About The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
Each year, the Weinberg Foundation provides approximately $150 million in total grant activity and allocates roughly 30% of grants to support the Jewish community in Israel and the United States. Weinberg approved over $81 million in grants to 78 organizations supporting the Jewish community in the United States between 2018 and 2021. The portfolio includes grantees in the following three areas: addressing poverty within the Jewish community, strengthening the Jewish nonprofit sector, and combatting antisemitism. The Foundation supports direct services agencies serving the Jewish community across its four core focus areas (Housing, Health, Jobs, and Education). In addition, the Foundation is engaged in a range of proactive strategic initiatives focused on addressing Jewish poverty on a national scale; working to develop the next generation of leaders; and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Jewish community. An overview of grants and signature initiatives within the U.S. Jewish portfolio can be found here.
Position Summary
The program officer is an integral member of the Program team of the Foundation. This individual will manage a portfolio of grants, including conducting due diligence on prospective applicants, managing grantee relationships, and evaluating the impact and success of major grants and initiatives. Specifically, the program officer will partner with the program director in leading the U.S. Jewish Community grants portfolio.
Overall Responsibilities
- Pre-screen grant applicants by phone and e-mail to ensure eligibility.
- Evaluate the feasibility of grant proposals and investigate organizational capacity to achieve proposed objectives.
- Prepare materials such as memos and reports, for inclusion in regular meetings with staff and trustees.
- Lead selected signature initiatives within the U.S. Jewish portfolio, including learning and evaluation of these initiatives.
- Monitor and support grantees in tracking and evaluating ongoing projects.
- Analyze grant reports and other deliverables to evaluate and inform future funding recommendations.
- Conduct in-person site visits both within priority communities in the United States as part of grant review and management.
- Manage compliance with deadlines and other grant application and reporting requirements.
- Proactively seek new grantees and opportunities for philanthropic investment in the areas of focus.
- Present information and analysis at various in-house meetings with staff and trustees.
- Work well with fellow program officers, administrative team, and all Foundation staff.
- Attend weekly meetings with all program staff to discuss grants and other topics.
- Ensure prompt turnaround time regarding grant reporting requirements and deadlines.
- Learn the Foundation’s grants database, GIFTS, and track grantee history, payment requirements, communications with grantees, and evaluation reports.
- Review capital grant budgets, costs, and forecasts when recommending capital grants.
- Review payment requests and approve payments.
Skills and Qualifications
- Preferred – 5-10 years of experience (including lived experience) in or working with the nonprofit sector, and specifically with the three focus areas of the U.S. Jewish portfolio outlined above.
- A professional with a spirit of kindness and humility.
- Experience designing internal processes, systems, and approaches in service of assessing and documenting learning and impact.
- Excellent writing and research skills and a love of learning and communicating.
- Skillful at listening to and synthesizing diverse ideas and perspectives.
- A demonstrated ability to think critically and strategically with a systems-level
- Ability to work well in teams and collaborate proactively and productively with colleagues and partners.
- Strong initiative, a positive and proactive attitude, and ability to solve challenges independently and creatively in a multiple-task environment.
- A personality and value system reflective of integrity, thoughtfulness, and hard work.
- Have a sense of irony and humor.
- Demonstrated ability to process large amounts of information and organize and present it in an actionable fashion.
- Experience with fiscal reporting and maintaining updated budgets and databases.
- Ability to manage time efficiently and meet deadlines with great attention to detail.
- Maintain strict confidentiality.
- Demonstrated commitment to approachability, being of service, and seeing people and communities through a strengths-based perspective.
The Weinberg Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. It embraces workforce diversity and is firmly committed to complying with all federal, state, and local equal opportunity laws. The Foundation encourages all qualified applicants to apply.
Interested candidates should submit a confidential resume and cover letter, along with salary range requirements, to jobs+poj@hjweinberg.org. If the Foundation is interested in speaking with you, expect to be contacted within 30 days of submission. Finalist candidates for this position will be required to answer questions by email, participate in multiple interviews, provide strong current references, provide writing samples and a possible writing test, and authorize a full background check. Please refrain from phone follow-ups. Thank you.
