Goldseker Foundation Program Officer

Position Description

The Goldseker Foundation is seeking applicants for its Program Officer role. While the position has traditionally been filled by an individual working on a full-time basis, the Foundation will consider candidates interested in serving in either full or part-time capacities with responsibilities and duties ultimately adjusted according to the experiences, skills, and interests of the selected candidate(s).

Interested candidates are asked to submit a cover letter and resume to the following e-mail address: employment@goldsekerfoundation.org. No telephone inquiries.

About the Goldseker Foundation

Since an original bequest of $11 million from the estate of Morris Goldseker in 1975, the Goldseker Foundation has granted over $130 million to more than 600 nonprofit organizations and projects in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Though the focus of the Foundation’s grant making has evolved over time, it has sought to honor Mr. Goldseker’s wish that the Foundation serve the Baltimore community by investing in its institutions and people.

Today, the Goldseker Foundation works in partnership with the city’s civic leadership, a well-established nonprofit sector, and a growing community of social entrepreneurs to serve the Baltimore community through grantmaking primarily in the areas of community development, education, and nonprofit organizational development. The Foundation has also recently initiated targeted grantmaking across these categories in response to the needs of Baltimore’s growing immigrant communities.

Finally, the Foundation also been steadily growing its portfolio of program related investments. The Foundation currently maintains a full-time staff of three. Because the team is small, it is important that the Program Officer be able to work productively and quickly in a nonbureaucratic environment in which a wide variety of tasks is expected of each employee and flexibility and willingness to work collegially are absolute requirements.

As the Program Officer regularly spends time in community and meeting with current and prospective grantees, the role is primarily in-person, although Foundation staff can and sometimes do work remotely as circumstances dictate.

Principal Responsibilities

In consultation with the President, the Program Officer shares responsibility for planning and carrying out the Foundation’s annual grant program and program related investments. The Program Officer helps identify and evaluate funding opportunities and make recommendations to colleagues and the Board of Directors about the most effective and appropriate ways to commit the Foundation’s grant funds (currently around $6 million per year) and program related investments (totaling nearly $10 million). While expertise in any of the Foundation’s grant making areas of interest (community development, education, immigration, and nonprofit capacity building) is welcome, the Program Officer is expected to be somewhat of a generalist, able to identify new opportunities for philanthropy to seed promising ideas and support emerging leaders in Baltimore, in keeping with the Foundation’s mission of positioning Baltimore as an excellent place to live, learn, and invest.

Overall responsibilities encompass a variety of activities:

• Responding to electronic and telephone inquiries and conducting in-person meetings and site visits with prospective grant applicants to discern and communicate the Foundation’s funding priorities and the likelihood of financial support;
• Assisting applicants throughout the grantmaking process, conducting due diligence on funding requests, and preparing written grant recommendations to the Board of Directors;
• Evaluating grants and programs;
• Conducting issue and policy research, especially in the areas of community development, education, immigration, and nonprofit management;
• Regularly interacting with other grantmakers, policymakers, and the nonprofit community, including participation in collaborative projects;
• Demonstrating civic leadership through board service and project leadership with organizations or programs of particular relevance to the Foundation’s mission; and
• Serving as a connector, seeking ways to assist and promote talented people and good initiatives in Baltimore even when financial support from the Foundation is not appropriate.

Communications

The Program Officer plays an important role in the Foundation’s external facing communications, with responsibilities that include:

• Planning, writing, and editing the Foundation’s Annual Report, including managing external vendors such as graphic designers and photographers;
• Managing the distribution of the Annual Report through email notification (Constant Contact), the website, and mail, and tracking consumption metrics;
• Managing the Foundation’s website with periodic updates of content;
• Monitoring and contributing to the Foundation’s social media presence; and
• Drafting periodic press releases and op-eds.

Administration Administrative responsibilities are typically carried out in collaboration with the Foundation’s Executive Assistant and include:

• Responding promptly in writing to funding inquiries and requests;
• Assuring timely grantee compliance with Foundation reporting requirements;
• Monitoring grant closeouts;
• Helping preparing the dockets for quarterly meetings of the Board of Directors and Investment Committee;
• Writing of grant award letters, grant resolutions, and grant declinations; and
• Providing feedback to unsuccessful applicants regarding declinations.

Desired Skills/Attributes

• A deep understanding of Baltimore and the challenges and opportunities present here
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Strong analytic skills and ability to read and interpret nonprofit financial statements and evaluate impact investment opportunities
• Ability to present data visually, including graphic design
• Entrepreneurial work style, oriented toward outcomes
• Strong interpersonal skills, particularly diplomacy, listening skills, ease of manner, sensitivity to a variety of constituents, sense of humor
• Ability to move quickly and easily among several activities
• Intellectual curiosity and knowledge of civic and community issues
• Foreign language skills, particularly Spanish (desired, but not required)

Compensation Salary commensurate with experience. The Foundation also offers a competitive benefits package.