The Organization
The Heising-Simons Foundation is a family foundation with offices in Los Altos and San Francisco. The Foundation works with its many partners to advance sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enable groundbreaking research in science, enhance the education of our youngest learners, and support human rights for all people. In 2019, the Foundation awarded $115 million. Since its first grant in 2007, the Foundation has awarded more than $500 million.
Position Summary
The Program Associate (PA) provides administrative and program-related support to the Foundation’s Climate & Clean Energy (CCE) Team. The goal of the Foundation’s CCE program is to protect people and the planet from the worst impacts of climate change by cutting pollution and accelerating the transition to a clean energy future. We aim to help make energy clean, affordable, safe, and reliable for all.
The CCE Team is currently staffed by two PAs, two Program Officers (POs), and the Program Director (PD). In 2019, the CCE Team made 60 grants totaling $22M in grant funding. This role will work in partnership with the current and outgoing PAs to provide support to the team’s PD and POs. Although the majority of this role will work with the CCE Team, the PA will also support POs in other program areas as needed.
This position is an opportunity to learn about the fields of climate and clean energy and philanthropy. Candidates are not expected to have experience in all areas listed in the job posting.
The primary responsibilities of the PA are to:
· Serve as the first point of contact for grantees and grant seekers.
· Work closely with the Grants Management team to ensure that grantmaking adheres to the Foundation’s grantmaking and contracting policies, procedures, and deadlines.
· Provide administrative support to the POs and PD, ranging from calendaring to research.
This full-time (37.5 hours per week), nonexempt (hourly) position reports to the PD of the CCE team and is based in our Los Altos, CA office, with at least two days each month in our San Francisco, CA office.
Primary Responsibilities
Provide grants administration support.
· Regularly update the program’s grantmaking budget.
· Invite grantees to the Foundation’s grantee portal and offer technical assistance to support the successful completion and submission of grant proposals and reports.
· Track grant start and end dates, due dates for deliverables and reports, and changes to grant timelines and scopes of work. Ensure team members and grantees are aware of upcoming deadlines.
· Keep grant files and contacts current by entering and updating grant information.
· Conduct research to inform the program’s grantmaking, including:
o Reviewing organizations’ websites for information about their mission, staff, board members, and recent projects or accomplishments.
o Reviewing organizations’ financials to conduct an initial assessment of financial stability.
o Reviewing reports, products, and press to gather background information on prospective grantees.
· Work with team members to draft, format, and proofread written materials for grants, including grant summaries, budgets, and overview memos.
Provide administrative support.
· Manage calendars and meeting requests daily and make travel and other logistical arrangements, as needed.
· Arrange and attend meetings and phone/video conferences, and plan logistics of convenings ranging from 2 to 50 attendees.
· Plan and attend grantee site visits, when team members visit grantees to learn more about their work.
· Work with team members to draft, format, and proofread materials, including memos, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and other documents.
· Track and help manage the program’s workflow and deadlines.
· Support the management of contracts by monitoring expenditures and submitting invoices and authorized expenses to the Director of Finance for payment.
Support the CCE program’s strategy development, learning, and evaluation.
· Communicate the CCE program’s strategy and grantmaking guidelines to internal colleagues and in external meetings.
· Communicate the Foundation’s history, values, and programs in external meetings.
· Support strategic planning activities, including collating historical grants data and other information and contributing to strategies and presentations.
· Conduct research, analyze data, and prepare reports, as guided by the POs and PD.
· Track current research, policy changes, and trends in the areas of energy, climate, and philanthropy by reviewing news and professional publications and by attending related conferences, meetings, and other events.
Support the Foundation’s organizational evolution.
· Help the Foundation promote and maintain environmentally friendly office practices.
· Pitch-in across the Foundation, as important deadlines or events approach, and participate in Foundation-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion work, internal culture-building, and process-improvement activities and initiatives.
· Pursue ongoing professional development opportunities and participate in Foundation-wide training sessions.
Requirements
- Relevant work experience providing administrative support or a college degree.
- Interest in climate and clean energy policy.
- Able to manage and prioritize a large volume of tasks and deadlines with attention to detail.
- Able to read, write, and produce professional written materials in English.
- Able to communicate and work with people of different backgrounds internally and externally to achieve shared goals.
- Reliable, resourceful, proactive, and motivated to find creative solutions to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
- Able and willing to quickly learn and use new systems of technology, such as Microsoft Office applications, Salesforce, Zoom, and Box. Experience developing presentations in PowerPoint and maintaining databases is a plus.
- Committed to living the Foundation’s values.
Compensation and Benefits
The target starting salary for this position is $60,000-$70,000, depending on experience.
We offer a comprehensive employee benefits package that includes employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents, long term disability, business travel and life insurance, flexible spending accounts for medical and child care expenses, a 401(k) plan (with a matching contribution of up to 16%), commuting assistance, an employee assistance program (EAP), tuition reimbursement and a generous professional development budget, matching gifts, fitness reimbursements, fertility and adoption assistance, and identity theft protection. In addition, we allow some schedule flexibility and occasional telecommuting, with manager’s approval.
Paid time off includes:
- Vacation Time – starting at 3 weeks per year
- Sick Time – 12 days per year
- Personal Time – 2 days per year
- Family Medical Leave
- Parental Leave
- Holidays
How To Apply
Our success is dependent on our ability to build teams that include people with different experiences who can challenge each other’s assumptions with new perspectives. We encourage people of color, from under-resourced communities, immigrants, LGBTQ+, and others with diverse perspectives and experiences to apply.
Please complete our online application (including a letter of interest and your resume) at: https://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/Details/231995/The-Heising-Simons-Foundation/Program-Associate-for-Climate-Clean-Energy