Director, Community Investment & Grantmaking

Who We Are:
Yoga Alliance is the largest nonprofit membership association of yoga professionals, practitioners, and advocates around the globe. We believe if more people practice yoga, the better the world will be. We're here to amplify the power of yoga and to make it accessible to anyone wherever they are, under whatever circumstances by:

• Uplifting the transformative power of yoga,
• Surfacing and reducing barriers to the practice, and
• Building, engaging, and supporting the yoga community.

Our member-driven community is a diverse collective of wisdom holders, yoga educators, and teachers expanding their expertise; a welcoming space for those newly exploring yoga; a place for seasoned practitioners to deepen their practice; and a supportive hub where community leaders, organizations, and businesses can leverage yoga for social good.


At the core of Yoga Alliance lies a profound commitment to our people. Here, every team member is empowered to lead, innovate, dream, create, and grow. Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging guide our way of being in work and in working with each other. We champion a culture of collaboration, where learning from failures is as valued as achieving success. Together, we challenge the status quo and push the boundaries of what is possible.


About the Role:
Reporting to the Head of Social Impact, Yoga Alliance is seeking a Director of Community Investment & Grantmaking to join its team.


Community Investment & Grantmaking leverages Yoga Alliance's financial and human resources to achieve the organization's strategic goals, with a special focus on making yoga more widely available to people everywhere - guided by the Yoga Alliance strategic plan. Successful long-term outcomes of this work will include: funding mission-aligned organizations that support yoga teachers and training; systems-level integration of yoga into new environments and contexts; programmatic and financial sustainability for yoga within other sectors; and cultivation of policies that expand access to yoga in more places, spaces, and communities.


The Director of Community Investment & Grantmaking partners with the Head of Social Impact to envision the design of Yoga Alliance's work leveraging granting and resource investment. The two goals for this body of work are: implementing yoga community grantmaking in alignment with Yoga Alliance's strategic plan and social impact objectives; and embedding yoga within institutions and policies.


The Director of Community Investment & Grantmaking will translate this ambitious vision into action, starting with a community grantmaking program, as one part of a broader strategy and roadmap they will craft to inventory and deploy the full slate of Yoga Alliance resources to achieve its goals. They will then lead the implementation, monitoring, continuous improvement, and expansion of this body of work.


The Director of Community Investment & Grantmaking serves as a thought partner to the Head of Social Impact and an expert advisor on cutting-edge strategies to invest for social change, spanning multiple levels and forms of grantmaking. The director also collaborates internally across teams and oversees the strategic and tactical integration of its efforts with other Yoga Alliance initiatives, bodies of work, systems, and goals; this individual simultaneously collaborates with external parties working to integrate yoga into non-studio settings and contexts.


What You Will Do:
Strategy and implementation

• Craft and implement an equitable, community-centered, sustainable, and transparent grant-making program that advances Yoga Alliance's strategic goals to integrate yoga in institutions and policies, and to support expanded access to yoga. Ensure the program includes:
  • Funding mission-aligned organizations that make grants to individual recipients, to reduce barriers and expand access to yoga practice, teaching, and training.
  • Institutional granting to organizations bringing yoga into community, public, and social sector settings.
• Partner with Head of Social Impact to envision strategies that will advance Social Impact and organizational objectives, in the following areas:
  • leveraging institutional resources (e.g., funding, data, membership, YA relationships & network)
  • cultivating relationships, collaborations, and strategic partnerships
  • advancing policy and advocacy initiatives to mainstream yoga
• Coach, manage and delegate execution of project tasks to other team member(s) working on Yoga Alliance's community investment and grantmaking activities.
• Maintain an equity lens throughout the development and delivery of community investment and grantmaking activities.

Metrics and analysis

• Identify and leverage internal/external data, relevant evidence/knowledge bases, and performance metrics to drive and refine strategy for community investment and grantmaking and yoga mainstreaming, in alignment with Strategic Plan and Theory of Change metrics.
• Design, develop, and integrate robust reporting and insights from metrics to highlight impact and areas of opportunities, support decision-making, and develop tactical shifts.
• Ensure, measure, analyze, and present wins and opportunities of community participation in the development and implementation of community investment and grantmaking work.

Relationships


External collaboration & consultation

• Identify, cultivate, and leverage external relationships with key decision-makers to build yoga into institutional programs and budgets as an ongoing activity, supported by institutional funding.
• Identify, build a network, and consult with subject matter experts throughout the development and delivery of community investment and grantmaking activities, to ensure Yoga Alliance's approaches are aligned with best practices and the most efficient pathways to achieving initiative goals and objectives.

Internal collaboration, consultation, and guidance

• Serve as a thought partner to the Head of Social Impact on cutting-edge and innovative strategies to achieve organizational objectives.
• Collaborate across teams to ensure that all community investment and grantmaking work is integrated and running in synergy with other organizational initiatives and goals; examples include:
  • coordinating with the Community Engagement team to equip member-facing staff to address questions about Yoga Alliance's Community Investment & Grantmaking, and to gather insights from member interactions that could inform program improvements facing staff to address questions about Yoga Alliance
  • partnering with Operations teams to integrate community investment and grantmaking activities and metrics into Yoga Alliance's finance, legal, and data management systems
  • connecting operational investment decisions to social purpose and philosophy of Social Impact's community investment and grantmaking work
  • ensuring mutual reinforcement between community investment and grantmaking work, public education campaign(s), and membership evolution/expansion initiatives
• Advise on and contribute to storytelling and communications about community investment and grantmaking activities.
• Collaborate with others on how impact investment connects to organizational efforts and goals.

What You Will Bring:

• 10+ years of progressively increasing experiences with a minimum of 3 years in the following:
  • supporting development and implementation of strategies for systems and/or sector-level change
  • facilitating discussions with stakeholders as well as providing thought partnership
  • participating in strategic grantmaking / philanthropy targeting ambitious social change, supported by institutional relationships and strategic partnerships
  • establishing and/or running programs for granting / sub-granting
• 10+ years of progressive experience designing & leading implementation of strategic initiatives, including:
  • 5+ years managing complex, cross-organizational initiatives, including internal and external collaboration and inter-departmental coordination
  • 5+ years of delegation and management of support staff and/or consultants on project tasks
  • 3+ years of collaborating with / contracting external vendors to complete project tasks
• 7+ years of progressive experience leveraging relationships, data, storytelling, and research to pilot, and advocate for innovative programs
• 5+ years of experience using project management and relationship management software tools, such as Monday.com, Salesforce, etc.
• 7+ years of experience managing staff and project teams
• Extensive knowledge, familiarity, and 7+ years of experience with:
  • cutting-edge strategies for social change and sector-level transformation
  • different models leveraging philanthropy for social impact
  • monitoring & evaluation to track program impact and advocate for program support
• Finely attuned equity lens, with 7+ years of experience adapting / designing programs, policies, and practices to explicitly counter underlying power and resource inequities.
• Innovative and solution-oriented mindset - is curious and self-initiated to explore, test, and apply new ways of thinking, novel application methods, and technology.
• Excellent skills in the following areas:
  • Collaboration: is inclusive, highly engaged and empathetic team player, proactively seeks and provides thought partnership, assistance, and/or resources with/to colleagues. Ability to communicate effectively and respectfully with stakeholders from diverse lived experiences and a cross-section of industries, cultures, languages, educational and professional backgrounds, and geographic locations.
  • Communications: written, verbal, and listening; managing expectations; understanding who are the key stakeholders; curious, asks questions early; anticipates and prepares next steps and outcomes. Ability to translate complex ideas into clear compelling narratives for general audiences.
  • Judgment and Decision Making: ability to escalate and address concerns/challenges appropriately and in a timely manner.
  • Problem Solving: enjoys troubleshooting and surfacing creative solutions to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Project Management: tracking, driving, prioritizing, reporting, and engaging the necessary stakeholders, tools, resources, and information to produce desired results; ability to move nimbly among a variety of projects with varying timelines.
  • Public Speaking: is a skilled speaker and facilitator with an ability to effectively engage with a varied and diverse audience; effectively reads a room and adapts tone and approach to the audience; has an ability to communicate complex matters in an accessible manner.
  • Strategic Thinking: knows where to look for and can take disparate pieces of information and effectively synthesize to produce insights and desired outcomes. Is able to map out and execute a sound plan to achieve long-term goals.
• Strong technology skills with an aptitude to learn quickly to ramp up on new platforms or technology: Microsoft Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); customer relationship management platform (e.g., Salesforce); project management platforms (e.g., Monday).
• Experience working effectively and collaboratively within a fast-paced, nimble environment among a diverse employee base that works remotely and distributed across the United States.
• Proven track record of contributing to work environments committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging.
• Ability to attend in-person work-related events, work on-site at the Arlington, VA office as needed, and travel occasionally nationwide.

Desired Qualifications:

• Prior experience using granting, advocacy, and/or policy to embed long-term institutional or sector-wide changes.
• Prior direct experience in community development and/or leveraging grassroots action for long-term social change.
• Familiarity with the unique needs of yoga professionals, including those who work outside of the commercial studio context.

We encourage individuals to apply even if they do not have any of the above desired qualifications.


What We Offer:
Yoga Alliance provides robust employee benefits including comprehensive health insurance plan offerings that are 100% employer paid for employees and 65% paid for dependents, a matching 401K plan, a generous paid-leave program including parental leave and sabbatical leave, and reimbursement for professional development opportunities. Employees enjoy a casual dress code so they can arrive to work as their most authentic selves. Our organizational culture is supportive and collaborative with conscious attention to body and mind health.


Location:
This position is remote and will require the individual to be able to travel as needed. Yoga Alliance is based in Arlington, Virginia within sight of the historic northwest region of Washington, DC.

Salary Range:
$100,000 to $120,000 (commensurate with experience). This position is a full-time, exempt position.

Application and Timeline:
Interested applicants are encouraged to apply by April 26, 2026 to ensure priority consideration of your application. We will continue to review applications on a rolling basis after this priority deadline until the position is filled.

A cover letter is required and all cover letters will be read during the application review process.

Please, phone calls or walk-ins.

Our Commitment to an Inclusive Workplace:
At Yoga Alliance, we value a diverse team and a culture of inclusivity and belonging. We encourage applications from all individuals without regard to an individuals' race, color, sex, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local laws. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.