About Alta Futures

Alta Futures invests in bold ideas in unexpected places—overlooked opportunities that equip the next generation to flourish on a healthy planet, within a strong civil society, and as part of thriving communities. The team uses a full philanthropic toolkit that includes grants, c4 giving, and impact investing to accelerate meaningful progress.

Operating within a dynamic family office platform, Alta Futures brings a startup mindset to philanthropy. Unconstrained by traditional models, the team experiments with new ways to drive impact from co-creating with grantees to cross-pollinating expertise across ventures. Past collaborations have included introducing nonprofit leaders to tech veterans for skill-sharing and leveraging their network of gearheads to support STEM education through motorcycles. The approach is nimble, creative, and deeply relational.

Alta Futures is currently leading a national funder collaborative focused on boys and men, an emerging area of national focus. Watch this short video to learn more about the challenges and opportunities shaping this work. We also host events that amplify the efforts of our grantee partners and encourage others to see philanthropy as more expansive and creative than they may have imagined.

With a 20-year spenddown commitment and an ambitious roadmap ahead, Alta Futures has recently expanded its core team with the hiring of a Chief of Staff and Climate Director. Alta Futures now seeks a talented leader to fill the remaining key role of Democracy Director.

For more information about Alta Futures, please visit our website.
The Opportunity

Alta Futures is seeking an exceptional leader to manage and evolve our Democracy Pillar. This role is an extraordinary opportunity for a strategic thinker, builder, and relationship-driven leader to shape and implement an ambitious agenda at a time of urgent democratic fragility and real potential for civic renewal.

With a significant round of democracy grantmaking recently deployed, the focus over the next three years will be on stewarding existing grantee relationships, issuing opportunistic grants aligned with our strategy, and building a learning agenda to inform our next phase of grantmaking in 2028 and beyond. The right candidate will be energized by the opportunity to build trusted partnerships, support grantees beyond the check, and help shape a growing field of work.

This role will also play a key role in advancing the Boys and Men Funders Collaborative, a cross-cutting initiative aimed at strengthening civil society by addressing challenges facing boys and men across education, mental health, and civic connection. The Democracy Director will help ensure the collaborative’s success by coordinating across partners, stewarding funder relationships, and contributing strategic thinking to increase its effectiveness, visibility, and long-term impact.

The Democracy Director will report to the Founder and collaborate closely with the Chief of Staff, contributing to organizational learning, cross pillar innovation, and field level leadership. The ideal candidate will bring intellectual curiosity and thrive in a dynamic startup like environment. They will have a balanced and nuanced view of democracy, prioritizing democratic health over partisan outcomes and will be comfortable engaging across ideological lines.


Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Thought Leadership

• Lead and evolve the Democracy pillar strategy, with a focus on reducing polarization and extremism.
• Develop and steward pillar-specific learning to drive strategy refinement over time.
• Track policy, philanthropic, and geopolitical developments to stay ahead of the curve.
• Synthesize field learnings into actionable insights for Alta’s internal strategy and external voice.

Program Leadership

• Source, assess, and recommend a diverse array of high-impact grantees.
• Develop and manage a robust learning and impact measurement agenda for the Democracy portfolio.
• Steward long-term relationships with grantee partners, advisors, and collaborators to ensure sustained impact beyond the grant itself.
• Collaborate with the Investment Committee on reviewing impact investing opportunities aligned to the democracy strategy.
• Identify and recommend opportunities to deploy c4 dollars where advocacy can accelerate or amplify strategic objectives.

Field Engagement & Collaboration

• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with funders, nonprofits, civic leaders, and researchers working to improve American democracy.
• Represent Alta Futures in key networks and collaborative initiatives, and high impact convenings.
• Collaborate with colleagues leading other pillars on learning strategy and bringing Alta Futures’ organizational vision and potential to life.

Organizational Leadership & Operations

• Strengthen cross-pillar impact by contributing to key organizational cadences including Founder Syncs (board meetings), strategy meetings, team tacticals, and staff offsites.
• Oversee grantmaking and c4 budget and resources; manage data tracking, reporting, and grant administration processes.
• Contribute to a collaborative, joyful, and learning-oriented organizational culture grounded in the Alta Futures core values.

Candidate Profile

While no one candidate will possess every quality outlined for this position, successful candidates will also bring many of the following professional competencies and personal attributes:

Impact Depth and Range
5+ years of experience working in philanthropy, consulting, public policy, research, or nonprofit leadership.

Systems Thinking
A strategic mindset capable of connecting dots across, policy, community, and culture to identify leverage points for impact.

Field Fluency
Comfort navigating democracy funder networks, research institutions, nonprofits, and other ecosystem actors.

Relationship Intelligence
Proven ability to build and manage complex relationships with humility, integrity, and strategic intent.

Learning Mindset
Motivation to ask thoughtful questions, engage in reflection, and continuously pursue greater effectiveness.

Exceptional Communication Skills
Ability to convey complex ideas with clarity and nuance; strong listening skills; trusted by peers across diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

Adaptable and Self-Directed
Comfortable operating in evolving contexts; takes initiative and enjoys refining processes in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.

Values Aligned
Demonstrates and fosters Alta Futures’ core values:

• Curiosity: We believe there is always something new to learn
• Humility: We’re not the smartest people in the room
• Optimism: Problems intimidate, but possibilities inspire
• Pragmatism: A plan is what turns possibility into reality
• Joy: Work worth doing and doing well makes life better for everyone

While not required, experience in impact investing or c4 strategy is considered a plus.


‍Compensation, Benefits, & Work Environment

The salary range for this role is $170,000-$200,000 with a generous benefits package that includes a matching 401k plan, top-tier health coverage, fitness and wellness stipend. Our culture and work environment reflects our values, and includes regular opportunities for in-person team meetings and activities.

Alta Futures is headquartered in Chicago, IL. The Democracy Director can work remotely, but there is an expectation of at least 30% travel (including but not limited to a regular presence in Alta’s offices in Chicago).Contact

DSG | Koya has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Molly Brennan and Gina Wrolstad Kueber. To express interest in this role, please fill out our Talent Profile or email the search team directly at AltaFutures@koyapartners.com. Candidates are expected to share a resume and complete a questionnaire in lieu of a statement of interest. The Koya team will follow up with the required questions after an introductory conversation. All inquiries and discussions are strictly confidential.


DSG | Koya is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email NonprofitSearchOps@divsearch.com. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.


Alta Futures is the philanthropic entity of OnDean Management LLC, the family office of Jessica and Andrew Sieja. OnDean is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages expressions of interest from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.