Description
Position Summary
The Senior Advisor, Philanthropy is a core member of the Philanthropic Services team and the broader Client Services Department at Tides. The Philanthropic Services team provides integrated services for individual, family, foundation and social change leader partners to support grantmaking, impact investing, advocacy, donor collaboration, and strategic advisory solutions. Big picture, the Senior Advisor, Philanthropy will help lead the evolution of Tides service offering to individual and family donor partners.
Day to day, they will have an assigned portfolio of client partners with an emphasis on serving the individual and family client segment and a secondary focus on providing support to foundation and social change leader partners as needed. In addition to providing core grantmaking and fund management support, the Senior Advisor, Philanthropy will provide strategic advice and guidance to individual and family donors by managing discrete consulting engagements from design through execution.
As the service offering develops, the Senior Advisor, Philanthropy will ensure that the entire Philanthropic team has the tools, training and resources needed to deepen engagement with individual and family donors across the entire portfolio. The Senior Advisor, Philanthropy will lead in identifying best practices in the sector with an eye toward future growth and strategic response to ever-increasing demand for Tides solutions.
The Senior Advisor works in a matrix management structure to support Tides clients. Success depends on building strong, trustworthy cross-functional relationships with staff from other departments, including Grants Management, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Strategic Partnerships. The Senior Advisor is responsible for uplifting and embodying Tides core values - Respect, Accountability, Creativity, Equity and Empowerment in all areas of work, engagement with team members and Tides client partners.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Client Fund Management
- Serve as relationship manager and deliver high quality service to an assigned portfolio of clients, primarily individual and family clients who come to Tides with complex social impact needs and a desire to leverage a range of structures and solutions, including social ventures, donor advised funds, pooled grantmaking initiatives, advocacy funding, impact investing, and more.
- Serve as the client service lead on a cross-functional team that may include Grants Management, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Strategic Partnerships, Business Process and other teams to support clients’ objectives.
- Resolve or escalate issues of concern as raised by client partners or internal stakeholders in a timely and proactive manner.
- Provide support to other Advisors in resolving challenges, develop policy and procedural changes to mitigate future service challenges.
- In partnership with finance staff, provide accurate and timely financial statements to clients to inform client’s grantmaking and investment activities.
- Develop a strategy for creative engagement and exceptional service delivery that accelerates the impact of each partner and delivers a richer client experience with support from Tides teams.
- Develop grant recommendations and grant portfolios for clients across a range of issue areas
- Assess risk factors for clients’ activities, such as contracts, grants, advocacy, and lobbying, in conjunction with the Tides Legal, Risk Management and Compliance team.
- Conduct client trainings and foster collaboration between clients to maximize client experience and impact
Segment Leadership - Individual and Family Donor Clients
- Work closely with the Director, Philanthropy to refine and iterate client strategic advisory service offering for high-net-worth individuals and family clients
- Lead the implementation aspects of the segment strategy, such as client communication, engagement, events and collaboration
- Provide strategic consulting support to clients in strategy development, philanthropic planning, landscape analyses, impact evaluation, grantee due diligence, and more
- Lead Tides’ effort in creating templates and standards to support individual and family partners in measuring grantee impact, developing evaluation frameworks, feedback structures and tracking systems.
- Craft timely (or periodic) issue area briefs in partnership with the Marketing & Communications team that involve research and analysis to showcase Tides’ knowledge on important and/or emerging issues to demonstrate Tides’ thought leadership for key stakeholders, including current clients.
Business & Network Development
- In partnership with the Director, Philanthropy, develop new or enhanced offerings for clients that build clients’ capacity, enhance clients’ philanthropic impact, and contribute to global social justice.
- Build and maintain relationships with values aligned philanthropic and programmatic communities; learn from communities of practice and bring back learnings to the department and the Tides Network.
- Build and maintain relationships with key donor organizing networks to stay abreast of industry trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities.
- Support the Strategic Partnerships and Client Services Directors in business development through outreach to potential clients and by working collaboratively on proposals
- Represent Tides on a regular basis by attending and presenting at conferences, gatherings, professional associations and other external events.
- Lead and support other special business development initiatives and duties as requested.
Department Leadership
- Potentially lead internal cross-functional initiatives that enhance the client experience, address broader client portfolio needs, or systemic change to client service delivery at Tides.
- Assist with department management activities including portfolio alignment, client intake, etc.
- Mentor and share experience/expertise with team members in support of department and individual goals.
- Possible supervision of direct reports, ensuring they meet department and individual goals, hey develop appropriate skills and have the support needed to achieve Tides objectives.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Strong alignment with Tides’ Vision, Mission and Approach and or organizational values of respect, equity, empowerment, accountability and creativity.
- Demonstrated commitment to progressive social change and ability to engage in strategic and analytical thinking around issues of social justice
- Experience independently managing client engagements, transforming and aligning clients around acceleration and impact
- 5 - 10 years of demonstrated experience working in the philanthropy and/or nonprofit sector,
- Hands-on experience engaging with high net worth individual and family clients around their philanthropic plans and objectives
- Demonstrated ability to design and implement consulting engagements with individual and family clients from concept phase to completion
- Prior experience in a robust family strategic advisory practice guiding individual or family clients through their philanthropic journey
- Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills with a strong service orientation to facilitate collaborative problem-solving to reach solutions that benefit all parties
- Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, manage expectations, and steward important relationships
- Ability to hold self and others accountable for high-quality, timely, and effective client service with a demonstrated commitment to meeting the needs of internal and external clients for a high level of satisfaction
- Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, different communication styles, and a wide range of diverse colleagues
- Strong verbal and written communication skills with a proven ability to develop proposals, make presentations, and communicate effectively with clients
- Demonstrated ability to hold information confidential with excellent judgment and to engage in a direct and truthful manner
- Strong motivation and an ability to simultaneously manage multiple assignments at varying levels of complexity, from administrative to strategic client services
- Strong analytical skills, including the ability to work with and manipulate data from multiple sources, assimilate and present information in a clear and concise manner
- Ability to use systems and other tools (Salesforce & NetSuite) to gather data, insights to measure outcomes
- BA/BS or higher degree, or equivalent experience may be substituted for a college degree
Application Instructions:
Please submit a resume and a thoughtful cover letter online. Your cover letter should express your interest in working for Tides and your qualifications for the role. You may also share your detailed LinkedIn profile with us. Tides is an Equal Opportunity employer. We value diversity and inclusion and we look forward to reviewing applications from all who are qualified to apply.
Equal Employment Opportunity:
Tides is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. Also pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we encourage and will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Applicants with Disabilities:
Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. If you seek an accommodation, please advise in writing at the time you apply.