ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
Foundation for a Just Society (FJS) envisions a world where all people are equally valued and lead self-determined lives. FJS advances the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI people and promotes gender and racial justice by ensuring those most affected by injustice have the resources they need to cultivate the leadership and solutions that transform our world.
FJS makes grants to local, national, regional, and global organizations and networks with an emphasis on Francophone West Africa, Mesoamerica, South and Southeast Asia, and the US Southeast. FJS supports efforts that advance long-term, structural change and meet immediate needs that enable women, girls, and LGBTQI people most affected by injustice to be leaders, strategists, and agents of change.
COMPENSATION AND CULTURE
Salary Range: $130,000 – $170,000, depending on experience.
The head of MEL reports to the Director of Programs.
FJS offers a benefits package that includes:
● 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for all eligible employees and their spouses, domestic partners, and eligible dependents.
● Paid vacation days, and closed Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day.
● 401(k) retirement plan (with employer match).
● 100% employer-paid life insurance, supplemental short-term disability and long-term disability.
● Generous parental leave with full salary continuation.
● Educational support benefits – tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment, dependent tuition assistance.
● Supplemental benefits for adoption, reproductive health, surrogacy, and transgender and intersex health.
FJS is committed to cultivating an organizational culture where everyone is able to bring their full, authentic selves to work. The foundation believes a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace is one where all employees, no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, education or disability, are valued and respected.
Position Overview
Over the past few years, Foundation for a Just Society has rolled out a new strategic plan, built a robust program team for each regional portfolio, and put in place the staffing and infrastructure to manage complex grantmaking processes. As part of this process, FJS has prioritized the integration of monitoring, evaluation, and learning into our structures, processes, and culture to more rigorously and effectively assess our contributions to advancing our vision and mission.
The head of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) is a newly-created position that will manage this new body of work at FJS. The head of MEL will have the opportunity to develop the existing theory of change and monitoring, evaluation and learning framework and to build upon the existing reflective habits and practices across the foundation. This position holds responsibility for finalizing and maintaining strategy-wide (cross-portfolio) data collection and analysis (primarily but not exclusively in GivingData, the foundation’s grants management software), providing summaries of strategy-wide and portfolio-specific findings, identifying (in collaboration with program staff and management) opportunities for evaluations across and within portfolios, creating and sustaining learning practices for staff, and communicating with staff and Board about MEL. The head of MEL will also be responsible for representing FJS in philanthropic-oriented evaluation spaces.
The ideal candidate has a broad methodological toolkit, including experience and comfort with emergent and developmental approaches to evaluation as well as structured and quantitative approaches. The candidate should be able to identify opportunities for low barrier data collection and analysis that result in meaningful learning by asking important questions, selecting appropriate methods, overseeing data collection, analyzing data, communicating results, and facilitating decision making that makes use of the systematic tools offered by MEL. The candidate should be able to explain MEL concepts to a wide variety of audiences and act as a champion of MEL thinking within the organization. Additionally, the candidate should be a strategic and creative thinker with a commitment to gender and racial justice and a sophisticated understanding of intersectional organizing globally that is led by women, girls, and LGBTQI people most affected by injustice.
This position is based in New York City and requires international and domestic travel.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES + RESPONSIBILITIES
Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Cross-portfolio MEL framework
● Implement and refine the MEL framework and related processes, including updating the framework at regular, structured intervals to reflect new priorities or areas of work.
● Ensure that all systems for evaluation and data collection, including but not limited to the grantmaking database, function and meet the needs of staff and Board.
● Oversee consistent implementation of existing data collection, conduct quality assurance on data, and provide support to program staff who enter data on an as needed basis.
Opportunities for case studies and learning
● Select case studies and other unique MEL opportunities and facilitate decision making about which to resource, how to approach them, and how to disseminate results.
● Innovate measurement strategies for emergent and hard-to-measure concepts of interest and importance to the foundation (e.g., holistic safety and collective care).
● Manage consultants engaged to do specific evaluation activities such as data analysis, case studies, or other methods of interest to the team.
Learning and support to program team processes
● In consultation with the director of programs:
o Plan and lead a learning agenda for the program staff and others in the foundation.
o Contribute to strategic conversations about grantmaking priorities and processes.
o Review and prepare analysis of progress and final reports from grantee partners to highlight achievements and lessons learned, prepare internal status reports, and contribute to programmatic analysis for the program team and Board.
o Design and co-lead strategy review and strategic planning processes.
o Attend Board meetings to present recommendations and provide information and updates, and interact with Board members throughout the year.
● Recruit and manage external consultants.
● Adhere to the foundation’s grants management system and grantmaking procedures, including preparation of all relevant documents.
● Plan and conduct outreach visits that are relevant for effective MEL planning or data collection.
REQUIREMENTS
Background
● Seven or more years of relevant professional experience in evaluation in the field of women, gender, LGBTQI+ or allied social justice organizations.
● At least two years of relevant professional experience in philanthropy as an evaluator or program officer.
● Strong feminist analysis and understanding of intersectionality in movements and organizational practice.
MEL Experience
● Has led and overseen at least one evaluation of a multi-year philanthropic strategy (i.e., either foundation-wide or for a sizable program within a foundation), either as the head of a team or as a lead researcher or evaluator.
● Familiar with developmental or emergent evaluation.
● Familiar with both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and has appreciation and fluency with both.
Skills and Knowledge
● Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to articulate a clear vision for social justice using a gender and racial justice lens.
● Ability to work in a cross-cultural and multiracial environment, and a commitment to examining and addressing racism and power imbalances within FJS and its field engagements.
● Ability to communicate and present data in a clear and easily understandable way and to a range of audiences (including staff, Board members, grantee partners).
● Ability to train and engage a diverse range of staff on monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
● Ability to conduct data cleaning of real-world data as well as statistical analysis of clean datasets.
● Knowledge and familiarity with grantmaking processes and procedures.
● Ability to adeptly manage multiple projects simultaneously and precisely.
● Experience overseeing the work of consultants.
● Ability to collaborate with colleagues in ways that are sensitive to their time and different work styles.
● Ability to receive and act on constructive feedback.
● Strong initiative and a desire to learn and improve skills.
● Discretion and the ability to effectively manage confidentiality issues.
Other
● Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally (approximately two trips per year).
● Eligibility to work in the United States.
NOTE: Academic experience in program evaluation does not substitute for professional work in the field unless you can demonstrate that the evaluative work provided a direct service to a non-academic organization (an NGO, activist organization, public or private foundation, or government agency).
PREFERRED
● Bilingual in a language of relevance to one or more of the portfolios (French, Spanish, and/or a Southeast or South Asian language)
● Fluency in a statistical program such as Stata, SPSS, R, or SAS.
● Experience in data visualization, either in statistical programs or using software such as Tableau.
● Experience with group facilitation and/or training related to MEL.
How To Apply
APPLY HERE – In one PDF please submit the following by June 6, 2021:
· A professional CV summarizing your relevant, recent experience
· A cover letter describing (at minimum):
o Your relevant experience, including your methodological expertise, philosophy, and approach to MEL.
o Your understanding of FJS’s strategy as a foundation and how your philosophy and practice of MEL supports FJS’s values, processes and goals.
· Submit at least two work samples such as reports or memos summarizing your work in (one sample may cover more than one domain): philanthropy, feminist and/or LGBTQI work, emergent and developmental evaluation and structured or quantitative methods. Work samples should best illustrate the experience-oriented requirements listed in the job description. Please highlight areas of particular interest to FJS in the samples you submit if any one sample is longer than 5-7 pages.
· Please also submit at least three professional references that we may contact at any stage in the process (please indicate if there is a reference you prefer we not contact until a later stage, for example, if you are listing a current supervisor).
If you wish to request additional materials or ask questions prior to submitting materials, please email info@fjs.org and include a CV and a brief description of your question or request by May 26, 2021. Applications are due June 6, 2021, with no late or incomplete applications accepted. No informational interviews will be granted prior to this process.
All applications must be received via the APPLY HERE link above. No phone inquiries please