Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation – Director of Tribal Giving

About Us

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation (Yocha Dehe or Tribe) is a federally
recognized tribal government. The Tribe’s mission is to provide for
the health and welfare of its people, to govern its own lands and
affairs with sovereign independence and in a manner consistent with
its cultural values, and to enhance and diversify its economy for
the overall good of the nation. Yocha Dehe’s governing body, its
elected Tribal Council, is charged with implementing this mission.
As a federally recognized tribe, Yocha Dehe exercises a
government-to-government relationship with the United States, as
well as with the State of California and local governments, and the
Tribe actively engages with outside agencies and officials, local
stakeholders, and members of the public.

The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is committed to building strong
communities and helping those in need. The Tribe has a long history
of giving and in 2000, established the Community Fund (CF) to
advance this mission. To date, the CF has established partnerships
with more than 400 different organizations throughout Yolo County,
the state and nation, and granted nearly $40 million in
philanthropic aid to support programs and initiatives dedicated to
assisting people in need. The Tribe significantly expanded its
philanthropy in 2016 with its establishment of Doyuti T’uhkama (to
give the acorn). Yocha Dehe established Doyuti T’uhkama (DT) to
allocate funding newly available under the Tribe’s unprecedented
compact negotiated with the State in 2016, at which time the Tribe
secured the legal right to redirect a portion of the money it would
otherwise pay the State to a variety of worthy causes. To date, DT
has gifted more than $90M to a variety of projects, causes and
initiatives, all sharing the common benefit of improving lives of
Native people and citizens of CA. Together the CF and DT comprise
Yocha Dehe’s Tribal Giving program.

In 2023, the Tribal Council, and the Doyuti T’uhkama Board
engaged in a comprehensive strategic planning process, sharpening
their vision for continued and expanded impact. Tribal leadership
is aligned and committed to broadening its impact by investing in
multi-year, proactive grantmaking and strategic initiatives with
local, regional and national reach.

Position Summary

The Director of Tribal Giving (Director) is an entrepreneurial
leader with a strong track record in philanthropy who will lead the
Tribal Giving Program Department which manages funding of up to
$17M a year across Doyuti T’uhkama and the Community Fund. The
Director will report to and work with the Community Fund Board, the
Doyuti T’uhkama Board, and the Tribal Council to refine and
implement a strategic plan that guides the Tribe’s philanthropic
endeavors. The Director, in collaboration with other Yocha Dehe
government staff, will explore, identify, and recommend projects,
programs, organizations, and initiatives to receive funding. The
Director will also lead ongoing strategy and learning, liaising
with the Tribal Council and the Tribe, as well as forming
partnerships with other tribes and local, state, and national
organizations and government entities.

Key Responsibilities

Building on the momentum of the strategic planning process, the
Director will lead the formation of the Tribal Giving team and will
work with Tribal leadership to refine and execute its vision. This
will entail:

• Liaising with Tribe: Develops trusted rapport with Tribal
  Council and the Boards. Provides consultative decision support,
  synthesizing input from Tribal Council and the Board(s) in group
  sessions and individual interactions analyzing and reporting on
  progress.

• Strategy and learning: With direction from the Board(s), leads
  the execution of the Tribe’s philanthropy strategy. Creates and
  finalizes learning agenda in line with new strategy and manages
  annual reviews with grantees and relevant stakeholders around
  impact, success, and challenges. Facilitates strategy refresh every
  three years with the Board(s).

• Influence: As needed, convenes external stakeholders, attends
  local, regional and national conferences, builds personal
  relationships, and manages branding, public image and
  communications related to Tribal Giving programs.

• Project management and budgeting: Provides oversight to the
  Tribal Giving department through budget development and tracking;
  scoping work and establishing key deliverable timelines and
  milestones for all key work; and supporting on partnerships.

• Team leadership and
  coordination: Builds and leads a three-to-four-member Tribal Giving
  team to ensure a positive and collaborative environment that
  supports and develops team members to succeed individually and
  together. Serves as an effective advocate and partner to other
  Tribal government departments. Capacity to identify and manage
  expertise-based consultants for targeted support related to
  executing the strategy.

Oversight of core work:

• Grantmaking:

• –  Supervises team members in executing on both responsive
  and proactive giving by supporting them in receiving, processing,
  and reviewing applications, conducting sourcing and diligence, and
  coordinating Board reviews.

• –  Facilitates discussions with the Board(s) to refine
  grantmaking strategy and to determine final grantmaking decisions
  on all potential grantees.

• Multi-year initiative planning:

• –  Facilitates discussions with the Board(s) to identify
  ideas for initiatives and manages ongoing list of ideas for
  potential implementation.

• –  Creates goals for each endorsed initiative and
  determines subject area departments and other stakeholders to be
  involved. Designs timeline, budget, and staffing for projects in
  consultation with experts. Works with the Board(s) to approve
  project plans.

• –  Supports on connecting with partners and hiring for
  contractors and project leads for initiatives, checks in on
  progress against milestones for ongoing projects. Collects
  qualitative and quantitative input on process success and
  challenges for ongoing initiatives and impact for mature
  (completed) initiatives.

• –  Coordinates proposal
  design, scope, and budget with other government departments: Legal,
  Government Affairs, Finance, and Communications. Collaborates with
  expert departments to review concepts and designate where approved
  initiatives should live for execution.

Qualifications

• Skilled philanthropic leader: Minimum five to seven years
  leading and managing complex projects, working across teams,
  divisions, and departments in changing contexts in the field of
  philanthropy. Able to manage multiple projects with tight deadlines
  and support multiple direct reports. Demonstrated success
  implementing new philanthropic strategies.

• Experienced people manager: Demonstrated success recruiting,
  developing and leading philanthropy/grantmaking staff.

• Great communicator: Excellent written and oral skills, as
  evidenced by ability to present strong assessments,
  recommendations, and reporting.

• Grants professional: Significant experience with the grants
  administration process and balancing rigor with trust-based
  philanthropy.

• Collaborative partner: Skilled at building trusting
  relationships with internal and external partners with a range of
  expertise and backgrounds.

• Ability to travel up to 30%.

  Native familiarity would be a plus; the Director of Tribal
  Giving must bring an ability to understand Native context as well
  as capacity to listen to, synthesize, and respectfully execute the
  views and decisions of the sovereign Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.

Leadership Characteristics

• Passion for social justice, integrity, building communities and
  helping those in need.

• An entrepreneurial, future-leaning and innovative mindset.

• Champions a culture of belonging and inclusion.

• Exceptional written, oral, public presentation and interpersonal
  skills and able to engage colleagues at all levels of an
  organization, including the board and external stakeholders.

• Strong emotional intelligence coupled with a consultative,
  advisory style; resourceful and creative problem solver .

• High degree of comfort working autonomously and collaboratively
  to implement strategic plans.

• A collaborative, authentic, high-integrity partnership style;
  able to ensure diverse perspectives are heard and lead through
  influence.

• Sound judgment and humility as both a thought partner and
  hands-on decision-maker.