Summary

Building off the success of 100&Change, MacArthur’s breakthrough $100 million competition, Lever for Change helps philanthropists source vetted, high-impact philanthropic opportunities and connects those opportunities to significant amounts of philanthropic capital. Lever for Change does this through either managing customized competitions or by matching philanthropists with the top vetted proposals from such competitions in a searchable online database of solutions. Through a rigorous, open, and transparent approach, Lever for Change aims to inspire philanthropists to dramatically increase their giving by helping them source and identify the most promising ideas that will significantly impact the issues they care about most.

The Awards Manager will serve as the client lead and primary relationship manager for ultra-high net worth donor partners who sponsor customized competitions and prospectors who wish to identify projects through the Lever for Change Solutions Bank. As the client lead, the Awards Manager has responsibility for delivery of proposals to clients that meet high standards of quality in accordance with the client’s specifications for projects ready to absorb a large amount of philanthropic capital ($10 Million or more).

The Awards Manager will report to the CEO until the Chief of Operations position is filled.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Collaborate with philanthropy team to work with clients to refine their philanthropic interests and translate into specific selection criteria
• Serve as the main point of contact for clients throughout their engagement with Lever for Change
• Develop and monitor a project schedule
• Research and write landscape analyses as required
• Assist with the engagement of content experts as required
• Conduct due diligence and provide guidance on the selection of finalists and a grantee
• Oversee preparation of materials for client review for the selection of finalists and a grantee
• Collaborate with the social impact team to provide value-add to applicants (social change actors)
• For donor partners who sponsor competitions:
  • Liaise with internal and external experts to advise on competition parameters and design (application, scoring rubrics, scoring processes)
  • Monitor competition service provider to assure that the competition website and all competition parameters align with the donor partner interests
  • Work with client team to identify appropriate judges
  • Oversee outreach and engagement to assure quality submissions
  • Work with social impact team to design technical assistance to competition finalists
• For prospectors:
  • Curate a set of potential grantees from the Lever for Change database
  • Design and implement a secondary application process to support the prospector’s selection of a grantee
• Perform other duties as assigned

The position is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

The work environment is an office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and walking during working hours. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable a person with physical disabilities to perform the job.

Qualifications

• A master’s degree or its equivalent and/or direct experience applying expertise to contemporary social problems
• Minimum of five years of program experience with a grantmaking or impact investing institution
• Demonstrated ability to work with high-net-worth clients in a consultative fashion (i.e., excellent listener, able to anticipate and assess client needs and craft creative response, and to be proactive in bringing advice and solutions)
• Energized by interaction with clients
• Outstanding critical thinking, analytical, and investigative skills
• Must have a broad intellectual capacity, curiosity, and passion for an eclectic range of issues and subjects across the broadest array of areas, including those not yet defined
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills; must be able to organize, synthesize, and clearly convey complex problems/issues in written and oral format for both expert and non-expert audiences
• Self-confident, diplomatic, and collegial with high professional standards
• Must be able to work in harmony with staff at all levels of the organization
• Able to work effectively within a matrix management framework
• Must be willing and able to travel occasionally

To Apply

To apply please follow this link.