Program Officer, Education Grantmaking
Washington, DC, United States
The Program Officer (PO) is a member of the Education Grantmaking team, located in Schusterman’s Oakland, CA, New York City, or Washington, DC, office . The PO will work with across the education team to cultivate and assess potential investment opportunities, track grantee progress and learnings, and provide strategic support to grantees to reach their goals. This role will focus on two specific areas: high quality instructional materials and redesign of educator roles to better support high-quality K-8 literacy instruction, while also taking on additional grantmaking responsibilities as needed. The grantees in these areas include leading school systems and non-profits that are working to dramatically improve outcomes for K-12 students by providing teachers with the high-quality instructional materials, aligned professional development, and supporting the development of underlying systems, including re-envisioned roles, structures and supports to consistently provide engaging, affirming, meaningful, grade-level instruction in literacy. More broadly, the PO will also be an important contributor to the internal culture and overall impact of the Education team.
Reports to and works with: The PO reports to the Senior Director of the School Systems Partnership portfolio, but will also work closely with the Senior Director of the Instructional Materials Portfolio and other team members across the education portfolios. This role will provide experience with multiple types of organizations and exposure to leaders across these roles.
RESPONSIBILITIES
This position is a key member of the Education Grantmaking team in the areas of both instructional materials and efforts to reimagine the teacher role, and also supports other areas of grantmaking as needs emerge. Job responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:
Grantmaking and Grantee Support (60%)
Outcome: Plays a leading role in our due diligence and ongoing grant management efforts by identifying key questions, challenges, and opportunities for current and potential grantees, applying knowledge of literacy instruction, instructional materials, and school talent and other systems and structures, and:
Buildstrusted, collaborative relationships with peers at grantee organizations and otherfunders.
Performsqualitative and quantitative analyses, including analysis of funding proposals, financial analyses, analyses of progress and impact;
Writesinvestmentrecommendations for grant proposals andgrant terms, milestones and a strategy for ongoing engagement and support for eachgrantee.
Managesmultiple projects and deadlines with strong project plans, good tracking systems and a steady focus on execution andquality.
Maintainsgrants systems to ensure grant requirements are fulfilled and key information is shared and stored for relevantaudiences.
Works with portfolio leaders to prepare for and facilitate external meetings by identifying key questions and priorities rooted in a deep understanding of field-wide and grantee-specific opportunities andchallenges.
Providesadministrative support as needed, including coordination of logistics for calls, meetings, site visits, and convenings with appropriate individuals from grantee organization teams.
Progress Monitoring and Knowledge Management (30%)
Outcome: Workscollaboratively with portfolio leaders to support the development of strategies and identification of grantmaking opportunities, particularly in the areas of instructional materials and efforts to strengthen the role of educators to advance grade-level,engaging,and affirming education;reviewsprogress towards goals;and recommendsmodifications so that we continuously improve.
Supportsthe portfolio leadersindeveloping, documenting and monitoring progress onportfoliostrategies.
Helpsplan and attend and share learnings from site visits and convenings related to grantee work and/or key strategic questions inportfolio.
Communicatesclearly and persuasively in writing and conversations with teammates,Schustermanleadership, and leaders of current and potentialgrantees.
Prepares internalreports based on grantee board meeting documents, reports, check-ins, and other key materials.
Creates and manages a system to share learnings with colleagues across the Education team.
Synthesizes and disseminates learning from a range of grantees and other sub-portfolios to deepen the work of the grantees.
Staysup to date on relevant research and activities in the field and synthesize and connect this information to inform portfolio strategy and grantsmanagement.
Contributions to the Broader Team (10%)
Outcome: Will meaningfully contribute to the functioning of a high-performing team
Builds productive relationships across the education team to facilitate the sharing of learnings and practices.
Contributes positively to internal team culture by modeling a learning and solutions orientation and supporting the improvement of teamwide processes and systems.
Advances equitable grantmaking practices and supports the integration of diverse perspectives to inform strategy and systems.
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