ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
The Ms. Foundation for Women’s mission is to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. We seek to achieve our mission by investing in and strengthening the capacity of women-led movements, particularly by women and girls of color, to advance meaningful social, cultural and economic change in the lives of all women and girls. We do this by focusing our grantmaking on women’s safety, health and economic justice (SHE). We provide flexible, general operating support to grantee partners to ignite change, amplify the least heard voices, and create collaborations across issues that address the interconnected nature of women’s and girls’ lives.
Since 1973, the Ms. Foundation has invested more than $70 million into building the power of women in social justice fields, serving as a conduit to the philanthropic sector as an intermediary funder investing in women and girls. Our vision is to create a just and safe world where power and possibility are not limited by gender, race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age. Please see this link to the strategic plan: https://forwomen.org/resources/strategic-plan-2018.
Position Overview
POSITION SUMMARY
The Director, Girls Fund Initiative is a new, full-time position at the Ms. Foundation. The Director will bring significant expertise in girls’ advocacy, movement building, and leadership development, and/or demonstrated experience working with adolescent girls. They will have a commitment to and broad understanding of feminism, gender, racial and LGBTQ justice movements, and intersections with other social justice movements, and knowledge and expertise in approaches to advancing gender and racial equity and justice. Ideally, the Director will have prior experience working in the philanthropy sector.
The Director, Girls Fund Initiative will be part of the Ms. Program Team and work closely with the Vice President of Strategy and Programs to develop and manage the new Ms. Foundation Girls Fund Initiative to support adolescent girls of color in the U.S. and U.S. territories. This new position is intended to expand the Ms. Foundation’s grantmaking and other programmatic support to strengthen adolescent girls’ movement building and advocacy, with an emphasis on girls of color.
Consistent with the Ms. Foundation’s values and strategic approach, we would prioritize supporting groups and projects led by, centering and/or focused on adolescent girls of color, and cross-movement building efforts centering their advocacy needs. We define adolescent girls as being approximately 12-18 years of age, and have a clear and unequivocal commitment to transgender girls and gender non-conforming people.
The Ms. Foundation is the first US-based partner in The Global Girls’ Fund, a 7-year initiative, seeded by the NoVo Foundation, to support the growth of a flourishing eco-system of funders committed to increasing the resources to, and visibility of, girl-led and girl-centered groups across movements globally.
RESPONSIBILITIES
· Conduct a landscape/field analysis to identify strategic opportunities for the Ms. Foundation’s engagement and funding, and involve a wide range of partners from across multiple fields and perspectives.
· Develop a program strategy for a multi-faceted Ms. Foundation Girls Fund Initiative to support advocacy and movement building led by and/or centering girls of color in the U.S. and U.S. territories.
· Provide thought leadership and expertise on adolescent girls programming to the Vice President, Strategy and Programs, other staff, grantees, and other Global Girls Fund partners, including sharing knowledge, strategies and best practices.
· Work with the Director, Capacity Building and Learning to identify outcomes and measure results of the Initiative.
· Manage grantmaking and other programmatic activities for the Girls Fund Initiative, including coordinating grant applications and review processes and preparing grant recommendations, monitoring grantee progress and outcomes, designing and implementing technical assistance, capacity building, and field building strategies, organizing grantee convenings, and generating and managing annual program plans and grants budgets.
· Attend and participate in the planning of convenings with additional Global Girls Fund Initiative partners, funder staff, other colleagues/experts and girls.
· Serve as a liaison to Grantmakers for Girls of Color.
· Manage the budget of this initiative, including preparing reports and interim written and verbal updates with funders.
· Develop and provide internal and external updates and other communications.
· Promote a collegial and cooperative approach to work both internally and externally.
· Actively participate in external practitioner and philanthropic organizations and pursue opportunities to present to philanthropic and other audiences, as appropriate, to advance the strategic goals and priorities of the Girls Fund Initiative and Ms. Foundation in general.
· Serve as Foundation spokesperson, as approved, at conferences, press conferences and other external-facing events.
· Supervise consultants and support staff related to the initiative as needed.
· Take on special projects as directed.
QUALIFICATIONS
· Minimum ten years’ related work experience, with increasing levels of responsibility, in relevant program development, management, grantmaking, community organizing or grassroots advocacy.
· Commitment to the Ms. Foundation’s mission, vision and values, and to working with diverse communities toward women’s safety, health and economic justice.
· Expertise in girls’ advocacy, movement building and leadership development, and/or demonstrated experience working with adolescent girls.
· Prior experience working in the philanthropy sector a plus.
· A broad understanding of feminist and/or gender justice, racial justice and LGBTQ justice movements, and intersections with other social justice movements.
· Experience managing stakeholder relationships and working with grantees or community-based organizations to increase capacity and evaluate program outcomes and impacts.
· Ability to build strong and collegial working relationships with colleagues, grantees, donors, potential funders and institutional partners.
· Excellent oral and written communication skills, and able to quickly gather, synthesize and summarize information in a clear and jargon-free manner.
· Strong planning, administrative and organizational skills; ability to manage time efficiently, meet deadlines, and work independently with minimal support.
· Flexible working style, sense of humor, strong interpersonal skills, calm and resourceful, able to work under pressure, and committed to working cross-functionally and collaboratively.
· Ability to travel.
· Proficient with Internet and Windows-based technology (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
· Experience with MicroEdge GIFTS or other grants management software a plus.
· Fundraising experience helpful but not required.
How To Apply
TO APPLY
Applications should include your résumé (in Word format) and a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications, and where you learned of the position. Please submit these materials to: jobs@ms.foundation.org.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
To learn more about the Ms. Foundation for Women, please visit: www.forwomen.org
The Ms. Foundation for Women is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our equal employment philosophy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, compensation, benefits, training and promotions. We shall continue to adhere to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity to ensure that all applicants and employees are considered for hire, promotion, position status and other employment actions without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, socio-economic status, marital status, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.