Senior Program Officer

Title: Senior Program Officer, Movement Infrastructure & Explorations (MIE)

Location: NYC (hybrid, 3 days/week in office, 2 days remote)

Salary: $183,000-$203,000

Reporting to: Senior Vice President, Movement Infrastructure & Explorations (MIE)

 

ABOUT US

The Freedom Together Foundation’s mission is to support people who have been denied power to build it, so they can change unjust systems and create a more democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society. We are committed to advancing deep, systemic change by supporting movements, leaders, and organizations working for justice across the country.

THE POSITION

The Freedom Together Foundation seeks nominations and applications for the position of Senior Program Officer for the Movement Infrastructure & Explorations (MIE) team. The Senior Program Officer (SPO) will work with colleagues and partners to develop and implement strategies that strengthen movements and advance pro-democracy efforts. 

Reporting to the Senior Vice President, MIE, the SPO will build relationships and design grantmaking and program strategies that align with Freedom Together’s mission. They will partner with grantees and seek out new grantees, recommend grants, and serve as a resource and connector for grantees and funder partners in the execution of program strategies. They will stay abreast of emerging trends and synthesize information to inform strategy. The SPO will work across the Freedom Together team to ensure integration and coordination with internal and external partners to share learnings and insights. In all of this work, the SPO will promote the mission, vision and values of the Foundation through relationships with funders, partners, and current and potential grantees.

A core focus of this role will be strengthening durable organizing infrastructure in Black communities, including supporting basebuilding organizations, advancing cross-ecosystem collaboration, and expanding the capacity of institutions serving the Black community to meet the current moment. The Senior Program Officer will also play a key role in extending the reach and impact of mass training initiatives aligned with mass organizing efforts.

The ideal candidate will bring at least ten years of experience in community organizing, campaigns, power building or community engagement, with at least two (2) of those years managing and leading others in that work. They will bring a deep understanding of movement strategy, infrastructure, and capacity-building; have trusting relationships with leaders across a wide spectrum of the organizing field; and possess a deep commitment to social justice and power building. They will be a strategist, excellent manager of work and progress towards goals, curious and learning oriented, and an organizer and convener of others (by nature or experience). The ideal candidate is energized by engaging directly with organizers and institutions and is comfortable navigating complexity and change.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Program Officer (SPO) will report to the new Senior Vice President for Movement Infrastructure & Explorations, and will hold the following responsibilities and areas of work: 

Strategy Development & Insights

• Collaboratively develop, implement, and communicate program strategies that allow movements to be healthy, effective, and powerful.
• Stay up to date on trends and opportunities related to MIE’s efforts and work internally and externally to inform continued improvement and refinement of strategies.
• Map field and funding landscapes to inform strategies that maximize charitable impact.
• Coordinate to ensure integration of MIE’s strategies with other program areas.
• Lead and advance elements of MIE’s Black Organizing strategy, including identifying and supporting opportunities to strengthen basebuilding capacity, foster collaboration across legacy and emerging institutions, and build durable connective infrastructure across the ecosystem.
• Play key role in MIE’s Mass Training strategy to support, scale, and strengthen emerging training initiatives aligned with mass organizing efforts.

Grantee Support, Grants Management & Program Implementation

• Work with the MIE team to collaboratively implement program strategy.
• Build and tend to relationships with current and potential grantees relevant to the MIE program, continuously learning and understanding needs and trends, and building spaces of opportunity and connection to advance the program strategies and impact.
• Invite grant proposals from selected organizations, work with applicants to develop and finalize grant pr