide scholarship and discretionary grantmaking strategy, reporting, and decisions.
  

Systems Ownership and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as the department liaison to Finance and Shared Services for scholarship and discretionary grant transaction handoffs, disbursements, reconciliation, and payment resolution.

• Partner with Shared Services to establish scholarship and discretionary grant compliance standards covering eligibility, applicant and grantee risk, award terms, expenditure responsibility, and reporting; ensure adherence to IRS and Foundation requirements.

• Partner with General Counsel on scholarship and discretionary grant agreements and contracts; provide expertise on scholarship regulations and best practices.

• Partner with IT to oversee implementation, configuration, and change management for Asana and Foundant’s Scholarship Lifecycle Management (SLM) and Grants Lifecycle Management (GLM) platforms.

• Establish departmental relationship-management workflows for fiscally sponsored organizations; manage select fiscally sponsored relationships.

• Improve scholarship and discretionary grant policies, processes, and workflows; maintain documentation and lead cross-role training.

• Support Foundation-wide initiatives and represent Community Impact operations on cross-departmental projects.
  

People Leadership and Development

• Supervise and develop a high-performing Scholarships and Grants Associate, including recruiting, hiring, orienting, coaching, performance management and professional development.

• Set shared standards, priorities, and accountability for the Scholarships and Grants Associate.

• Model equitable, accountable, and community-centered leadership aligned with the Foundation’s core values.