Program Manager, RJEF

Overview

The Early Childhood Funders Collaborative (ECFC) (ecfunders.org)is dedicated to aligning and leveraging philanthropic, public, and private resources to promote federal, state, and local policies and practices that take a systemic, equity-focused approach to supporting young children, their families, and the early childhood community. The network of national, regional, and local funders supports the healthy development and learning of children prenatal to age eight and their families, particularly low income and at-risk children, in the context of their communities.  

 

ECFC administers the Raising Child Care Fund, a fund that combines resources to re-grant to state-based grassroots organizing to advance more public investment and equity in childcare.  ECFC is a fiscally sponsored program of TSNE (tsne.org).

 

ECFC seeks to engage our members, grow and diversify our revenue streams, and lift our voice on public policy issues relevant to our mission.  To support these goals, ECFC seeks a Director of Communications to level up our communications strategy, messaging, coordination, and leadership.  We have identified the following major strategic communications opportunities for a new Director to significantly advance ECFC’s impact:

• Improving member communications to better inform and engage our membership and to enhance our offerings.
• Lifting ECFC’s unique voice as a thought leader in the field to engage potential members and to shape the broader conversation.
• Promoting our pooled funds and communicating their goals, learnings, and impact to current and new funders as well as the sector as a whole.

 

Responsibilities

The Program Manager plays a central role in managing RJEF’s grantmaking and advancing our strategic priorities. This position is responsible for stewarding relationships with grantees and community partners, ensuring alignment between program strategies and contributing to learning, evaluation, and our power and field-building efforts.

 

Essential Functions

 

Grantee Support & Communications

• Manage a portfolio of 20 grantees, with any additional annual new grantees
• Support grantee capacity-building and foster connections across the portfolio through building trusting relationships.
• Build and manage grantee programming that includes but is not limited to newsletters, webinars, and annual gatherings.

Program Strategy & Implementation

• Collaborate with the RJEF Director to design and refine strategies that align with RJEF's Theory of Change.
• Track emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in the field to inform strategy.
• Contribute to convenings, learning sessions, and special initiatives.

Learning, Evaluation & Knowledge Sharing

• Manage and work alongside Evaluators to monitor learnings and analyzing RJEF’s impact.
• Document insights and prepare reports for internal and external audiences.
• Share lessons learned to strengthen practice within ECFC.

Cross-Foundation Engagement

• Represent RJEF at conferences, meetings, and community events.
• Contribute to organizational initiatives, equity goals, and culture-building.
• Collaborate with communications and development teams to amplify grantee stories and impact.

Qualifications

We will consider exceptional candidates who demonstrate a strong combination of the specific qualifications and skills described below.

 

• 3-5 years of professional experience in philanthropy, nonprofits, or related fields.
• Strong understanding of grantmaking, program management, or community-based initiatives.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and community-centered practices.
• Excellent relationship management skills and ability to engage with diverse stakeholders.
• Strong research, writing, and presentation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently, and meet deadlines.

Physical Demands/Work Environment

 

The physical demands described here are representative of those for this position. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. Work is performed in an office environment and in close proximity to other workers.

 

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is required to:

• Handle, or feel objects, tools or controls;
• Reach; traverse; sit (usually for longer periods of time); occasionally ascend/descend; and position self (to) move;
• Occasionally