Company Name
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Company City
Battle Creek
Company State
MI
Job Location
Hybrid/Remote
Company Information
In 1930, breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg established the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) with the desire “to help people help themselves”. Since its inception, WKKF has supported children, families, and communities as they strengthen and create conditions to help propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals, and as contributors to society.
Presently, the Foundation’s teams are focused primarily on three key dimensions of family and community life that impact the success of children: Education and Learning; Food, Health and Well-Being; and Family Economic Security.
WKKF receives its income primarily from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trust (WKKFT), which owns substantial equity in the Kellogg Company in addition to its own diversified portfolio of investments. Together, the assets of the Foundation and the Trust total more than $8 billion.
W.K. Kellogg partners with other foundations to support the Equitable Enterprise Initiative at the Institute for the Future (IFTF). The Equitable Enterprise a two-year program supported by the Conrad N. Hilton, John Irvine, Robert Wood Johnson, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Ford Foundation that explores how the structure of enterprise has exacerbated inequality in the United States and how a future of more equitable business practices and a more humane economy might look.
IFTF was founded in 1968 as an independent, public-interest nonprofit and a spinoff from RAND Corporation with original support from the Ford Foundation.
• Expanding Equity Report (January 2024)
• Lifting Up the Future for Children with IFTF (February 2024)
• Facing the Future with IFTF
For more information visit https://www.wkkf.org/
Job Description
The Opportunity
The Vice President of Impact leads the charge of strategic programming and policy leadership, focusing on impact and achievement of the organization’s ends. As part of this role, the Vice President is responsible of leading the policy-advocacy, the Mission-Driven Investment, Centers of Impact and the knowledge and learning functions, aiming to identify and secure opportunities for affecting positive system change within our geographies.
Responsibilities
The Vice President, Impact will provide leadership and management for the creative and strategic direction of programming from design through implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. This leader will help develop creative ways to identify and secure opportunities for the foundation to effect positive change within communities.
Specific responsibilities will include:
• Lead the design, development, implementation, evaluation, dissemination and leveraging of program plans, strategies, models and outcomes that have sustainable impact.
• Develop effective communication of programming visions, strategies and impacts with the Board, staff and external constituents and stakeholders.
• Lead all foundation’s policy-advocacy activities and engage stakeholders on policy issues that might benefit or affect the Foundation’s strategic plan implementation.
• With the support of the Director of Policy, create strong relationships within executive branch and legislative offices; elected officials and their staff; and key policy-advocacy decision makers.
• Lead the MDI investment strategy and policy that achieves both financial objectives and mission alignment.
• With the support of the Director of Mission Driven Investments, develop recommendations on long-term and strategic asset allocations for the MDI portfolio; develop investment strategies for each asset class in order to achieve the foundation’s investment objectives—both financial and mission.
• With the support of the Program and Evaluation Officer, provide leadership and oversight for on-the-ground execution of program efforts, identifying and prioritizing the highest value knowledge and learning from assigned areas of work (e.g., grant investments and networking meetings).
• Lead the development of ideas for how the foundation’s highest value knowledge and learning could be packaged and disseminated to benefit internal and external stakeholders.
• Create and maintain the model for training employees to develop essential capabilities in relation to the Art of Grantmaking (Learning Guild) and the communities based on fostering innovation and integration between program teams and across impact areas for advanced programmatic strategy (Centers of Impact).
• Oversee organizational services, systems, processes and management tools to support grantmaking and operations and contribute to organizational effectiveness.
• Ensure accountability of all people leaders within areas of responsibility for effective talent leadership and management that is consistent with desired culture, agile behaviors and WKKF values.
• Responsible that all staff are informed of organizational mission, vision and direction, guiding principles, identity, goals, objectives, strategies and core values.
• Represent the Foundation at International, National, State and Municipal events, as well as support the Chief Strategic and Impact Officer and other Foundation leadership on an as-needed basis.
Job Qualifications
Professional Experiences and Qualities
This VP should have the following qualities:
• Strategic thinking and leadership skills: Manage and model organizational vision, strategy, values, purpose and culture.
• Execute and manage strategy: The ability to drive results through successful accomplishment of ends and avoidance of executive limitations.
• Develop human capital: Empower, coach and develop people, modeling agile practices and demonstrating WKKF’s commitment to racial equity, community engagement and leadership.
• Communication: Engage WKKF staff and external constituents, delivering timely, consistent, aligned, authentic communications at all levels.
• Drive innovation: deliver industry insights and promote continuous learning and improvement.
• Integrity: High level of ethics and commitment to WKKF mission, vision, and core values. And should demonstrate absolute integrity and discretion; breach of confidentiality may result in termination.
The ideal candidate should also possess, at minimum, the following qualifications:
• Minimum of 10 years work experience or equivalent in fields relevant to assigned responsibilities.
• Minimum of 5 years’ work experience or equivalent managing and leading teams.
• Distinguished in fields related to organizational effectiveness and process improvement.
• Bilingual desirable, particularly Spanish and/or Haitian Creole.
• Experience in the philanthropic sector strongly preferred.
• Successful experience working as part of a multidisciplinary team and working effectively with persons from diverse cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds.
• Knowledge of human resources management/supervision, policy, and legal compliance.
• Distinguished in the development and management of business process management.
• Commitment to collaboration and teamwork with executives and staff at all levels.
• Demonstrated sound reasoning, creativity and good judgment, coupled with problem-solving skills across unique and varied situations.
• Ability to translate business requirements into practical, effective solutions.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to facilitate supportive relationships internally and effective collaborations externally.
• Ability to manage and motivate staff through effective leadership, mentoring, communications, coaching, development, facilitation, evaluation and rewards.
• Knowledge of international and ethnic cultures, systems and an ability to build and maintain positive relationships and networks with people and organizations across the globe.
• Ability to make complex, multidimensional decisions in a mission-driven, strategic organizational environment.
Education
Bachelor’s degree is required; master’s degree in a related field is preferred.
How to Apply
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