Department: Grants Management

Reports to: Managing Director, Grants Management

Hours and Location: Hybrid work environment, one day per week. Must live in the Bay Area and be able to easily travel to Oakland, CA.

Starting Salary: $75,000-$85,000 annual, depending on experience

Position Summary

About the East Bay Community Foundation

Founded in 1928, East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) is one of the nation’s first community foundations. Named the country’s “boldest” community foundation in 2019 by Inside Philanthropy, EBCF is dedicated to employing innovative strategies to advance an inclusive, fair, and just East Bay through four core program strategies.

Arts and Culture for Social and Racial Justice
Capacity Building with a Racial Equity Lens
Community Organizing, Power Building, and Movement Building
Fostering Inclusive Economic Models

As a community foundation, our donors are a critical partner in addressing the racial and economic inequities in the region. We take the time to understand what’s important to donors, provide opportunities to align their giving to the priority areas of the foundation, and work in collaboration with our programmatic team that has a thorough understanding of the social and economic challenges in the East Bay and has deep relationships with the nonprofits and policymakers that are most effectively tackling those challenges.

With a strategic regional focus on Alameda and Contra Costa counties, EBCF works towards its framework of “A Just East Bay,” which includes grantmaking, impact investing strategies, and a new way of taking steps to build solidarity among donors and community. We commit to employing all of our resources in service to our mission and push beyond industry norms to offer uniquely impactful opportunities for our fund advisors to help build economic equity for all. As a result, EBCF allows fund advisors to make impact investments from their Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) and grants as a part of their overall giving strategy.

Approaching 100 years of service in the East Bay, join EBCF in eliminating structural barriers, advancing racial equity, and transforming political, social, and economic outcomes for all who call the East Bay home for generations to come.

About the Position

The EBCF Grants Specialist works in a team to oversee and execute all aspects of the grant making process. Key responsibilities include grants processing, ensuring grant compliance throughout the life of a grant, maintaining the grants database, creating and processing various grant letters and agreements, supporting applicants and grantees, scheduling and tracking grant payments, reviewing and analyzing reports, providing expertise to a variety of stakeholders, and contributing to ongoing process improvement.

The Grants Specialist also plays a central role in administering and promoting scholarships. Key responsibilities include ensuring compliance with IRS guidelines and implementing best practices throughout the scholarship process, managing the scholarship database and online platform, supporting applicants and school-based personnel, facilitating all aspects of the selection/award process, and processing award payments and letters.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Grants

Support the grantmaking lifecycle from recommendation through grant award, this includes grants of various level of complexity (e.g.: simple grants to charitable organizations, expenditure responsibility grants, scholarships, etc.) by maintenance of support documents, and responsive support and troubleshooting as issues arise
Communicate with donors, and grantees, as well as program, development, and finance staff in support of the grant making process from recommendation through grant award
Participate in cross training to enhance team capacity and support other team members as needed
Perform grant due diligence based on compliance, risk, and grant complexity and flag grants according to EBCF’s grants administration process
Ensure any legal questions are resolved in consultation with the grants management team, internal policies, and/or outside legal counsel
Communicate with grantees to gather information and to ensure compliance with IRS rules and regulations for both grant making and reporting, and offers support with no-cost extensions, expenditure reporting, and any other grantee questions
Support EBCF’s growing work, including development of policies and processes to align our grant making with A Just East Bay
Identifies and supports grants manager with operational improvement initiatives, special assignments as needed
Collaborate closely with the Development and CIP teams on grant volume, schedules, process improvements, and grant/payment tracking
Protect information of a sensitive and confidential nature

Scholarships

Scholarship Management: Provide support for multiple scholarship funds, including scholarship processing and all compliance and administration facets of existing scholarship funds; maintains deep knowledge of federal scholarship regulations and industry best practices
Support the administration of existing scholarships through effective communication and workflow between applicants, school-site personnel, and committee members
Review and catalog all incoming scholarship materials, including those submitted through the online platform (SurveyMonkey Apply)
Oversee all aspects of the selection and award process for assigned scholarships
Communicate with applicants/awardees to gather information and to ensure compliance with scholarship guidelines
Protect information of a sensitive and confidential nature

Qualifications

Ability to approach each day with curiosity, humor, integrity, humility, compassion and optimism;
A commitment to learning, accountability, and a healthy team dynamic
Exceptional attention to detail with ability to link work with the Foundation’s goals and objectives
High level of comfort with understanding and communicating compliance and regulation issues, including the ability to work through solutions using excellent judgment and integrity
Strong written and verbal communication skills; comfortable communicating via email, Slack, and Zoom
Excellent interpersonal skills that contribute to effective collaborations
Ability to work well under pressure with frequent interruptions, to prioritize changing workloads to meet tight deadlines, and to work both independently and as a member of a team
Proficiency with Grants Management & Scholarship software preferred
Fluency with Microsoft Suite including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook
Strong familiarity with Docusign, Adobe, Zoom, Google docs, Slack preferred
Knowledge of community foundations, private foundations, and non-profit agencies is helpful

Racial Equity Competencies

Understanding and Applying Racial Equity
Demonstrate commitment to building or deepening the understanding of racial equity:
Demonstrates a strong grasp of racial equity principles, including structural racism, white privilege, and anti-Blackness.
Understands how race and bias affect relationships, team dynamics, and organizational culture.
Working for Racial Equity
Regularly evaluates the racial impact of decisions and policies, with attention to intersectionality.
Adheres to equity-focused practices in hiring, retention, and promotion, and actively works to identify and disrupt bias.
Leading on Racial Equity
Effectively encourage people to have honest conversations about racial equity, and accept feedback openly, non-defensively, and from a posture of learning.
Consistently address structural implications and racially disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions by identifying and implementing changes that can produce more equitable outcomes. This applies not only in terms of race/ethnicity, but also at the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender identity, and/or sexual orientation.

Salary And Benefits

The starting salary range for this position is $75,000 – $85,000, depending on experience.

EBCF offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401k retirement savings plan with a 5% employee match, group term life insurance, disability insurance, 15 days of paid time off/vacation in year one, 20 days in year four and thereafter, sick leave, and 17 paid holidays per year. Plus, a Flexible Spending Account, an Employee Assistance Program, an annual professional development budget, commuter benefits, and a matching gifts program. These benefits are subject to change.

Worksite

Candidates must live within Northern California and be able to travel to the Oakland office with ease. East Bay Community Foundation operates in a hybrid environment. Staff are required to be in office one day per week. This policy is subject to change.

COVID-19 Vaccination: All employees are required to adhere to EBCF’s COVID-19 policies.

About the Application Process

Resume and cover letter should be in one combined PDF and emailed to jobs@eastbaycf.org for consideration
Position is open until filled, but the first round of screening and process will commence on or after Monday, March 9, 2026.

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The East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) is an equal opportunity employer committed to racial justice and equity. EBCF does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law and is an employment-at-will organization. The Foundation welcomes and encourages people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and members of other historically disenfranchised groups to apply.

East Bay Community Foundation jobs

Grants Specialist