The Walton Family Foundation is seeking a skilled, highly motivated and entrepreneurial individual to join the foundation as a Program Officer for the Personal Philanthropy Group.
About the Position
Specific duties include the following:
• You will help shape investment plans aligned with specific philanthropic strategies, develop and track budgets, and be held accountable for yearly progress in meeting objectives
• You will manage relationships with grantees and potential grantees including seeking and performing due diligence on proposals
• You will shepherd proposals through the foundation’s approval process, as well as provide guidance to and work with grantees to achieve significant impact
• You will identify potential new partnerships and opportunities including identifying prospective grantees and funding partners
• You will assist grantees in developing and implementing maintenance, monitoring, and funding strategies that lead to the achievement of strategic goals
• You will work with Foundation evaluation staff to implement and refine the Foundation’s monitoring and evaluation program.
• You will manage workflow and processes with grantees, across Foundation offices, and with family members
• You will review budgets for appropriate expenditures, review legal documents, monitor grantee operations, review financial and narrative reports and ensure timely payments.
• You will manage outside consultants as necessary: develop RFPs, solicit proposals, develop work plans, oversee contracts and ensure high-quality deliverables.
• You will ensure a positive experience for family members through superior customer service; be proactive in anticipating needs and provide accurate, timely resolution of issues when they arise.
• Other projects and assignments as requested by Foundation leadership and/or family members.
Personal attributes that support your success:
• You have the ability to give and receive feedback graciously
• You know how to build effective relationships and networks to achieve results
• You are a self-directed and decisive problem solver who can also be flexible
• You are a superior communicator who treats everyone with respect
• You have an intellectual agility and the ability to analyze, think critically, and understand emerging education reform issues
• You have proven skills at organization and time management
• You have exceptional attention to detail
• You have the ability to anticipate issues and problems in advance and propose possible solutions
• You possess unquestionable ethics and personal integrity
• You are an effective team member who is also able to act independently
• You are willing to travel up to 30% of the time
About the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. The children and grandchildren of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. In 2017, the foundation awarded more than $535 million in grants in support of these initiatives. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, with offices in Washington, D.C., Jersey City, New Jersey and Denver, Colorado, approximately 125 staff conduct the day-to-day operations of the foundation.
About the Personal Philanthropy Group
In addition to our three program areas, individual members of the Walton family have a range of philanthropic interests, some of which are highly aligned with the WFF program areas and some of which are entirely independent.
In the Personal Philanthropy Group, we
• Support the diverse interests of a growing family;
• Cover a broad area of giving including standalone grants and those that are part of larger grantmaking strategies established by family members;
• Benefit from the deep experience and best practices of the foundation’s core programs, and our programs benefit from bold ideas and innovation generated by individual giving;
• Help accelerate progress toward the goals of our core programs with complementary support from the personal philanthropy group grantmaking.
The Walton Family Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building and maintaining a culturally diverse workplace. We encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status of protected veteran, among other things or status as a qualified individual with a disability.
Basic Qualifications
• A Bachelor’s degree; relevant master’s degree or higher preferred.
• At least 5 years of work in grant development and management, nonprofit management, or management/ strategic planning consulting.
• Excellent written communication skills and experience in producing both brief and longer written products in a timely fashion for internal and external audiences.
• Excellent oral communication skills, with experience in public speaking and so as to convey complex issues to internal and external audiences.
• Knowledge of economic, financial and accounting principles (e.g., experience navigating financial statements, an organization’s budget); familiarity reading legal documents.
Preferred experience includes:
• Business/ finance experience
• Knowledge of Northwest Arkansas
