Member Profile: Joan Hurley

By: Taylor Brown

Joan Hurley, Director of Grants Management at The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF), plans to retire at the end of 2008, but not without some mixed feelings about leaving behind the department she's grown with for over sixteen years.

“I get a lot of enjoyment from this career and working with the people,” she said. “But I'm also looking forward to moving on and leaving my legacy in the hands of people who can take it in a new direction. I think that's always a good thing."

The legacy Hurley leaves behind will be a significant one. Joan started with the foundation in 1992, when TCWF was brand new. “At that time, there were only eight employees. Now we've grown to a foundation that actually has two offices and [a staff] of more than forty people.” 

Originally from Long Island, Joan moved to the Los Angeles area with her husband in 1972. She worked in a variety of areas - including a nonprofit concerned with civic and environmental issues - before hearing about a program assistant job at The California Wellness Foundation. Since then, she's become the director of the department that manages the funds of the health-focused foundation, which awarded over 400 grants totaling more than $64 million in 2007.

Grants management turned out to be a natural fit for Joan. “I am someone who really likes detail work,” she said, “I prefer to stay behind the scenes ensuring that everything is as it needs to be.” Joan added that she's proud of the quality of the work that her team produces, and being known for “running a tight ship.”

“I take it as a big compliment,” she said.

Among other types of grants, The California Wellness Foundation awards grants for core operating support over multiple years. This helps both grantmaker and grantseeker, Hurley said. “Many foundations think, well that's not very strategic, that's not particularly sexy, keeping the doors open. But we have found there's a lot of efficacy in doing exactly that. Who knows better the members of a community than the people who serve them? They know what the need is; if we can help them fulfill that need, we're very pleased.”

The mission of TCWF resonated with her. “[The foundation] takes a very broad view of health. It doesn't just look at ‘Are you sick? Are you well?’ It really looks at all the determinants of good health and how we can advance the health and wellness of the citizens of the state.” While making sure grants are evenly distributed over the entirety of California, the foundation also focuses on nonprofits that match with eight priority health issues.

For Joan, one of the most satisfying aspects of her job is mentoring. “My own philosophy is that it takes everyone to make a whole,” she said. “I'm very fortunate that the people in my department have been with me for over 8 years, so there's been a consistency that's served the foundation well.”

Mentoring also is a key function of the grants management department of TCWF. “We're very involved in the training of program assistants, as the keepers of the procedures and the processes. We really know this intimately because there's inter-involvement between the grants managers and the program assistants.”

Outside of TCWF, Hurley founded, along with Becky Martin, the Southern California chapter of the Grants Managers Network.

“[Becky and I] were friends and we got together and said, you know, we really need to establish a regional group down here in Southern California.” The response was enthusiastic, and now the Southern California group meets semi-annually. While she no longer serves as chair for the region, Joan is still active in GMN, helping to write sections of the GMN Guide, a new version of the Best Practices Manual, a comprehensive tool that provides crucial grants management related information to grantmakers.

“I would definitely encourage any region of the country where there are more than a handful of foundations to get in touch with regional groups that have been successful and learn how to go about setting one up,” she advises those who wanted to become more actively involved.

As for the future of the philanthropic field and grants management, Hurley sees technology becoming increasingly important to the work of grants managers. “I think there's still a long way to go, and I can say this from our foundation’s standpoint, on making technology as user-friendly as possible to the grantee. I think there's a lot of work to be done around that issue.”

She is also heartened by the spirit of cooperation that isn't usually found in the for-profit sector, and hopes it will expand even more.

“Nothing is better than one-on-one conversations,” she said, hoping that those new to the philanthropic field will use the resources of GMN. “I think that grants managers are very generous with their time because they have a passion for this kind of work, and they don't want anybody to have to reinvent the wheel.”