Program Officer, Adolescent Girls & Young Women of Color – Temporary

Tides is a group of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations committed to building a world of social justice. Founded in 1976, Tides accelerates the pace of social change, working with innovative partners to solve the world's toughest problems. Tides focuses on equality and human rights, a sustainable environment, health individuals and communities, education, and economic development. Tides' services include donor-advised funds, fiscal sponsorship, and shared spaces in San Francisco and New York City. For more information, please visit www.tides.org.

2021 was a landmark year in Tides’ 45-year history. We are experiencing a unique and powerful opportunity for transformative change for the future in how we lead and impact social justice and shared prosperity. Taking committed actions to prepare for this change, we have welcomed an expanded and largely new executive team, partnered with a top-notch social impact consulting firm to revitalize our strategic plan, and focus our operational excellence initiatives, and grown our core staff significantly. These investments will help Tides to better serve our partners and bring our vision – of a world of shared prosperity and social justice – to life.

The Role:

The Program Officer, Adolescent Girls and Young Women of Color (PO) will act as the girls and young women of color issue area lead for Tides. The PO will be a temporary member of the Philanthropic team and the broader Partner Services Department at Tides. The Philanthropy team provides integrated services for individual, family, foundation, and social change leader partners to support grantmaking, impact investing, advocacy, donor collaboration, and strategic advisory solutions. In addition to providing support to our grantmaking and social change leader partners, the team designs and manages several important pooled grantmaking initiatives that align with Tides’ equity impact goal and our vision, mission, and approach.

Day to day, the PO will serve as the lead for the Advancing Girls Fund (AG), one of several key grantmaking initiatives designed to bring donors together to invest meaningfully in adolescent girls and young women of color so that they have the resources to dream, learn, play, and lead. The PO will implement and iterate AG’s grantmaking strategy and take primary responsibility for building and nurturing partnerships with grantees and movement leaders, and will work in partnership with the Development Manager to build and nurture partnerships with aligned funders, and donor organizing networks.

The PO will lead in identifying best practices and emerging trends in women and girls’ philanthropy. The PO will act with an eye toward partner education, future growth, and strategic response to increasing demand for Tides solutions and heightening our impact. The PO will work collaboratively with partner segment leads, and the Development Manager to offer educational and convening opportunities for our partners to enhance our collective impact in the adolescent girls’ space. These convening sessions will help to uplift grantees and social change leaders' needs and perspectives the donor community. They will ensure that the entire Tides partner services team has the tools, training and resources needed to deepen engagement with partners across Tides’ network.

This is a 12 month temporary contract with the potential to extend.

What you will do:

Advancing Girls Fund Program Leadership

• Design and execute effective multi-year grantmaking strategy with an annual budget of approximately $20-25 million in alignment with Tides’ Vision, Mission Approach (VMA), and Impact Goal.
• Support the development of fund strategy and priorities and decision-making frameworks for grantmaking.
• Establish and implement appropriate fund governance, including participatory grantmaking frameworks; recruit and support decision-making of Independent Advisory Council (IAC) and Girls Advisory Board members.
• Design and oversee implementation of operational plans for Advancing Girls (AG) grant dockets; develop RFP and LOI processes and produce dockets.
• Monitor progress on approved grants, including review of interim and final reports, synthesize findings to measure AG impact.
• Provide non-financial support to grantees (i.e., capacity building, trainings, convenings, etc.).
• Maintain and build relationships with grantees, thought leaders, funding partners, and other experts and leaders in the field to increase the effectiveness of AG.
• Conduct research and analysis on programs, donors, and women and girls sector trends and areas of strategic priority.
• Build honest and responsive relationships with current and potential grantees.
• Partner across departments to lead internal and external events featuring AG.
• Manage consultants to help evaluate, modify, and implement grantmaking strategies and evaluation frameworks.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Communications to develop resources for AG including websites, donor reports, and grantee announcements.
• Convene donor briefings and raise financial resources for the AG in partnership with Marketing and Communications and Development staff.
• Co-lead Tides’ effort in creating org-wide templates and standards to support collaborative funds in measuring grantee impact, developing evaluation frameworks, feedback structures and tracking systems.

Issue Area Leadership

• Serve as Tides adolescent girls and young women of color issue area lead externally.
• Build and maintain relationships with key girls organizing networks to stay abreast of sector trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities.
• Serve as the resource hub for Tides staff on women and girls to better serve all Tides partners.
• Craft timely briefs in partnership with the Marketing & Communications team to showcase Tides’ knowledge on important and/or emerging issues in philanthropy to benefit key stakeholders, including current partners.
• Participate in joint efforts with movement leaders, foundations, donor organizing networks and affinity groups to uplift marginalized and under resourced groups and communities in the adolescent girls and young women of color space.
• Stay current on the women and girls funding landscape to identify emerging needs, gaps, and opportunities.
• Represent Tides on a regular basis by attending and presenting at conferences, gatherings, professional associations, and other external events.

Partner Relationship Management

• In partnership with identified advisors, create connections and foster collaboration between Tides women and girls focused partners that are aligned with Tides VMA and Impact model.

What you will bring:

• Demonstrated commitment to and experience in progressive social change through women and girls’ initiatives.
• Deep understanding of and connection to community level needs in the adolescent and young women of color space.
• Strong alignment with Tides’ VMA and our organizational values of respect, equity, empowerment, accountability, and creativity.
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement consulting engagements or grantmaking initiatives from concept phase to completion.
• Successful fund development experience, especially with major donors, foundations, and corporations.
• Experience with measurement and evaluation of grantmaking programs.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills with a strong service orientation to facilitate collaborative problem-solving to reach solutions that benefit all parties.
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, manage expectations, and steward important relationships.
• Ability to hold self and others accountable for high-quality, timely, and effective outputs with a demonstrated commitment to meeting the needs of internal and external partners for a high level of satisfaction.
• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, different communication styles, and a wide range of diverse colleagues.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with a proven ability to develop proposals, make presentations, and communicate effectively with partners.
• Demonstrated ability to hold information confidential with excellent judgment and to engage in a direct and truthful manner.
• Strong motivation and an ability to simultaneously manage multiple assignments at varying levels of complexity, from administrative to strategic partner services.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to work with and manipulate data from multiple sources, assimilate and present information in a clear and concise manner.
• Ability to use systems and other tools (Salesforce & NetSuite) to gather data, insights to measure outcomes.

Education & Experience:    

• BA/BS or higher degree, or equivalent experience may be substituted for a college degree.
• 5 - 10 years of demonstrated experience working in the philanthropy and/or nonprofit sector.
• 2 - 4 years’ experience in women and girls grantmaking and / or advocacy.

Life at Tides

Working at Tides connects you with world-class teammates, enduring relationships, and an inspired sense of purpose - while our employee benefits support our team’s talent and well-being. This is an exciting time to join Tides. In the past, Tides staff have worked predominantly from our offices in San Francisco and New York. Today, our hybrid work model supports staff with remote work from anywhere in the United States.

Salary Range

Tides is committed to providing a competitive compensation package. The starting salary for this role ranges from $88,944 to $133,416 based on geographic location, years of experience, and ensuring pay equity within the organization. The recruiting team is committed to sharing more details regarding compensation based on the candidate's experience and location during the interview process. Tides offers a generous benefits package including: comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance, paid time off, life and disability insurances, retirement plan, educational assistance, confidential counseling and life balance resources designed to support the passion, commitment and energy that is vital to our team members.

Important Information

Any Tides Network employee who wishes to use the office or travel to the office must be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and boosted. You are required to submit proof of vaccination to the Human Resources Department at least 2 days before your first visit to the office. Employees who do not have vaccination information on file will not be permitted in the building.

Application Instructions

Please submit a resume and a thoughtful cover letter online. Your cover letter should express your interest in working for Tides and your qualifications for the role. You may also share your detailed LinkedIn profile with us. Tides is an Equal Opportunity employer. We value diversity and inclusion and we look forward to reviewing applications from all who are qualified to apply.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Tides is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. Also pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we encourage and will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Applicants with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. If you seek an accommodation, please advise in writing at the time you apply.