United for Young People in Colorado

Position Summary:
Philanthropy Leads work independently and in partnership with a supportive team to realize Caring for Colorado’s mission and bring the promise of our grantmaking strategies to life. They oversee grantmaking, build relationships with grantees and community partners, elevate the voices of young people and community members, and influence systems and policies that advance health equity for young people and their families.

This position is one of four Philanthropy Leads who work on the foundation’s Youth Health and Well-Being priority. As the primary liaison with applicants, grantees, and community leaders in designated regions throughout Colorado, the position requires a high level of interpersonal engagement, visibility, and frequent travel to rural regions (approximately 40% of time).

Success is measured by a Philanthropy Lead’s ability to work responsively and with humility to build trust-based relationships, demonstrate a deep knowledge of local community assets and opportunities, serve as a credible resource in the areas of adolescent health and well-being and nonprofit leadership, and deliver meaningful results that advance grantee and Foundation goals.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Grantmaking: Philanthropy Leads are responsible for grantmaking in designated regions throughout Colorado. In this role, you will:

• Collaborate internally to implement grantmaking strategy, timelines, budgets, responsibilities, and communication about funding opportunities.
• Serve as a thought partner to potential applicants in designated regions to determine eligibility and alignment with funding opportunities.
• Lead prospecting and outreach to potential new applicants in designated regions through research and analysis of the social, political, and cultural landscape in communities and identification of individuals and organizations leading work that is aligned with the foundation’s values, mission, strategy, and approach.
• Conduct comprehensive due diligence and team review processes, including preparing high-quality written analyses and delivering formal presentations that clearly articulate grant recommendations, underlying rationale, and key considerations to Caring for Colorado’s Board of Directors.
• Communicate funding decisions and provide meaningful feedback to applicants who do not receive funding.

Grantee Support: Philanthropy Leads build and manage trust-based relationships with grantees to learn how the Foundation can best serve the organization and its leaders. In this role, you will:

• Meet with grantees at least twice per year—depending on the grantee’s capacity and interest—to understand the work of the organization, with at least one in-person visit annually
• Monitor progress on grant outcomes, including challenges and successes experienced by the grantee during the reporting period, and document key learnings and opportunities.
• Support grantee leaders in building the personal and organizational capacity and capabilities necessary to deliver on their mission, in accordance with their own strategies and goals.
• Research and identify resources, break barriers to entry, and overall aid in supporting grantees’ access to key resources in philanthropy.
• Provide relevant insights and tools that support grantees’ efforts to advance youth health and well-being.
• Ensure that the Foundation accurately represents the work of grantees in internal and external reports, including Board documents, publications, and communications.

Learning & Impact: Philanthropy Leads support the Foundation’s efforts to understand the impact of grantmaking strategies, respond to feedback from grantees and communities, identify opportunities for greater impact, and share learning. In this role, you will:

• Research and analyze the nonprofit and systems landscape in designated regions, identifying trends, gaps, and opportunities for strengthening capacity and infrastructure that advance youth health and well-being.
• Identify and help coordinate philanthropic responses to needs or opportunities that cannot be addressed through individual grants alone and require investments in field practice, systems, or policy to benefit young people, families, organizations, and communities statewide.
• Engage in formal learning and assessment processes using Foundation-aligned frameworks to examine strategy effectiveness, surface insights, and inform continuous improvement in grantmaking and systems approaches.
• Document and reflect on learning through required learning logs, annual reflections, and other assessment tools that synthesize grantee insight, community feedback, and emerging context.
• Facilitate and participate in shared learning with grantees and partners, including convenings, learning tables, and emergent learning activities designed to deepen practice, strengthen relationships, and surface field-level insights.
• Meaningfully engage in meetings, workgroups, and coalitions aligned with the Foundation’s strategic priorities, with the goal of building expertise, sharing learning, and leveraging opportunities to advance equity in health and well-being for young people and families.
• Strengthen the Foundation’s role as a thought leader in adolescent health and well-being by developing reports, field narratives, and presentations that communicate results, lessons learned, and implications for practice and policy.
• Support the Senior Vice President of Philanthropy in working across priorities to assess strategies, implement evolving philanthropic practices, conduct quality improvement, solve problems, align communication, and advance foundation-wide goals.

In Your First Year, You Will:

• Build deep knowledge of your defined geographic focus area, and begin creating relationships with grantees and local partners.
• Demonstrate developed knowledge and application of the Foundations’ philanthropic strategies, priorities, and learning and assessment methods.
• Engage in a comprehensive application review process.

Knowledge, Skills, Experience, and Abilities
Required Experience and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree with at least ten years of relevant professional experience or master’s degree with at least six years of relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience working in and understanding the structure of the nonprofit, human services, behavioral health, public education, or public health sectors.
• Experience with and commitment to serving the foundation’s priority populations—young people ages 9 to 25 and their families who experience health inequities due to economic injustice, racism, and discrimination.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated mastery in building meaningful relationships with individuals and groups in diverse communities to include experience supporting leaders of organizations in meeting their strategic goals.
• Ability to work collaboratively and contribute productively to collective decisions and execute in alignment with them.
• Experience in convening and facilitation with the ability to create inclusive listening, learning, or conversation groups with a wide variety of audiences.
• Ability to gather, evaluate, and synthesize information from various sources to create comprehensive, clear, and compelling written reports.
• Demonstrated commitment to and practice of creating a sense of belonging and inclusion and addressing inequity, discrimination, and racism.
• Strong project management skills, demonstrated through previous projects managing multiple internal and external stakeholders, and a clear track record of delivering results.
• Ability to work under deadline pressure and manage competing deadlines.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft 365.
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new software and systems.
• Ability to exercise good judgment and solicit help when needed.
• Customer service orientation.
• Optimistic, energetic, dependable, and flexible.

Desired Experience and Abilities:

• Prior knowledge of effective grantmaking and/or principles of learning and assessment.
• At least five years of executive-level nonprofit leadership or executive coaching experience.
• Deep knowledge of and connection to Colorado’s rural communities.
• Bi-lingual Spanish speaker.

Work Environment

• Work is performed out of the CFC Denver office with regular travel to the Pueblo office and throughout the state, with overnight stays and long-distance driving.
• This position requires significant overnight travel to rural communities throughout the state (approximately 40% of the time). This position requires in-person engagement with grantee organizations and partners with a focus on the Western Slope of Colorado.
• Work is generally performed within an office environment, with standard office equipment available.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Office hours are Monday – Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm.
• Caring for Colorado offers a flexible and hybrid work environment dependent on the organization’s needs. Up to 2 days per week of remote work may be considered and are determined based on the job’s purpose and the organization’s needs.
• To be considered for employment, the candidate must pass a background check and maintain a driver’s license.

Salary and Benefits
Salary is $92,000- $105,000 for a full-time equivalent position. Salary will be based on experience.
Caring for Colorado offers a comprehensive benefits package including 401K, medical and dental benefits, life and disability insurance, a family-friendly work environment, and generous PTO, wellness weeks, and paid holidays.

Timeline and Application Process
To apply, submit a cover letter and resume to careers@caringforcolorado.org

Download a pdf of the job description