Program Director

The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck (PCLB) Foundation is a private family foundation that seeks to help people solve problems in their communities. Our program areas are Education, Outdoors, Science, Medicine, and Family Projects. In those areas, we identify and support dynamic leaders and effective organizations who work unselfishly to improve and empower those around them. We provide problem-solvers with connections, information, experience, and money that they need to provide their communities with critical skills and resources – ultimately, to do something remarkable.

Position Summary

The Program Director will play a critical role in advancing the mission of the Foundation by overseeing the planning, execution, and evaluation of various grant-making programs and initiatives. With significant experience in philanthropy, the Program Director will lead a team of Program Officers across various content areas (Outdoors, Science, Medicine, and Family Projects). The ideal candidate will excel in management, serving as a sounding board, coach, and leader to Program Officers, to ensure that their recommended grant strategies and grants align with PCLB’s goals and priorities and that PCLB more broadly advances our grantees’ work. This role does not require subject matter expertise in PCLB’s program areas but demands strong people and project management skills, smart and strategic thinking, a high bar for quality work, a keen eye for details, and a humble approach to philanthropy.

The Program Director will also work closely with the Executive Director and other senior leadership to drive the Foundation’s effectiveness and impact, through both the above-described leadership of program work and involvement in other organizational projects. The PCLB Foundation is in a period of growth; this is a new role for us, and the ideal candidate will bring experience, skills, and perspectives that will help shape the larger foundation into which we are growing.

Note: This role is not externally facing. While the Program Director may join in some grantee meetings – particularly around training PCLB team members or extending staff capacity as necessary – this role does not directly manage any grantee relationships.

Responsibilities

Management

• Manages five individuals (currently 3 Program Officers/Senior Program Officers, 1 Project Director, and 1 program consultant).
• Trains and develops outstanding Program staff capable of: delivering excellent work, representing PCLB well with our grantees, and embodying PCLB’s values and grant-making principles.
• Provides direction, support, and constructive feedback to team members to help them achieve their goals. Regularly reviews progress towards these goals.
• Inspires and motivates the team to maintain high levels of performance and morale.
• Promotes and participates in an organization-wide culture of learning and continuous improvement.
• Acts as liaison between team members and organization leadership, making sure that critical information is communicated effectively across all parties and work is done effectively.
• Works with Executive Director around engaging the PCLB Board, whether in establishing grant-making strategies or in staying aware of progress toward PCLB goals. This includes planning of and participation in Board meetings (including 3 annual Board meetings, monthly Board calls, etc.), creation of written Board updates, etc.
• Participates in and leads projects to make PCLB’s work better, applying both experience in philanthropy and a continuous improvement mindset, particularly as we are in a period of significant growth.

Grant (and Grantee) Strategy

• Provides direction to and serves as a strategic sounding board for Program Officers in the ongoing development and execution of grant strategies for their respective portfolios, ensuring that the work is aligned with PCLB’s values and maximizes impact on PCLB’s 10-year goals. This includes strategy around actual grants and around how PCLB can best support our grantees.
• Works with Program Officers to establish clear plans for near-term and long-term work, to ensure we are establishing and executing strong grant-making strategies. This includes developing project plans for increasing impact of current grant-making strategies, exploring new areas of grant-making, and developing/monitoring measures to evaluate success of this work.
• Monitors and evaluates the impact and progress toward PCLB’s goals in various Program Areas, guiding Program Officers to adjust grant strategies when/where needed based on monitoring and evaluation data.
• Partners with Program Officers on the ideation and vetting of significant grant opportunities – such as “Big Bet” grants – prioritizing high-impact or high-potential projects that will accelerate progress on our goals.

Grant-making

• Oversees the grant-making workflow in each of PCLB’s three grant cycles to ensure Program Officers complete various grant cycle-related tasks with excellence and within set deadlines.
• Reviews various internal deliverables from Program Officers related to the grant cycle to ensure effective and strategic grant recommendations, high-quality work, and effective documentation. Internal deliverables can include grant-making documents and presentations intended for PCLB leadership and/or the Board.
• Ensures each portfolio’s budget is fully spent each fiscal year. Makes recommendations around grant budget needs annually.

Qualifications

A qualified candidate possesses:

• Commitment to the Foundation’s core values of Excellence, Fairness, Humility, Self-Reliance, and Trustworthiness.
• Commitment to and belief in the Foundation’s core program areas and portfolios.
• Deep understanding of the nonprofit sector and grant-making processes.
• Exceptional management skills and a commitment to building and supervising an effective team.
• A strong strategic orientation, genuine intellectual curiosity, and the ability to ask smart, thoughtful questions that make people think and move work forward.
• Proven experience in strategy development, project planning, and program evaluation.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities, to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a range of individuals.
• Superb time management skills, capable of managing multiple people and priorities in a dynamic environment.
• A strong work ethic and a drive to get things done.
• Discretion and commitment to organizational confidentiality.
• A master’s degree or the equivalent in related work experience, and a minimum of 10 years of related experience, preferably in a nonprofit or philanthropic setting.

Location

Staff spend three days per week “with people,” i.e., in the New York City office with colleagues or in the field with grantees and other partners. The other two days may be remote.

Compensation

The annual starting salary range is $220,000 to $245,000; salary is commensurate with the candidate’s skills and experience. PCLB also offers a strong benefits package.

Application Process

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to careers@pclbfoundation.org with “Program Director” and where you found this job posting in the subject line. We will review applications on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.