Company Name
The JPB Foundation
Company City
New York
Company State
NY
Job Location
New York, NY
Company Information
JPB’s vision is to build the power of those who have been denied it to challenge and change oppressive systems, and advance visions of a more just, democratic, and sustainable world. We are dedicated to long-lasting, systemic change. That means we commit to our partners for the long haul, trusting in the strength and vision of the organizations we support to address some of our country’s most entrenched problems.
JPB was founded in 2011 by Barbara Picower, the current president of the Foundation and Chair of the Board with funds bequeathed by her late husband, Jeffry. In April 2023, JPB announced the selection of Deepak Bhargava as its next President, succeeding Picower, who will transition into a President Emerita role in February 2024. Over the last 10 years, JPB has grown to be one of the largest US foundations, awarding over $300 million in grants each year.
Job Description
The JPB Foundation is currently seeking Senior Vice Presidents for three programmatic areas, newly created positions in a period of transformation under new leadership.
Democracy, Gender and Racial Justice
Community and Worker Power
Movement Infrastructure and Explorations
The SVPs act as the primary strategist for their respective programmatic area, working closely with the President and other senior leaders to ensure that grantmaking effectively executes the foundation’s mission, vision, and values. The SVPs work seamlessly with other senior staff to ensure strategies are integrated, learning from each other, and multiplying in their impact. They look for opportunities to advance justice and equity, efficiency and effectiveness, and smart grantmaking design among core grantees and “big plays.” They are strong and experienced people managers who are responsible for developing a team committed to continuous learning, collaboration, and flexibility. They hold powerful relationships with peer funders, advisors, board members and grantee organizations to advance the overall programmatic strategy.
Reporting Relationship and Structure
The SVPs report to the SVP, Program Strategy and Management, and collaborate closely with the President.
We aim to have a flexible and fluid senior leadership structure to promote cross-sectoral strategizing and minimize siloization. We expect portfolios to change, so that a candidate hired into one role would be expected, over time, to step into another senior role (including the SVP, Program Strategy and Management role) in order to benefit from changing perspective and fresh ideas.
Programmatic Areas
While the new vision of the foundation is organized by programmatic areas, we recognize that if we want to solve the big challenges of our time, we can’t build power in issue siloes. That’s why leaders of each of these programmatic areas must be able to fluidly traverse among all the others and work coherently across programmatic areas towards the overall strategy.
Democracy, Gender and Racial Justice
A central theme of our work will be expanding democracy. This means protecting and strengthening basic democratic institutions, like the right to vote, or the right to protest, or the right to hear and read the truth about our history. Democracy is fundamentally a question of who has power, who belongs, and who has a voice; it is deeply intertwined with issues of racial and gender justice. Today, authoritarian movements are weakening democratic institutions and rolling back rights for people of color, immigrants, women and LGBTQ+ people. We seek to weaken the grip of authoritarianism, strengthen pro-democracy movements and advance affirmative long term visions of a multi-racial, feminist democracy. Ideal candidates for this role will include people who have led significant campaigns or coalitions to win tangible victories to expand and defend democracy and/or build power and autonomy for people of color, women LGBTQ+ people, and historically marginalized groups.
Community and Worker Power
Oppressed people live multi-issue lives. They need multi-issue organizations that they own as vehicles to build and express their power. There is no path to a just, democratic, and sustainable future without mass organizations of everyday people, but such organizations have been in decline in recent decades. This program will support community and worker organizing in various forms and across issues like climate justice, economic justice, and more. There will be an explicit focus on revitalizing, strengthening, and modernizing the craft of organizing to engage people at scale and in new, innovative ways. Ideal candidates for this role will have extensive experience in leadership positions in community and worker organizing, a deep fluency in organizing craft and practices, and an analysis of how organizing needs to evolve to address current realities.
Movement Infrastructure and Explorations
We recognize that social change depends on a strong movement infrastructure. We will invest in groups that nurture diverse leadership who combine effective strategy with open heartedness and in visionaries developing new ideas and frameworks to address the daunting challenges of our time. We will also explore how best to harness tools and technology of the future so movement groups stay at the cutting edge of developments that can help advance social justice. Ideal candidates for this role will have a track record of advancing key movement capacities, some examples include: progressive vision, narrative and media, leadership development pipelines, strategic research, corporate power, and data and tech.
Responsibilities:
1. Programmatic Strategy: Develop, implement, and continuously refine an impactful programmatic strategy, backed by research, a sound theory of change, and a deep understanding of how social progress is achieved. Design grantmaking in a way to achieve foundation-wide and program-specific goals and objectives, recommending new initiatives and phasing out old ones, being responsive to emerging debates and leaders, and identifying the best, most innovative work in the field as well as crucial gaps and leverage points for greater impact.
2. Powerful Relationships: Develop and sustain powerful, authentic relationships with peer funders, grantees, advisors, and researchers in their respective field of practice. Convene and participate in impactful tables that move the entire field forward, identifying opportunities for alignment and co-funding towards common goals. Listen attentively to the needs of leaders in the field while building access and opportunity for them.
3. Thought Leadership: Synthesize and distill learnings from relevant programmatic work to share with the field through publications, presentations, and learning events. Strategically respond to and engage with current events and the national landscape to move programmatic strategy forward. Multiply the effect of the grantmaking program by sharing lessons to elevate grantmaking practice and support learning in movements.
4. Continuous Learning and Fluidity: Establish a culture of rigorous and continuous learning in their programmatic field and other fields for themselves and their staff. Working with other SVPs, develop systems and structures to promote fluidity, collaboration, and porousness with other programmatic areas, such that grantmaking portfolios could change over time and staff would be well equipped to work in other areas. Seek opportunities to continually push intellectual boundaries, drawing inspiration and ideas from within and outside their field of practice.
5. Programmatic and Team Management: Create annual plans, participate in a collaborative process to determine budget allocations, and manage budgets that reflect the programmatic strategy and ensure that grants are responsibly stewarded and managed. Ensure grantmaking reflects racial justice and equity standards. Hire, manage, and develop a team of diverse, high-performing team members to ensure program goals and outcomes are met. Hold staff accountable to standards of ethical grantmaking practices, strategic rigor, and efficient programmatic execution.
The targeted starting salary range for this position listed below is based on experience:
Position pay range $375,000—$425,000 USD
Job Qualifications
- Significant senior-level leadership experience for social justice organizations and initiatives in the field that have resulted in major impact
- Demonstrated field leadership and content expertise in their respective programmatic area (or across a range of programmatic areas)
- Proven ability to apply research, evaluation, and learning to set and adjust strategic plans
- A track record of executing carefully laid strategies on a significant scale in their field
- Strong relationships and a diverse and respected peer network in their field
- Flexibility and adaptability in an ever-changing environment
- Brings a sense of joy and humor to their work
- Low-ego; committed to advancing the whole rather than themselves
- Experience in managing and mentoring teams, fostering a positive and inclusive work culture
- Deep fluency in social justice and equity principles, with the ability to integrate these principles into programmatic strategies and operations
- Academic background or equivalent practical experience conducting research and evaluation of movement work is a plus, but not required