Manager, National Rainbow College Fund

At San Diego Foundation, we value our diverse and experienced staff who are committed to our mission of improving the quality of life within all of San Diego’s communities. We strive to be an employer of choice, offering a competitive compensation package, and a professional and vibrant work environment for those who have a passion for our mission that is carried out every day by providing leadership for effective philanthropy and promoting community solutions.

PURPOSE OF PROGRAM AND POSITION

The San Diego Foundation, a non-profit, public charity founded in 1975 and based in San Diego County, is one of the largest providers of scholarships and grants in southern California. While there are national scholarship funders for minority populations, there is not a dedicated nationwide funder for both out and closeted LGBTQ+ students. The LGBTQ+ community is facing legislation proposed at local and state levels throughout the county to diminish hard-fought-for rights. With constantly rising costs to attend any institution of higher learning, LGBTQ+ youth need dedicated financial resources to be able to transform their life trajectories.

The National Rainbow College Fund is a new scholarship for LGBTQ+ students offered state-wide with the ultimate goal of scaling to a national level. This would be a first-in-the-nation funder of scholarships for LGBTQ+ students who are in undergraduate or professional education programs.

San Diego Foundation is seeking an experienced, mission driven Manager, National Rainbow College Fund to join the Scholarships Team, who will be a vital contributor to the Foundation in creating, implementing and scaling a new scholarship fund for LGBTQ+ students state-wide.  Successfully accomplishing this will include both serving as an expert and state resource for current trends and issues concerning LGBTQ+ youth in higher education as well as building and stewarding relationships with NRCF donors and volunteers to grow the program. This is a hybrid role with weekly onsite requirements at our San Diego Headquarter Office in Liberty Station. 

EXPECTED RESULTS:

1. Create and manage a strategy to build, maintain and scale program.
2. Develop and implement outreach strategies to secure qualified pool of from across California.
3. Identify relationships with donors, corporations, and foundations in support of the scholarship.
4. Manage, assess and develop effective operational systems for the program.
5. Build and implement an online application process that maximizes staff efficiency and increases donor, volunteer and student accessibility and completed submissions.
6. Manage and implement the grant administration process that ensures that recipients receive their awards in a timely manner.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Lead and execute a full-service program for the Rainbow College Fund, including online application development, community outreach, program marketing, budget management, selection design, volunteer management and scholarship administration.
• Represent The San Diego Foundation with volunteers, community stakeholders, and media, in support of program goals that position SDF as a community leader in granting scholarships.
• Monitor program expenditures.
• Establish clear metrics for assessing performance. Conduct midterm and year-end evaluations.
• Become highly proficient with, and maintain current knowledge of the scholarship platform, including effectively testing the application and systems prior to launch. Track system issues and work with vendor to correct.
• Support an efficient and effective selection process for all scholarship funds to include qualifying applications, narrowing high-volume pools, facilitating the online review process, collecting finalist information, and verifying awards.
• Serve as primary manager of the outreach contact database, which includes researching and updating contact information and processing scholarship applications in the database.
• Serve as a liaison between schools and students in disbursing student payments, trouble-shooting all payment issues, and adhering to all foundation/school guidelines.
• Manage correspondence with student applicants, including e-mail blasts to applicants and tracking required paperwork from recipients and addressing potential forfeitures.
• Process scholarship grants in the database while working with the finance department to ensure proper approval of scholarship payments. Become highly proficient with, and maintain current knowledge of, Raiser’s Edge, Financial Edge, and GE, and the capabilities of each.  
• Support SDF’s community leadership efforts by:
• Ensuring complex projects are managed efficiently, supporting communication and coordination.
• Identifying and supporting alignment opportunities with appropriate local efforts and initiatives.
• Communicating the appropriate message to support these efforts.
• Additional responsibilities as assigned by the Director, Community Scholarships

Requirements

• Minimum of 5-7 years of management-level experience; background in education/scholarships or related experience in a private or community foundation, or comparable position in a corporate, government or nonprofit organization
• Minimum of 5 years managing large-scale programs
• Bachelor's or graduate degree in related field or equivalent experience
• Passion for the work and mission of San Diego Foundation to inspire enduring philanthropy and enable community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region
• Demonstrated track record in developing and utilizing systems with attention to detail, timeliness, and organization
• Experience and/or strong interest in LGBTQ+ issues
• Experience with a competitive grantmaking process
• Exceptional verbal, interpersonal and written communications skills, including experience creating public-facing professional writing, documents, presentations, and related content to convey a compelling and inspired vision and sense of core purpose to a wide range of people
• Ability to successfully organize and prioritize multiple projects, and successfully produce deliverables
• Outstanding project management skills, time management, attention to detail, and familiarity with project management software.
• Experience in database management, research and data mining and analysis
• Proven ability to professionally represent a program or organization with both internal and external customers
• Strong emotional intelligence and cultural competence
• Ability to work independently, make appropriate decisions and respond tactfully in all situations
• Advanced knowledge, experience, and proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and other relational database applications
• Ability to learn new programs, software and systems, including via self-guided training
• Strong writing, editing and proofing skills
• Ability to work well under pressure and in a fast-paced environment
• Must live in San Diego County
• Language Skills: Ability to read, write, and speak English fluently; Additional language proficiency helpful (Spanish)

Internal and External Contacts

• All SDF employees
• Board of Governors
• Prospective scholarship donors
• Scholarship Recipients
• College and University staff
• Nonprofit organizations
• Technology vendors
• Media
• Scholarship and financial aid staff
• General Public

Work Environment & Physical Demands

• Professional, hybrid work environment in San Diego
• Fast-paced work with multi-level distractions
• Ability to sit for prolonged periods of time at meetings, desk, computer, driving
• Ability to sit at a desk and view a computer screen for up to two hours
• Ability to type using a computer keyboard
• Ability to speak into and use a telephone

Background check required.

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

Benefits

Pay Range: $75,000 - $85,000 per year

San Diego Foundation is committed to practices that promote pay equity and transparency. Actual offers will be reflective of qualifications, skills and experience, internal equity, alignment with market data, among other relevant factors.

• Supportive, inclusive company culture; awarded Top Workplace by the San Diego Union Tribune 4 years in a row
• Flexible 9/80 Alternative workweek schedule, with every other Friday off (4-Day Workweek every other week)
• Hybrid work environment with support for at home office setup
• 100% Employer paid medical, vision, dental, life, AD&D and long-term disability premiums; 75% Employer-paid premiums for all dependents on your benefits
• 403B Retirement plan match up to 4% + Annual retirement plan bonus contribution based on total annual salary
• Annual Bonus Program
• 3 weeks of paid time off + 1 additional week off with pay in July (Summer Break!) for all staff
• 4-to-6-week sabbatical for every 5 years of service
• 13 paid holidays + 2 paid volunteer days off each year
• Extended Health Care Time accruing at 2.77 hours per pay period to a cap of 480 hours: use for sick time, family care, and parental leave baby bonding
• $100 monthly cell and internet reimbursement
• $75 quarterly gym reimbursement
• Donor Advised Fund contribution with no minimum and $600 annual match from the Foundation to a nonprofit of your choice
• Annual Anniversary Gift of $100 donation per year of service to a nonprofit of your choice