TreePeople - Chief Grants and Contracts Officer

Born in 1973 from the hopes and dreams of a teenager, TreePeople is now one of the largest environmental organizations headquartered in Southern California. They have inspired, engaged, and supported more than 3 million people to take action for our environment by planting and caring for trees in forests, mountains, parks, and our neighborhoods. Their unique, engaging, and proven model empowers communities to plant a more resilient future and take personal responsibility for greening their neighborhoods. Through their on-the-ground research and educational programs, TreePeople shares knowledge with policymakers, students and educators, and communities around the world. As the world faces increasing threats from a more hostile climate, TreePeople helps create actionable solutions.

The Chief Grants and Contracts Officer (CGCO) serves as the senior organizational authority and expert on contracts and grants management at TreePeople. The CGCO reports to the CEO and serves as the CEO’s primary advisor on all matters related to contracts and grants compliance and the implementation of the organization’s grants management framework.

TreePeople manages an active portfolio of approximately 90 contracts and grants across multiple program departments with a total active funding value exceeding $70 million. The organization is implementing a new contracts and grants management framework that includes this role, department-level Operations Managers, and a formalized pre-award review process. The CGCO will own and drive this framework and team.

This position requires deep expertise in federal and state funding regulations, nonprofit contract compliance, and grants administration. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience managing complex state and federal public funding portfolios, a strong command of allowable cost principles and reporting requirements, and the organizational authority to serve as the organization’s primary compliance resource.

Pre-Award Review and Go/No-Go Process

• →Lead the pre-award review process for all identified funding opportunities, assessing contract terms, compliance requirements, administrative burden, cash flow implications, and organizational risk before any proposal is submitted.
• →Serve as a required input on all go/no-go decisions, working alongside the Strategy and Impact team, Program directors, and Finance to ensure proposals are structured for full cost recovery and compliance before submission.
• →Lead administrative burden assessments for each opportunity, working with Finance and program teams to evaluate invoicing requirements, reporting obligations, and systems capacity, and flag any opportunity where the burden is disproportionate to the award.
• →Own and maintain the Contract and Grant Proposal Standard Operating Procedure to reflect the CGCO’s role from opportunity identification through closeout.

Contract Review and Approval

• →Review and approve all grant and contract agreements before execution, assessing legal terms, compliance obligations, and organizational risk and liability.
• →Ensure that all compliance obligations embedded in grant and contract agreements, including funder communication, acknowledgment, and reporting requirements, are systematically identified at contract review and assigned to the appropriate staff before grant activation.
• →Serve as the primary contract signatory for routine awards that meet compliance standards with no material flags
• →Bring flagged items to a standing review with the CEO and CFO before execution, with the Senior Director of Programs and relevant department director joining when the award has significant capacity or strategic implications.
• →Engage outside legal counsel for agreements involving unusual liability, indemnification, or complex compliance risk.
• →Maintain a complete and current organizational system of record for all active contracts and grants.

Compliance and Standards

• →Set and enforce standard operating procedures across the full grant lifecycle for all program departments; the CGCO sets the process standards and the Operations Managers implement them.
• →Provide functional oversight of Department Operations Managers through a dotted-line accountability relationship, serving as the escalation point for compliance issues.
• →Designate members of the CGCO team as compliance backstop liaisons for each program department, ensuring departments have a point of contact for compliance guidance.
• →Monitor compliance across the active portfolio and surface issues proactively before they become audit findings.
• →Ensure all staff with grant management responsibilities understand and consistently apply allowable cost principles, reporting requirements, and organizational SOPs.

Post-Award Management and Oversight

• →Own the award activation and onboarding process, ensuring all grants and contracts are properly set up in organizational systems and all compliance requirements are routed to the right staff before work begins.
• →Serve as the organizational escalation point for compliance, contractual, and programmatic issues on active grants, working with the CFO when financial risks are also implicated.
• →Oversee the closeout process, ensuring all eligible expenses are invoiced and all reporting obligations are met before projects are formally closed.

Organizational Leadership and People Management

• →Directly supervise and develop CGCO central team staff, including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and professional development.
• →Own and drive implementation of the Contracts and Grants Management Framework, including the pre-award SOP, Project Master Sheet data standards, PMO transition, and any additional framework elements needed to build a sustainable compliance function.
• →Ensure the financial reporting systems and processes provide the compliance data needed to monitor grant health, detect risk, and meet funder requirements, working in coordination with the Finance and Program teams.
• →Work with the Sr. Director of Programs, program directors, and HR to conduct workload analyses calibrating staffing to portfolio complexity before Operations Manager hires.
• →Build and manage a central team of two to four staff supporting compliance, data management, and process oversight.

Applicants needing accommodation for any part of the application process may contact Envision Consulting at 626.714.7577 to request and arrange for assistance.