Program Officer, Children and Families

The William Penn Foundation, founded by Otto and Phoebe Haas in 1945, is a leading American philanthropy located in Philadelphia with over $3.3 billion in assets and a $155 million annual grant budget. Our approach to grantmaking is focused on one central idea: let’s help make more lives better by connecting more people to more opportunities and more resources. We aim to do this work in the Philadelphia region particularly for groups of people who have often been shut out of opportunity in the past because of disinvestment, discrimination, or systemic inequities.

The Foundation makes grants in five programs, primarily focused in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties:

• Arts and Culture – Increase access to diverse, inclusive arts and culture experiences.
• Children and Families – Expand access to programs and resources that support the healthy development and academic success of young children, ages 0-8.
• Environment and Public Space – Increase access to the benefits of natural areas, public spaces, and community assets while decreasing harmful impacts on the environment.
• Democracy and Civic Initiatives – Expand engagement in democratic processes and collaborative efforts that make the city and region responsive to the needs of residents.
• Workforce Training and Services – Support Philadelphia residents to successfully prepare for, secure, and retain family sustaining employment.

In pursuing our program goals and objectives, we will be guided by the following values:

• Prioritize opportunities for communities that have been most affected by economic inequity, discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation, and other forms of injustice.
• Elevate community voice.
• Value partnership, collaboration, and transparency.
• Minimize and respond to the impacts of climate change.
• Leverage our leadership to advance important citywide and regional initiatives and to respond to changing needs of the city and region.
• Share our learning locally and nationally.

Further information on the principles that define these values is available on the Foundation’s website: https://williampennfoundation.org/funding/understand-our-grantmaking 

Position Summary

Program Officers at William Penn Foundation play a leadership role in advancing multiple specific objectives that are part of the Foundation’s new strategic plan. In this role, Program Officers work collaboratively to advance their objectives with members of their program team, communications team, other program teams, grants management, research, and others under the direction and guidance of a Program Director.

The Program Officer, Children and Families, will be responsible for two objectives within the Foundation’s Children and Families program, which seeks to support the healthy development and academic success of young children, ages 0-8, in Philadelphia. Objectives were identified through the strategic planning process and announced in June 2024. Over time, we may learn that objectives need to be modified to incorporate learnings from implementation, and/or reassigned to balance staff workloads. Therefore, while the objectives listed below represent the initial areas of responsibility, they are subject to change. The objectives are:

• By 2028, make at least 10 investments related to accessing mental and behavioral health services for young children and caregivers experiencing service shortages; these investments will help inform future Foundation investments. (The Program Officer will play a lead role in revising this objective in 2028 to define a more specific and impactful outcome.)
• By 2035, more than 60% of Philadelphia children, birth to 5, are enrolled in high-quality early childhood education.

In addition, the Program Officer will develop deep knowledge of the organizations and communities they serve and support; manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders; and serve as an internal subject matter expert on issues related to their objectives.

Position Responsibilities

• Collaborate to develop annual plans, budget projections, outreach strategies, and other activities that advance any given objective.
• Develop RFPs to advance given objectives, assist with RFP dissemination, plan and execute webinars and other Q&A opportunities for potential applicants.
• Review written proposals attained through RFP, conduct site visits with select organizations and prepare Board documents for review by staff leadership and Board.
• Develop and propose individual grants as needed to advance given objectives.
• Design and implement periodic convenings of grantees with shared objectives or other shared concerns.
• Maintain regular communication with grantees including site visits and calls, community meetings, review of interim and final reports, and management of administrative needs such as grant extensions or budget changes.
• Develop and maintain professional relationships with staff in key local, state, and federal agencies that work on issues related to your objective.
• Convene or participate in groups with other local and/or national funders that help to advance the work of your objectives in alignment with the philanthropic sector.
• Continue to build expertise about your objective through conferences, meetings, and trainings.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues in programs, grants management, communications, and research to advance your objectives and the work of the foundation.
• Share learnings, insights, and new approaches with team members and external audiences.
• Engage in monitoring and evaluation activities that help to convey progress on your objectives and contextual issues of importance.

Expected Competencies & Qualities

• Ability to draw connections between knowledge, talent, skills, networks, and Foundation resources including grant funding, to accelerate impact for program objectives, sector, or the field.
• Ability to comprehend and synthesize challenging materials, conduct thorough due diligence, and make recommendations.
• Expert planning, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, including comfort and experience asking and answering challenging questions.
• Attention to detail, effective time management on multiple timeframes and priorities.
• Superior writing skills; ability to distil complex topics into effective, impactful written materials for expert and lay audiences.
• Strong verbal communication skills; ability to deliver engaging presentations clearly and concisely while remaining on-message; honest yet tactful communicator with individuals and groups in various roles and with different experiences within the Foundation and in community.
• Ability to incorporate and emphasize grantee perspectives in written and verbal communications, internal reporting, convenings and learning communities, and public presentations.
• Strong commitment to the organization’s and program’s mission and goals, content knowledge and experience in the program field, positive work ethic and people/community-centered orientation.
• Team-orientation with strong interpersonal skills, demonstrated ability to collaborate, communicate, and achieve actionable results with others to build strong and sustainable relationships and engagement with all levels of the organization.
• Open, accessible communicator. Express curiosity for learning.
• Adaptive, flexible to change and committed to continuous improvement.
• Active and empathetic listener.
• Commitment to equity and inclusion in everyday practice and approaches to grantmaking.

Education, Training, and Experience

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience in one or more of the following areas required: early childhood education, early intervention, children’s mental and behavioral health, policy or advocacy.
• Experience in delivering or oversight for programs serving vulnerable families.
• Experience with 501(c)3 nonprofits and institutional funding; prior grantmaking experience is helpful but not required.
• Understanding of emerging trends and policies, research, advocacy, and developing partnerships in the field.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, and virtual meeting technology (Zoom, Teams, etc.); experience with CRM or database software is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required.
• Master’s Degree desirable but not required. 

Physical Demands/Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk, bend, sit, talk, lift, hear, and/or use hands and arms to operate general office equipment (computer, telephone, file cabinets, copier, fax machine and printer) using ordinary ambulatory skills. The employee may occasionally lift and/or move up to ten (10) pounds. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate. Personal computer usage requires good hand-eye coordination, arm, hand, and finger dexterity, including ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard and operate equipment.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The William Penn Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and considers applications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, age, gender, marital status, or sexual orientation. All who believe they meet the stated qualifications are invited to apply.

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