Grantmaking and Compliance Manager, Legal & Compliance (Washington, DC; Durham, NC; Chicago, IL)
Arabella Advisors is seeking an experienced, detail-oriented professional who will ensure Arabella’s nonprofit clients’ subgrants (outgoing grants) are compliant with relevant policies.
This role sits on the Legal & Compliance Team. Compliance team members provide technical expertise to the nonprofit organizations Arabella supports that serve as fiscal sponsors, including the New Venture Fund, the Windward Fund, and the Hopewell Fund—all 501(c)(3) public charities—and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4). These managed nonprofit organizations house new and innovative public interest projects -- many focused on conservation, global health, and civic engagement -- as well as coordinate collaborative initiatives between donors and administer grants programs. Many of these projects use a variety of grantmaking strategies to further their missions.
Our team members are deeply passionate about the role that smooth, efficient back-office organizational operations play in achieving social impact. Our colleagues are experienced and skilled in areas like non-profit (c3) and (c4) compliance, budgeting and finance, human resources, technology, and project management. Compliance team members work closely with client-facing colleagues to ensure that projects have the infrastructure needed to meet their strategic and programmatic goals.
Essential Responsibilities (60%):
Serve as a technical support resource for outgoing grants, by—
- Reviewing and responding to subgrant questions from client-facing team members on topics such as proposals and budgets, due diligence, reporting guidelines, and subgrant agreements to ensure subgrants comply with Partner Nonprofit Organization (PNPO) policies, applicable laws and regulations, and funders’ restrictions.
- Ensuring subgrant process, policies, tools, and resources are clear and up to date; developing new processes, policies, tools, and resources as needed; and conducting subgrant onboarding for new employees.
- Identifying compliance and risk issues related to subgrants and escalating issues to other team members or Legal department, as needed.
- Joining calls with subgrantees, PNPO fiscally sponsored projects, and clients as needed to respond to questions.
- Driving operational and procedural improvements related to subgrants; collecting and analyzing data to track compliance and client service metrics related to subgrants.
Other Responsibilities (40%):
Support general nonprofit compliance needs, by -
- Completing compliance related tasks in support of Arabella and the PNPOs
- Contributing to the team and Arabella’s significant year-over-year growth by improving our systems, operations and processes, training teams on updated content, and answering questions from colleagues.
- Contributing to the achievement of important team objectives
- Developing an understanding of relevant emerging and critical philanthropic trends, and gaining expertise on key nonprofit compliance rules and regulations
To Be Successful In This Role, You’ll Need:
- 3-5 years of relevant work experience, at least 2 years of which includes direct work with grants.
- Direct experience with reviewing grants, including familiarity with due diligence, grant agreements, and general terminology.
- Demonstrated knowledge of grant making compliance as it relates to section 501c3 and c4 of the Internal Revenue Code.
- Ability to clearly communicate and explain grant terminology to interested parties in simple, everyday language, including adapting style, tone and content to a variety of audiences.
- Experience developing internal policies, procedures, and staff training materials.
- The ability to take ownership and be creative and solutions-oriented when encountering challenges that don’t have obvious answers, including the ability to solve challenges independently and create new systems/processes where they didn’t exist before
- The ability to effectively manage multiple demands, projects and deadlines, proactively problem solve, and ensure quality control
- The ability to solve complex challenges, provide proactive and effective client-centered solutions, pass along service lessons to teammates, and demonstrate a strong understanding of the client’s perspective
- A high level of emotional intelligence and the ability to use that intelligence to appropriately adapt to stakeholders’ needs
- The ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals, including supporting efforts that promote a safe and welcoming culture, providing timely and constructive feedback, and highlighting and sharing significant and new knowledge across the team
- The ability to use available resources and feedback to continually develop mastery in your role and facilitate team learning, including a willingness to request feedback and incorporate it to improve individual performance and to seek out and participate in career-relevant learning activities
- The ability to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into work processes and demonstrate understanding of how oppression, privilege, and power present in interactions and work
Our Core Competencies
- Ability to provide excellent service to clients, including being able to diagnose and anticipate difficult service challenges, provide proactive and effective client-centered solutions, pass along service lessons to teammates, and demonstrate a strong understanding of the client’s perspective
- The ability to effectively manage projects, proactively problem solve, and ensure quality control
- A high level of emotional intelligence and the ability to use that intelligence to appropriately adapt to stakeholders’ needs
- The ability to effectively help communicate complex and nuanced messages to a variety of audiences, including adapting style, tone and content to meet various needs
- The ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals, including supporting efforts that promote a safe and welcoming culture, providing timely and constructive feedback, and highlighting and sharing significant and new knowledge across the team
- The ability to use available resources and feedback to continually develop mastery in your role and facilitate team learning, including a willingness to request feedback and incorporate it to improve individual performance and to seek out and participate in career-relevant learning activities
- The ability to take ownership and be creative and solutions-oriented when encountering challenges that don’t have obvious answers, including the ability to solve challenges independently
- The ability to integrate DEI into work processes and demonstrate understanding of how oppression, privilege, and power present in interactions and work
Working with Us
This position can be hybrid in Washington, DC; Durham, NC; or Chicago, IL. Please note that all Arabella Advisors’ offices have reopened, and we work in a hybrid environment.
We reopened our offices in Summer of 2022 and work with a hybrid workplace strategy to ensure continued flexibility for our staff, while deepening our strong culture rooted in collaboration and in-person interactions between colleagues. We expect that after their initial onboarding, all Arabellans will have the choice of two hybrid schedules. Our hybrid schedule options include Flex, with 1-2 days per week in the office, or Office-based, with 3+ days per week in the office (or more if preferred) and the remaining days working at home/remotely. We will make reasonable accommodations under the guidelines of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers
page to learn more.
About Arabella Advisors
Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We work on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience. The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Advancing DEI within our firm and in our work with partners is critical to our mission. To be effective partners to philanthropists, nonprofits, and communities impacted by philanthropic dollars, we need to have a highly diverse staff, a workplace where individuals are encouraged to retain their uniqueness and can feel a sense of belonging, and a nuanced understanding of the racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other disparities that undergird the issues we engage in and the interactions we have with one another. For us, equity means that our staff members, our clients, and the people they serve can experience the same level of success, no matter their starting place. We expect all our employees to share this commitment, and always seek ways to improve how well we live these values. Click
here to learn more about DEI at Arabella and read our official DEI statement.
Total Rewards (compensation and benefits)
This is a full-time position. We offer a competitive and holistic total rewards package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits. Our compensation ranges are based on salary ranges for similar sized organizations in the professional services sector and adjusted for local labor market rates and differentiated by geography.
Annual Pay Ranges for This Position:
Durham: $63,000 - $71,000
Chicago: $66,000 - $75,000
DC: $70,000 - $80,000
All full-time staff are eligible for our generous benefits package on their first day of employment:
- Health insurance- On average Arabella pays 86% of the medical premium, 80% of the dental premium, and 100% of the vision premium
- Paid time off- 16 days vacation, 10 personal days, 11 company holidays (7 federal and 4 more from a list of inclusive cultural and religious holidays and your birthday), 20 hours volunteer leave, 8 weeks parental leave
- 401(k) retirement plan- We offer a 4% employer match on a dollar-per-dollar basis, and there is no waiting or vesting period; all funds contributed by you and Arabella are yours to keep on day 1
- Reimbursements for your personal cell phone plan and fitness
- Pre-tax withholding for transportation and parking
- Bonus incentive opportunities
- Access to professional development opportunities
Submit a resume and a one-page cover letter online. The cover letter should address why you’re excited to work at Arabella and why you’re qualified for this specific job.
Arabella Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to racial equity. If we can make the application process easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please let us know.
We encourage you to read (or listen to)
our DEI statement prior to applying. We make a particular effort to recruit people of color and members of marginalized groups to apply for open positions. Once you have applied, we welcome your feedback on how you have experienced our values around DEI in the recruitment process.
We will review applications as they are received and look forward to hearing from you.
