Senior Director of Grant Administration and Compliance

The Organization

Community Partners offers expert guidance, essential services, and a strong dose of passion to help foster, launch, and grow creative solutions to community challenges. For almost 30 years, hundreds of individuals, groups, foundations, and other institutions have worked with Community Partners to create new nonprofit projects, establish coalitions, and manage major philanthropic initiatives to benefit the region.

Across all program areas, Community Partners works toward our organizational vision: A vibrant society in which individuals and institutions use knowledge, resources, and relationships to build equitable, democratic, and thriving communities.

Our work includes:

Intermediary Programs

We help foundations, corporations, government agencies and other institutions achieve greater impact.

Fiscal Sponsorship

We provide the structure, finance and administrative services, expert counsel that help nonprofit leaders succeed.

Knowledge Sharing

We offer workshops, reports, speaking engagements and a range of publications to help strengthen the field.

Community Partners today works with upwards of 180 projects and initiatives and manages roughly $90 million in revenues annually. Our work spans the fields of civic engagement, arts and culture, education, racial and social justice, health, public policy, social services, and youth. To learn more, please visit us at www.CommunityPartners.org.

Community Partners® is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. In addition, the organization will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring.

THE POSITION

Reporting to the Chief Finance and Operating Officer, Community Partners seeks a Senior Director of Grants Administration and Compliance who will be responsible for expert direction, guidance, support, training, and oversight of a diverse portfolio of public and private sector funds of varied complexity, ensuring that they are administered in a fiscally responsible manner. Working in partnership with fiscally sponsored projects, program teams and financial services, the individual will oversee a diverse management team to implement grants, contracts, and subcontracts award administration while complying with governing policies, regulations, and requirements.

COMPENSATION

$130,000 – 150,000 DOE

Benefits include 15 paid holidays and 10 vacation days per year during first two years of employment and increases based on years of service thereafter, a 403(b) plan with employer match, medical, dental, vision, flex spending, and a range of professional development opportunities. Community Partners has a 9/80 work week option under which employees may elect to work 80 hours in 9 days and take every other Friday off (after completion of introductory period).

RESPONSIBILITIES

Award Administration

• Provide contractual advice and direction to fiscal sponsorship and intermediary program teams and fiscally sponsored projects in all grants and contracts award management processes and procedures that may involve contractual/regulatory issues, award negotiations on terms and conditions, modifications, reviewing proposals for compliance, preparation of cost components of proposals and grant applications, and developing tools and templates for cost approvals and revenue contractual approval requests. Provide final clearance for all non-routine issues/actions.

• Facilitation of award set-up meetings with internal and external stakeholders, including intermediary staff, program teams, human resources, and general counsel, to fully interpret, understand and communicate the criteria and requirements necessary to execute and manage an award.

• As needed, facilitate meetings with outside legal counsel to ensure all grant and grant-like instruments, sub-grant, and contract agreements (and modifications to such agreements) adhere to Community Partners policies and applicable funder regulations and that the organization’s comprehensive programmatic, compliance, and fiscal interests are considered and represented in such agreements.

• Develop and oversee standard terms and conditions for grant award letters, agreements, and revenue contracts.

Grants, Sub-grant, and Contract Administration

• Interpret and provide organizational guidance on US federal and non-federal regulations and standard terms and conditions that apply to grants, cooperative agreements, and other grant-like instruments issued by public sector and private entities.

• Oversee the creation of the award/program in the financial system of record (NetSuite), accurately reflecting funder terms, budgets, special conditions, and reporting requirements, providing the projects and administrators with the necessary information to maintain compliance, meet deliverables, and continue to be eligible for future funding.

• Supervise staff to monitor ongoing financial award activity of grants and revenue contracts to ensure that reporting requirements and deliveries are met. This includes developing talent and resources to manage a portfolio of private and public sector awards to comply with federal and public sector funding regulatory requirements and policies.

• Implement tools to monitor and review awards for data accuracy and adherence to required policies and regulations to mitigate risk, and to timely act on behalf of the organization to take appropriate corrective action to ensure the resolution of issues.

• Maintain permanent grant files and oversee grants component of Enterprise Resource Planning system (NetSuite)

Compliance

• Play a lead role in investigating and preparing the organization’s response to alleged compliance violations.

• Support Financial Services and senior leadership with risk analysis and mitigation efforts, pipeline analysis (working with Finance), dispute responses, and other issues. Remain current on changes within the industry through publications and continuing education.

• Manage and prioritize resources across teams to maximize efficiency.

• Facilitate or participate in orientation workshops to fiscally sponsored project leaders, program staff, and administrators about public sector policies, forms, and procedures.

• Strengthen and streamline award administration systems and processes to ensure compliance during post-award administration.

• Maintain up to date resource library (policy manuals and guidance and operational guidelines) for grants and sub-grants management, and other necessary subjects, based on industry standards, to assure that up-to-date, clear, and easy to access written guidance and instructions are available to all staff and fiscally sponsored projects.

• Train staff and projects on public sector documents, budgets, and scope to ensure compliance with funder requirements and how to make responsibility determinations and review costs for reasonableness, allowability, and applicability.

• Identify funder terms and conditions that require attention and communicate creative solutions to internal and external stakeholders to address the issue and ensure continued funding.

• Collaborate with departments to facilitate best grants management practices and guide external department staff to resolve compliance issues. Take appropriate action to process necessary corrections.

• Communicate in a clear and concise manner to elicit and disperse information to non-accountants.

• Utilize reports, queries, and dashboards to monitor the accuracy of data for compliance purposes and accuracy in the financial system of record.

• Provide training and support in award administration planning, systems development, implementation, monitoring, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Reporting and Audits

• Lead cross-cutting, regular portfolio reviews of grants and contracts covering financial status, critical issues, and actions required, preparing findings/recommendations to inform continuous improvement.

• Liaise with Chief Finance and Operations Officer and financial services to provide integrated grant and financial portfolio reviews.

• Design and maintain systems for regular reporting on compliance efforts to senior management and the Board of Trustees.

• Support external audits.

• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Excellent communicator across all mediums who prioritizes easing access to, and sharing of, information across the organization.

• Demonstrated project management and organizational skills to set priorities, establish and adhere to deadlines, and follow through in a timely manner.

• Customer-service oriented.

• Continuous learner.

• Sound judgment as both a thought-partner, problem-solver, and decision-maker.

• Business and operational acumen; excellent problem-solving and analytic skills.

• Recognized as a relationship-builder who values cross-collaboration and exhibits an adaptable, flexible, diplomatic, and team-oriented approach.

• Resourceful in setting priorities and guiding investments in people and systems.

• Demonstrated ability to supervise and motivate staff and support staff well-being.

• Deeply committed to exhibiting a strong and sustained commitment to the mission of Community Partners.

• Committed to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace where all feel that they belong.

• Exercises discretion in maintaining the security of sensitive information and materials.

EXPERIENCE

Bachelor’s degree with a preference for a Master’s degree in business administration, Accounting, Finance, or related field.

• Ten years of grant administration and compliance management experience in a non-profit, higher education or similar organization that receives federal and other public sector funding and delivers sub-grants to partners. Five or more of those years should be in roles that supervise grant administration and compliance teams. Demonstrated expertise, skills, and experience, including supervision, combined with education, may substitute for years of experience.

• Thorough knowledge, experience, and training in federal grants and contracts regulations, policies, and procedures and knowledge of non-profit organizational legal requirements, policies, and procedures (OMB A-133, A-110, A-122, 2 CFR 200 including supplementals),

• Grant administration experience spanning award negotiations, sub-grantee management, procurement and performance auditing and dispute resolution.