Program Officer for Thriving Cultures

The Surdna Foundation

Program Officer for Thriving Cultures

POSITION DESCRIPTION
August 2012

The Surdna Foundation, a New York City-based family foundation, seeks a Program Officer for its Thriving Cultures Program. The Program Officer will report directly to the Program Director for Thriving Cultures.
The Surdna Foundation

Created by John E. Andrus in 1917, the Surdna Foundation has assets of approximately $800 million and an annual grantmaking budget of $33 million. The Foundation has a staff of 25, based in its Midtown Manhattan offices. Governed by a Board of Directors that includes fourth and fifth generation family members, the longstanding values of the Andrus family – practicality, modesty, excellence and an appreciation for serving those in need – underlie all of the Surdna Foundation's work. The Surdna Foundation seeks to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States – communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy and sustainable environments, strong local economies and thriving cultures.

The Surdna Foundation has three grantmaking areas: Strong Local Economies, Sustainable Environments and Thriving Cultures. The Foundation provides grant support for efforts at the national, state, metropolitan and local levels throughout the United States. It invests in the exchange of ideas across networks of people, institutions and places with the intent of seeding innovative projects, programs and policies and bringing them to scale across the country. The Foundation seeks grantmaking opportunities that include balanced efforts to: demonstrate the effectiveness of specific, targeted projects, practices and models; advocate for and implement federal, state and local public policies; and empower, mobilize and develop leadership and civic participation in communities and agencies. The Foundation recognizes its programmatic interests are interrelated and is committed to working cross-programmatically.

The Foundation recently embarked on an exciting effort to refine its mission and priorities. Among its new goals, the Foundation seeks to clearly articulate its new strategies and approach to collaboration. It is embracing its role as a learning organization – consistently assessing the result of work it supports, gathering important learning and sharing these lessons. It plans to use communication more effectively in support of its strategies. Above all, the Foundation seeks to have a greater impact in fostering strong local economies, sustainable environments and thriving cultures. To achieve these ambitious goals, the Foundation has created three new program officer positions to strengthen the capacity of its program team. This is an important period of change for Surdna and an exciting time to join the Foundation.
The Thriving Cultures Program

The Thriving Cultures Program aims to develop the conditions that support artists and arts and culture organizations as catalysts for equitable economic growth, improved environmental infrastructure, and cultural diversity in their communities. The Surdna Foundation believes that cultural organizations, programs and projects often provide the opportunity for exploration of values and can act as catalysts for the building of just, sustainable communities. At their best, they contribute to fair access to social goods such as rights, opportunities and dignity. The Foundation seeks to address communities holistically through the following four lines of work:

Artists as Partners in Economic Development: Strengthening the capacity of working artists and artist-centered enterprises to contribute to the economic prosperity and the cultural fabric of their communities.
Community Engaged Design: Establishing best practices among artists/designers, community stakeholders, and technical experts in the integration of local priorities, knowledge, and values in community development and infrastructure projects.
Artists Engaging in Social Change: Supporting artists and culture bearers whose work creates social change and nurtures the art forms and cultural traditions of their communities.
Teens' Artistic and Cultural Advancement: Preparing teens through rigorous arts training programs that equip them as the next generation leaders of cultural diversity, creativity, and innovation

The Thriving Cultures Program has a budget for the coming year of $8.25 million and anticipates making between 60-70 grants annually. Following program guidelines, grants will focus on support to: highlight and heighten awareness of the diverse roles artists can play in social change efforts; assist community and cultural leaders, architects, landscape architects, urban planners and others to collaboratively design vibrant public places; strengthen the capacity of artists, arts and other cultural organizations in communities across the country to effectively engage in social change; and stimulate fresh thinking and new approaches to address the isolation and lack of opportunities for artistic advancement for young people from disadvantaged communities, as well as conduct research, create communications, and develop leadership across the four lines of work.
The Program Officer Role

The Program Officer will be part of a four-person team led by a Program Director. The Program Officer works closely with the Program Director and an additional Program Officer and a Program Associate on all aspects of the program, including both day-to-day operations and broader program learning agenda.

Program Officers contribute to programmatic ideas and participate actively in grantmaking by developing and recommending grants and administering projects in the program area. In addition, Surdna expects Program Officers to have expertise and knowledge in one or more of the substantive elements of the grantmaking program to help build networks among funders, as well as grantees, around issues that need attention, communicate and advocate for social change and develop partnerships to multiply the impact of the Foundation's grantmaking investments.

A successful candidate will demonstrate an eagerness to engage in ongoing assessment of the Thriving Cultures Program's priorities under the leadership of the Program Director, and to work with the Strong Local Economies and Sustainable Environments programs to develop cross-programmatic opportunities that ultimately help achieve the goal of creating just and sustainable communities.
First Year's Priorities

During the first year of employment, the Program Officer for Thriving Cultures will be expected to:

Thoroughly immerse herself/himself in the Surdna Foundation – its mission, philosophy, programs, staff, grantees, structure and operations, finances, constituencies, organizational culture and values, and potential.
Become familiar with the Foundation's grantmaking strategies, grant guidelines and theories of change.
Contribute and apply current subject matter and field expertise to an ongoing analysis of the Thriving Cultures Program's lines of work; develop the ability to communicate about the portfolio well.
Begin to understand the present finances, leadership and challenges of the current grantees.
Begin to develop and leverage relationships with key internal and external colleagues, individual and institutional, in order to bring forth their best ideas and efforts to inform the work of the Thriving Cultures Program.

Ongoing Responsibilities

The Program Officer for Thriving Cultures will be expected to:

Maintain a breadth of knowledge, including research about current trends, emerging issues, policy interventions, and innovations in the program's areas of focus to enhance the effectiveness of program strategy and understanding of staff and board.
Monitor and track ongoing grants and initiatives, including evaluating and reporting to staff, board, and external colleagues on performance.
Work closely with other programs at the Foundation and facilitate cross-program collaboration.
Review, assess and proactively cultivate grantmaking opportunities, and work with grantees on their project and proposal development. Recommend grants for funding by soliciting peer reviews and providing critical analyses of project strengths, weaknesses and risks.
Conduct site visits of pending and active projects.
Develop relationships with private sector stakeholders to meet program and mission objectives.
Help to plan and implement learning opportunities for grantees, staff and board and regularly share lessons learned from the field.
Work with and manage external consultants.
Assist with institutional efforts to enhance the sustainability of the Foundation's internal practices.
Assist in external communications: develop Web site content, newsletters, public presentations, and articles as appropriate.
Develop partnerships with other institutions to extend the impact of the Foundation's grantmaking.
Track and contribute to the development of best practices among funders.
Participate in external working groups and funders' collaboratives as a thought partner.

Ideal Attributes and Experience

The Program Officer for Thriving Cultures should have the following attributes and experience:

Strong record of achievement and relevant experience in the nonprofit, public, or private sector. A minimum of 8 years in the field and interdisciplinary experience are preferred.
Advanced degree in a related field is preferred.
Substantive knowledge of the fields and issues (arts and culture including its relationship to economic and community development, public policy/administration) related to at least one of the Thriving Cultures Program's lines of work.
An outstanding relationship builder with the interpersonal skill necessary to gain the trust and confidence of the Foundation's staff, grantees and board.
A strong track record as a strategic, systems-oriented thinker.
Outstanding written and oral communication skills, with the presence and credibility to develop and sustain a broad range of relationships; highly developed listening skills. Experience with social media and new communications technology is desirable.
Willingness to work across programs to develop complementary strategies, grant making priorities and learning opportunities.
A track record as an energetic, flexible, self-starting team player. A direct, honest, and respectful approach to problem solving, with the ability to foster collaboration and contribute to a strong sense of community among staff and board.
Ability to thrive when working under deadlines; strong project, time, and budget management skills; and the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously without sacrificing attention to detail.
Familiarity with a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and a willingness to share in both "big picture" thinking and administrative tasks.
Experience working with diverse communities across race, class, ethnic, political and geographic boundaries.
Willingness and ability to travel up to 30% of the time.

To learn more about the Surdna Foundation, please visit:
www.surdna.org
To apply for the position, please submit a substantive cover letter and current resume to:

Lauren I. Gumbs
Senior Partner
Gumbs + Partners
applications@gumbspartners.com

The Surdna Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, socio-economic status, marital or veteran status, pregnancy status, or sexual orientation.