As a member of the Fidelity Foundations' regional program staff, the Program Officer will be responsible for developing, managing, and evaluating a portfolio of philanthropic investments focused on capacity-building in a few select regions. The incumbent will deeply understand the local context, contribute to strategy development, and actively cultivate and assess potential investments. They will represent the Fidelity Foundations and its Trustees to existing and prospective grantees, external stakeholders, and community members. The Program Officer will also participate in programmatic efforts that cut across grant portfolios and support organization-wide learning. This position reports to the Program Director, Regional.
Additional responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Gain a deep understanding of each region's context and develop responsive and impactful grantmaking strategies across our sector areas of focus
- Identify and cultivate potential grant opportunities by initiating and managing relationships with potential grantees and other prospecting activities
- Work to assess and advance promising proposals and organizations by conducting due diligence through site visits, in-depth material reviews, financial analysis, and other activities
- Develop and refine proposal requests, and prepare detailed written analyses and grant recommendations for senior management and Trustee approval
- Participate in and contribute to the research agenda and strategy development in collaboration with the Foundations' Strategy and Impact team
- Evaluate grant effectiveness against stated objectives and overall portfolio effectiveness
- Support grant administrative processes, including inputting relevant and timely information into grants management system
- Provide expertise in support of other program areas and projects as required
- Follow media and literature to stay abreast of nonprofit trends and best practices, and attend relevant conferences to broaden knowledge
- Travel to conduct site visits within designated communities two to three times annually will be required
