This job has Expired

Program Officer, Catholic Sisters, US/Latin America

Job Description

Program Officer, Catholic Sisters, US/Latin America

Full Job Description

International hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to ensure healthy early childhood development and sustainable livelihoods for youth, support young people transitioning out of foster care, improve access to housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the world's largest, with approximately $8.5 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $2.4 billion, $339 million worldwide in 2021. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org for more information.

**Cover letter required for consideration**

Job Summary

The Program Officer is a key member of the Catholic Sisters team and supports the Foundation's Strategic grant-making. The Program Officer should have experience working with Catholic Sisters and Catholic or other faith-based organizations, either in the United States (US) or in Latin America and have worked to address human development issues using a Catholic Social Teaching perspective, particularly in the US and/or Latin America.

The ideal candidate for this position will have a good understanding of investment strategies and financial inclusion models to alleviate poverty and promote economic development. A candidate with experience promoting access to financial resources and services among low-income populations and using financial and investment products and programs to achieve greater impact and sustainability, is highly desired.

Reporting to the Senior Program Officer (SPO), the Program Officer (PO) serves as a key thought partner and will be responsible for developing and managing a number of grants that fall within the US/Latin America sub-team portfolio. The Officer will work closely with the SPO to design, develop, write-up, and monitor a portfolio of grants related to the initiative's investments in the US and Latin America (focus on Mexico and Haiti). The PO will help to identify potential grantees, assist with project proposal development and submission (including refining objectives and key metrics) with a select number of existing and new grantees and provide grantees with guidance and technical support, as well as monitor grant progress.

The Program Officer is a key member of the Catholic Sisters Initiative. The ideal candidate must be a proactive team player, willing to collaborate with the Africa/Global sub-team, other Program Initiatives, and with other departments. The PO must possess excellent multi-tasking skills, be able to manage uncertainty and meet strict deadlines while ensuring excellence. The individual must have strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to understand, interpret, and translate qualitative and quantitative data. The PO will be expected to resolve time-sensitive issues with a high degree of precision and exhibit exceptional organizational, written, and verbal communication skills. Attention to detail and the ability to anticipate needs are a must.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Portfolio Management

  • Participates in the identification of potential grantees and projects to assess their potential for success, positive impact, and contributions to the achievement of the Initiative's strategic goals
  • Reviews proposals and works with the SPO to determine ones to be further developed and recommended for funding
  • Presents recommended proposals to the Head of the Catholic Sisters Initiative as needed
  • Identifies opportunities to promote the use of financial inclusion models to combat poverty and increase access to financial resources within under-served communities
  • Provides guidance and technical support to organizations invited to develop project proposals.
  • Reviews and refines grant write-ups and supports the writing and preparation of communication materials, power-point slides, and materials for the quarterly board of directors meetings
  • Monitors portfolio of grants for the Catholic Sisters Initiative - US/Latin America sub-team and other projects as assigned
  • Monitors and evaluates grants and grantee performance initiates regular check-in meetings with existing grantees and ensures timely completion of all progress reports. Provides feedback to SPO on any issues or concerns
  • Assesses requests from grantees to deviate from approved plans and budgets, decides to approve/not approve and ensures that decisions (and changes, if any) are documented.
  • Conducts site visits to monitor and support grantees

Strategic Support

  • As a thought partner, the PO will provide support to the SPO in planning investments, developing grants that align with and contribute to the Initiative's Strategy goals, and cultivating new grantee partnerships, as needed
  • Supports processes and research to identify and assess new grantees and projects
  • Identifies financial tools, innovative models, strategies, and opportunities to make investments beyond grants, that will help to increase the Initiative's impact
  • Updates and maintains information for each grantee in the Foundation's grant management database, for projects in the US and Latin America
  • Works collaboratively with the SPO and Program Associate to plan and host webinars, meetings, and an annual convening for US and Latin America grantees and partners
  • Works with SPO to identify the need for consultants, develop a scope of work and terms of contract, and monitor progress
  • Provides direct support to the Program Associate to ensure completion of tasks and activities in a systematic manner

Monitoring, Documenting and Reporting

  • Collaborates with the Grants Management department to ensure timely submission, review, and processing of grantee annual progress reports
  • Documents good practices, synthesizes and shares lessons learned to incorporate into the grantmaking process
  • Works with the SLED (Strategy, Learning, Evaluation) Officer(s) to support grantees in crafting SMART objectives and metrics for each grant
  • Supports grantees to ensure sufficient Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning activities, and processes for each grant, and to hire external MEL technical assistance as needed, to effectively track progress towards the stated goals of a grant

Communications

  • Supports the development of key communication materials for the overall Catholic Sisters Initiative, as well as the US/Latin America sub-portfolio, including contributions for the Monitor (Foundation newsletter), the Initiative's quarterly newsletter, power-point slides for the Board of Directors, and update emails for grantees
  • Writes blog/articles for the website and supervises website content and updates
  • Works with grantees and the Communications department to obtain, prepare, and publish success stories, news articles, website contributions, and the Initiative and Foundation newsletters
  • Produces visualizations of portfolio data/results to assist with the review and analysis of progress
  • Prepares key communications (emails, invitations, summaries of documents) as needed

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

  • Bachelor's degree in public health, public policy, social sciences, theology, divinity, economics, innovative finance/investing, social welfare, or a related field
  • A minimum of five (5) years of relevant work experience in program or project development and/or management experience in the US, Latin America
  • Substantive knowledge of the international development field
  • Ability to assess the leadership, track record, fiscal health, and capacity of a nonprofit organization to manage and implement a proposed program or project with success. Prior experience in capacity building of civil society organizations is a plus
  • Demonstrated ability to think critically about program design and implementation
  • Understanding of the project design process, specifically: conducting a root cause analysis and a situational analysis, preparing a frame and a theory of change, for projects that aim to address systemic economic and social inequities
  • Ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative data, to ask the right questions to guide grantees in developing relevant metrics, prior demonstrated experience with data analytics and evaluation
  • Flexible and collaborative with an ability to work in a team environment; demonstrates a high degree of initiative; results-oriented
  • Welcomes feedback as a means to personal and professional growth
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills; presentation skills and the ability to clearly articulate ideas
  • Ability to travel domestically and internationally

Desired:

  • Master's degree in public health, public policy, social sciences, theology, divinity, economics, innovative finance/investing, social welfare, or a related field
  • Understanding of grantmaking, the Catholic Church and Catholic Social Teaching, international development, the non-profit sector, and capacity building of civil society organizations
  • Prior work experience in Mexico or other Latin America
  • Spanish language aptitude
  • Certification in Project Management or related

About our Benefits

  • We value the health and well-being of our employees, some of the benefits we offer include:
  • Comprehensive and generous health and life insurance options
  • Relocation Pay
  • Fitness benefits
  • Paid holidays, time off, and parental leave
  • Flexible work schedules and technology benefits
  • Foundation funded retirement savings plan
  • Professional learning and development and educational assistance
  • Employee matching gifts to qualified non-profit organizations

*Please mention you saw this ad on AcademicJobs.*

Apply Now

Be Seen By Recruiters at the
Best Institutions

Create Your FREE Profile Now!