Senior Director of Grants, Corporate & Foundation Relations

WHY THE Y:

The Y is a dynamic and diverse human service organization committed to nurturing the potential of young people, promoting healthy living and fostering a sense of social responsibility. The Y is a team effort, right down to our members. The care and concern we show for our members is our success gauge. In order to maintain our success, we must recruit and hire the best employees in the country. The Y commits itself to doing so by providing our employees competitive wages, benefits and opportunities for advancement through our training programs and internal promotions.

The YMCA of South Hampton Roads is recognized as a cutting-edge leader in the YMCA movement. The association serves the communities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Franklin, Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, South Boston/Halifax County Virginia, as well as the Outer Banks, Barco and Elizabeth City in North Carolina. Our facilities consist of 22 Family Centers, 3 satellite fitness centers, 2 regional day camps, 1 resident camp, and a nine-hole golf course operating a successful First Tee program.

Our association strongly supports staff development, training, and encourages membership in the nation's largest active chapter of YMCA Professionals Network (YPN).

The YMCA of South Hampton Roads is committed to the development of staff leadership. In addition to a robust benefit program, the YMCA of South Hampton Roads also provides training to secure a promising future for our employees and our association. Excellent benefits package includes complimentary YMCA family membership and additional generous childcare discounts, competitive pay and bonus opportunities, unlimited paid time off, telework options, health benefits and the industry leading 12% retirement plan with no match requirement.

POSITION SUMMARY:

This position supports the work of the Y, a leading nonprofit, charitable organization committed to strengthening community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Under the supervision of the Chief Development Officer, The Senior Director of Grants, Corporate & Foundation Relations is responsible for initiation and writing of proposals, relationship cultivation and engagement with funding sources and community organizations, researching of grant potential, direct outcome measurement and administration of compliance fulfillment for the YMCA of South Hampton Roads to advance its cause-driven work.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Seek out opportunities for grants and funding sources that support the YMCA of South Hampton Roads cause-driven work to support a minimum grant goal of $1,000,000 annually. 
• Generate proposals and supporting documents in response to solicitations and grant opportunities found by research to benefit programs, services, or capital projects across the Association.
• Cultivate relationships and promote advocacy with grant funding sources such as local, state and federal government, Y-USA, the United Way and others.
• Initiate and lead the efforts to identify potential grant sources by working with each Center Executive to meet grant requirements and advise on available funding opportunities.
• Provide all aspects of internal coordination of grant writing and reporting (working with various levels of staff to gather information for required reports).
• Initiate and lead efforts to identify grant funding needs throughout the association.
• Participates in the design of surveys, evaluation metrics, tools and data collection methods in collaboration with key staff and program directors. Assist when needed in the administration of data collection for funded programs.
• Develop and maintain grant calendar to indicate due dates for applications, reporting and other criteria.
• Implement, educate staff and oversee the standard operating procedures for grants management.
• Maximize the use of appropriate software tools for grant documentation, prospecting, cultivation and relationship building.
• Act as liaison with other staff as needed, in accordance with internal guidelines for grants applied for at the Center level.
• Manage signing of proposals when CEO and Board volunteer signatures are required.
• Communicate results of grant efforts to internal and external stakeholders such as policy volunteers.
• Communicates regularly and works closely with the CFO and/or Vice President of Finance to generate grant budgets and financial documents that support timely submission of funding proposals and spending of grant funds. 
• Represent and promote the YMCA in the local community.
• Proactively cultivate and maintain existing relationships with funding organizations and businesses that are in place as well as develop new relationships and engage with key parties within funding agencies.
• Participate in professional groups and community groups.
• Helps develop organizational goals and strategic plans for fundraising, balancing long-term direction and short-term requirements. Part of the development of systems and managing resources, including assigned parts of the financial development budget, needed to carry out the fundraising plans. 
• Assists in the establishment of the appropriate fundraising policies and procedures for the association.
• Develops strategies to increase volunteer involvement at all levels of financial development.
• Actively serves on the financial development committee. 
• Creates and implements effective communication strategies with compelling and inspirational messages to ensure donors, members and the community clearly understand the case for support.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent; Master’s degree preferred.
• Five or more years of professional experience with a background in fundraising in the YMCA or another non-profit preferred.
• Ability to relate to top community leaders and diverse groups of people from all social and economic segments of the community.
• Working knowledge of giving and charitable vehicles.
• Ability to create interpretive materials to enable potential donors to understand the YMCA and how they contribute to the achievement of its mission.
• Knowledge of the media and its use in gaining exposure for YMCA events and programs.
• Foundation and government grant writing expertise.
• CFRE or equivalent preferred.
• Experience in managing and delivering large scale special events. 
• YMCA Organizational Leader certification preferred.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES:

• Communication & Influence
• Philanthropy
• Program/Project Management
• Volunteerism

ENVIRONMENTAL AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use a computer for extended periods of time and be able to communicate using a computer and phone/smart device.  
• The employee frequently is required to sit and reach, and must be able to move around the work environment. 
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.  
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. 

ACCOUNTABILITY:

Accountable for completion of assigned goals as measured by the number of people served, cause driven measures, service satisfaction scores, operating results, and supervisor evaluation of assigned duties.

BACKGROUND CHECKS:

An offer of employment is contingent upon receipt of satisfactory results to meet minimum requirements of the position. They may include criminal background and reference checks, E-Verify, drug test, driver’s license record, and/or a Child Protective Services Check (CPS). Additional driver’s license check, CPS, criminal background check, alcohol, and/or drug testing may be required to be processed in the future in order to meet and/or maintain the requirements of this position.