The Organization
About The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a family foundation guided by the enduring business philosophy and personal values of Lucile and David Packard, who helped found one of the world’s leading technology companies. We continue to work on the issues our founders cared about most: improving the lives of children; enabling the creative pursuit of science; advancing reproductive health and rights; conserving and restoring the earth’s natural systems; and supporting and strengthening our local communities.
Department Overview
The goal of the Children, Families, and Communities (CFC) program is to ensure that all children have access to quality health and early learning opportunities so they can grow up healthy, ready for school, and on track to reach their full potential. To that end, we are focused on: (1) Increasing access to children’s health insurance and quality health and nutrition services; (2) Improving early learning in all settings by supporting parents, child care and informal care providers; and (3) Advancing paid family leave in California and nationally.
CFC’s Early Learning strategy supports organizations working to improve training and professional development for early childhood educators and caregivers, and provide parents, extended family members, and informal caregivers with the information, coaching, and support they seek to create environments where children can learn, grow, and thrive. The Early Learning Team partners with California communities to test new approaches to strengthen and unify local early learning systems and explore ways to scale what works statewide.
Position Summary
Program Associate leads, develops, and implements the operations of the program’s strategies to ensure effective grantmaking in partnership with CFC Program Officers and internal stakeholders, while keeping grantees at the center.
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Grant Operations (~60%)
•Drive all aspects of grant processing through their full lifecycle in accordance with Foundation compliance and financial requirements including, but not limited to, electronic grant file review, peer file review, data entry, issue spot and flag compliance/due diligence concerns, track grant approval, follow up on grant agreements and payments, track report deadlines, review reports for accuracy and confirm budget spending
•Build and maintain strong, collaborative and supportive relationships with a Team of Program Associates who support the program in reaching its operational and programmatic goals.
•Manage a portfolio of ongoing grants, payments, and reports on various timelines and ensure accurate and timely review/submission of files and information within the grantmaking system through each step of the grant lifecycle, leveraging developed expertise in Foundation legal compliance, grantmaking systems, and financial grantmaking requirements
•Build and maintain strong relationships with grantees to ensure a positive grantee experience and limit grantee burden; manage expectations, adapt, and negotiate in multiple directions, through the full grant lifecycle
•Lead the creation of the team’s annual grantmaking timeline/calendar; track and communicate monthly progress and proactively resolve changes in partnership with Program Officers, internal stakeholders, and grantees to ensure deadlines are met or readjusted as needed
•Draft all or most of parts of grant summaries without direction
•Collaborate with the Program Officer, Associate Program Officer, and strategy team to setup and plan annual grant budget
•Maintain grantmaking budget trackers and dashboards, reconciling for accuracy and tracking actual and projected payout
•Manage and track grant payments and requirements to ensure timely and compliant distribution of funds
•Proactively identify, make recommendations and/or build tools and processes that enhance effective and efficient grantmaking; rollout changes to the team to ensure they are well-understood and implemented correctly; develop expertise with the Fluxx Grants Management System in order to support the needs of the Team
•Understand the program’s strategy and grantees’ work to inform grant operations and ensure strong grantee relationships, contribute to team-wide strategy conversations, and collaborate with Programs for cross-program grantmaking
•Manage expenditure-responsibility in partnership with Program Officers, Legal Department, and grantees
Programmatic Administration (~10%)
•Lead logistics and, at times, draft agendas for on-site and off-site meetings, calls and convenings in coordination with Foundation staff and/or external vendors
•Represent the team as the lead and/or facilitator for various internal meetings
•Contribute to the development, training, and implementation of effective and efficient systems and methods of organization for team processes and work
•Manage team documents stored in a web-based system to ensure current and accurate documentation
Organizational Partnerships (~10%)
•Develop and maintain positive and productive relationships with Foundation staff, , and a wide range of grantee organizations, including small grassroots organizations and large national organizations.
•Participate in, and sometimes lead, guest speaker events, cross-Foundation working groups, and program forums to enable learning across the Foundation
Other (~20%)
•Leading the management of strategic projects that may emerge, by developing timelines, monitoring ongoing progress, and supporting the team in achieving its objectives.
•Contribute to the Early Learning team’s annual strategy dashboard report by supporting the team in gathering data from grantees, drafting updates to outcomes and indicators, and participating in meetings to reflect on and synthesize what we are learning.
Qualifications
Experience
• A minimum of 3 years of related operations and/or administration experience; experience in the nonprofit sector is desired
• Interest in the program strategy and/or philanthropy preferred
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• Strong operations and project coordination skills and experience, including the ability to proactively plan and implement projects, processes, and systems, both independently and with colleagues
• Ability to coordinate across internal and external stakeholders to understand needs, negotiate priorities, and develop alignment; ability to establish and maintain positive and productive working relationships
• Excellent attention to detail and the ability to complete tasks with a high degree of accuracy and dependability
• Ability to develop timelines, sometimes with simultaneous and tight deadlines, and partner with others to ensure deadlines are met; ability to prioritize and adapt to changing needs
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products (e.g., Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and a willingness to learn and become proficient with Foundation systems
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in a highly collaborative team-based and collegial workplace, where a sense of humor and fun is valued.
• Committed to inclusion and deeply value creating a workplace that is supportive of difference; experience with diverse teams and success at navigating cross-cultural communication
• Devoted to growing own cultural competence and willing to actively participate in the Foundation’s efforts to integrate justice and equity in all facets of our work
• Consistent and dependable for full-time work and able to work overtime when needed
COVID-19
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation requires that all staff be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, except as required by law. Any employment offer will be contingent upon satisfactory proof that you are fully vaccinated from COVID-19, subject to reasonable accommodations for medical or religious reasons, and/or as otherwise required by applicable law.
How To Apply
https://packard.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/92?c=packard&source=ABFE