The Surdna Foundation, a New York City-based national family foundation that was founded by John E. Andrus in 1917, seeks a Program Associate to support its Strong Local Economies grantmaking program. With assets totaling more than $700 million and an annual grantmaking budget in excess of $30 million, Surdna focuses in three grantmaking areas: Sustainable Environments, Strong Local Economies, and Thriving Cultures. The Foundation aims to foster just and sustainable communities in the United States-communities guided by principles of social justice. The work environment at Surdna is team-oriented and collegial where diversity is valued.

The Surdna Foundation's Strong Local Economies program aims to help create communities of opportunity that offer good jobs within reach for low- and moderate-income residents, and provide sustainable development solutions that enable people to easily travel between their homes and jobs, schools, and local amenities and personal services. In addition, the program aspires to create strong and sustainable local economies that include a diversity of vibrant businesses and sectors, and improves residents' livelihood and access to quality jobs and training within a region and nationally. The program provides grant support for efforts at the national, state, metropolitan, and city levels, investing in the exchange of ideas across networks of people, institutions, and places with the intent of seeding innovative projects, programs, and policies and bringing them to scale across the country. We seek a balance of grantmaking opportunities that include efforts to: demonstrate the effectiveness of specific, targeted projects and models; advocate for and implement federal, state, and local public policies; and empower, mobilize, and develop leadership in communities and agencies to encourage civic participation.

Please review our guidelines for more details about the program's strategies.

Responsibilities:

The Program Associate (PA) for the Strong Local Economies (SLE) program is chiefly responsible for providing all administrative support for the program, including two professional staff members: a Program Director and a Program Officer. The administrative aspects of the position involve formatting, editing, and proof-reading grant dockets; reconciling program grants and strategy with the program budget quarterly; coordinating calendars, scheduling meetings and phone calls, and arranging travel plans for the Director and Officer; creating and submitting program expense reports; organizing meetings and special events that support the program's goals; daily phone and email interaction directly with grantees, grant seekers and Surdna's Board of Directors.

In addition to program administration, the Program Associate will have ample opportunities to engage in substantive programmatic refinement and grantmaking support to the portfolio through the following: review and response to letters of inquiry submitted by grant seekers; some due diligence tasks for potential grants; managing and writing grant recommendations for the program's small grants program; monitor the progress of existing grantees; and regular contribution of program-relevant news and policy developments. The PA is also responsible for planning and coordinating the Strong Local Economies program's annual, three-day grantee learning retreat with some 100 nonprofits and foundation partners in attendance.

Beyond working with program staff and grantees, the Program Associate works collaboratively with the Director of Systems and Communications to track incoming letters of inquiry, grant proposals, existing grants, and grantee reports for the SLE program and joint-grants made with other Surdna programs. The PA works closely with the Office Administrator in maintaining office systems such as filing, kitchen maintenance, reception coverage, and Board Meeting support. Additionally, the PA works as a part of a small team of Program Associates that support the other grantmaking areas at the Foundation, providing each other with mutual support on coordinating cross-programmatic grants, events, and other initiatives and peak periods for the Foundation.

The successful candidate is a confident, analytical, and agile problem-solver with the ability to handle several programmatic and administrative tasks simultaneously, while maintaining poise and patience. The successful candidate also has a demonstrated educational background and/or professional interest in at least one or more areas of the Strong Local Economies program. This position offers exceptional access to the national land use, transit-oriented development (TOD), workforce development and economic development fields as well as the national and place-based philanthropic community.

Qualifications:

• BA/BS degree required. An academic degree in a related field and an interest in regional land use, transit-oriented development (TOD), entrepreneurship, workforce, and economic development issues are highly preferred.
• A minimum of two years work experience is required, preferably within an administrative and programmatic capacity.
• Previous work experience within a nonprofit or grantmaking foundation is a plus.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Excellent analytical and communications skills, namely writing and oral presentation skills.
• A strong team player with a diplomatic, professional manner, and a sense of humor.
• Commitment to applying professional and personal skills broadly within Surdna Foundation in support of its mission and interest to engage in more cross-programmatic initiatives.

Competitive salary and excellent benefits.

Surdna Foundation is an equal opportunity employer

Please send resume, cover letter, and writing sample to:

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Submissions accepted on rolling basis.

Deadline for Submissions is Monday, December 6, 2010

In 2009, as part of Surdna’s mission and program revision, Foundation Initiatives (FI) was created to ensure flexibility and ongoing cross-programmatic thinking at the foundation. FI does this through research and development (R&D) that supports the exploration of innovation, new strategies, and emerging trends identified by foundation staff; and through time-limited grantmaking initiatives based on the outcomes of our R&D. Results of our ongoing R&D and the establishment of specific grantmaking initiatives will be announced on our website and through our monthly newsletter.

• New Orleans Fund

  In 2008, three years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the subsequent levee breaches that caused widespread disaster throughout New Orleans, the Surdna Foundation launched the New Orleans Fund to advance the city’s long-term re-building and resiliency efforts. Building off of previous and ongoing support of the region in our core programs, this $5 million, 5 year grantmaking initiative supports civic engagement in multiple issue areas, including economic development, education, arts and culture, coastal restoration, and worker’s rights. The fund prioritizes groups that are local or are working in direct collaboration with locally-led groups, and gives preference to projects that engage communities that have traditionally had the least access to power and decision making spaces in the city. Since its inception the Fund has given over $2 million to 18 organizations working to strengthen New Orleans’ civic fabric (click here for 2008-2010 grants).
  
  For further information on the work of the New Orleans Fund, please see the article on collaborative grantmaking and civic engagement in New Orleans on our website. The New Orleans Fund considers grant requests on a rolling basis. 
  Click here to submit a letter of inquiry.

• Capacity and Infrastructure Fund

  Surdna has a long history of supporting the capacity and infrastructure of the nonprofit sector, and Foundation Initiatives manages our continued our work in this area.[1] Led by Surdna’s core values and mission, the Capacity and Infrastructure Fund focuses on 1. Building the nonprofit sector – through strategic research, next generation leadership development, and the creation of more effective communications and infrastructure, and 2. Transforming philanthropy – by promoting greater effectiveness, accountability, transparency, and practices grounded in social justice and equity. The Capacity and Infrastructure Fund considers requests year-round and distributes grants once a year in May, though exceptions will be considered for especially compelling or timely requests.
  Click here to submit a letter of inquiry.
[1] The Capacity and Infrastructure fund is distinct from a grantmaking initiative in its more modest size and that it is not time-limited.

Guest Commentary by Aaron Dworkin
Founder & President
The Sphinx Organization*

"The deepest defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become." - Ashley Montagu

I have a bit of an unusual history.  My start might have made it challenging for anyone to determine what I might be capable of becoming. By any statistical norms, being born a bi-racial baby on September 11, 1970 to an un-wed white Irish Catholic mother and African-American Jehovah's Witness father in a small village of Monticello, NY, and being immediately given up for adoption did not necessarily set the stage for the highest expectations for my future capabilities. I was adopted, however, at the age of two weeks by a white Jewish couple, professors in neural and behavioral science at Rockefeller University, and given the too-rare gift of a fine education.

People ask me why I care so much about diversity and why I have dedicated my life to pursuits that further that end.  My response is: I am a Black, white Jewish, Irish Catholic Jehovah's Witness who plays the violin.  I am the definition of diversity.  I don't have a choice but to do what I do.

When I was five, my adoptive mother, who was an amateur violinist, inspired me to begin studying violin.  I remember sitting in Carnegie Hall at age 8, listening to Isaac Stern, and the impact that experience had on me.  However, I do not recollect seeing Sanford Allen around the same time.  Who, you might ask, is Sanford Allen?  In 1961, he was the first Black member of the New York Philharmonic in the orchestra's history.

As I continued to develop on my instrument, as the concertmaster of the Harrisburg Youth Symphony, student at the Interlochen Arts Academy, or concertmaster of the Penn State Philharmonic, I was either the only or one of less than a handful of minorities.

It was not until I was working on my degrees at the University of Michigan that I first learned that there were any Black composers.  I literally went into a lesson one day and my teacher asked if I had any interest in playing music by Black composers.  Completely shocked by his suggestion, I was to discover a rich plethora of works by William Grant Still, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and David N. Baker.  And it led me to question, why had no one told me of Joseph Boulogne St. George (an Afro-French contemporary of Mozart's) or George Polgreen Bridgetower, a well-known Black violin virtuoso, a friend of Beethoven's, who premiered his famous Kreutzer Sonata with him in 1803, and for whom Beethoven actually wrote the work?   Within the context of these questions and immersion in this newly discovered incredible music, combined with the lack of minorities that I would see in the audiences or on stage, I was led to found the Sphinx Organization.  Specifically, I envisioned an organization that would serve as an avenue through which one might bring attention and exposure to musicians and composers of color, both aspiring and established.  I saw Sphinx as a creative way to give voice to something that already existed, yet, remained unheard: decades of achievement in this field by those who had paved the path before my generation, like Sanford Allen, Dominique Rene De Lerma (one of the foremost musicologists and experts on composers of color), and Willis Patterson (acclaimed African-American vocalist and founder of the Symposia on African-Americans in Arts and Education).  I saw myself as one whose responsibility it was to make a difference.

In 1996, I found that the state of diversity in the field was alarming: Blacks and Latinos comprised less than three percent of American orchestras.  In launching Sphinx, I began to formulate its ethos and define what it would stand for: advancing diversity in all phases of classical music, and providing unprecedented opportunities for talented young people of color in the field.

Today, Blacks and Latinos comprise only slightly above 4% of our orchestras combined.  To give a further sense of the current scene, one must also look deeper, beyond the musicians: minority representation in the administrations of our orchestras boast a depressing statistical zero  The same statistic is true for works by composers of color performed today by American orchestras.  Our music schools and youth orchestras are faced with similar statistics, and our audiences are dwindling rapidly.  This lack of opportunity sits within a paltry level of public support for the arts: in a comparative survey, Germany's per capita spending on the arts is 2%, France's is 1%, the UK spends .8%, while the US allocates a woeful .5%.

Despite minimal public support, music has played a pivotal role in the lives of leaders of social movements throughout history.  During the Civil Rights Movement, there were marchers with "battle" hymns.  Frederick Douglass, the great statesman and freedom fighter leading the abolitionist movement, played the violin, as did his son; and his grandson, Joseph Douglass, was the first Black violinist to tour nationally and internationally.  Classical composers were encouraged to write revolutionary songs, such as La Marseillaise, composed by Claude Rouget de Lisle, inspired by Mozart's Piano Concerto No 25.

Recently, we have been able to bring about the beginnings of change: young musicians of color have been appearing as soloists in front of major orchestras 20 times each year for the past decade; the number of Blacks in top tier orchestras has doubled in the last decade; over two million annually are able to hear the Sphinx musicians through television and radio broadcasts.  However, this impact must merely be the beginning.  We have a long road ahead of us.

Borrowing ideas from the great Martin Luther King, Jr., "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.... History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people... Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."  Together, these words depict the very essence of responsibility that we hope to instill upon our young artists and all those who believe in advancing the mission of Sphinx.  I submit to you: this work we do matters!

 

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*The mission of the Sphinx Organization is to increase the participation of Blacks and Latinos in music schools, as professional musicians, as classical music audiences and to enhance K-12 music education.

The Surdna Foundation, a New York City-based family foundation, seeks a Program Officer for its Strong Local Economies Program.  The Program Officer will report directly to the Program Director for Strong Local Economies. 

Created by John E. Andrus in 1917, the Foundation has assets over $800 million and an annual grantmaking budget of more than $32 million.  Governed by a Board of Directors that includes fourth and fifth generation family members, the longstanding values of the Andrus family - practicality, modesty, excellence, and an appreciation for serving those in need - underlie all of Surdna's work  The Foundation has three grantmaking areas: Sustainable Environments, Strong Local Economies, and Thriving Cultures.

The Strong Local Economies program aims to create communities of opportunity with strong and sustainable local economies that include a diversity of vibrant businesses and sectors, and improves residents' livelihood and access to quality jobs and training within a region through two lines work:

• Creating Economic Opportunities: supporting and creating robust economies and good jobs for all residents
• Connecting People to Opportunities: building communities that connect residents to economic opportunity

The Strong Local Economies Program has a budget for the coming year of $9.5 million and typically makes between 35 to 45 grants annually. Following program guidelines, grants will focus on: implementing physical development and land use strategies that link affordable housing and transportation to quality job opportunities; mobilizing constituencies and developing new leaders and advocates; advancing public policy at the local, state and national level and innovative approaches to economic development, regional planning, and community revitalization.

The Program Officer will be part of a three-person team led by a Program Director and staffed by a Program Associate.  This position reports directly to the Program Director and has joint supervisory responsibilities for the Program Associate.  The Program Officer works closely with the Program Director on all aspects of the program, including both day-to-day operations and broader program strategy development.

Program Officers contribute to programmatic ideas and participate actively in grantmaking by seeking, developing, and recommending grants and administering projects in the program area. In addition, we expect our Program Officers to have expertise and knowledge in one or more of the elements of the grantmaking program to help build networks among funders as well as grantees around issues that need attention, communicate and advocate for social change, and develop partnerships to multiply the impact of Surdna's grant-making investments.

The Surdna Foundation has a staff of 25, all based in its Midtown Manhattan offices.  The work environment is designed to be collegial across programs and to encourage information sharing and collaboration that builds on each other's ideas. At the same time, program staff have considerable autonomy and are expected to be able to balance responsibilities to the Foundation, to their program and to each other.

The Foundation provides grant support for efforts at the national, state, metropolitan, and local levels to realize more just and sustainable communities throughout the United States. We invest in the exchange of ideas across networks of people, institutions, and places with the intent of seeding innovative projects, programs, and policies and bringing them to scale across the country. We seek a balance of grantmaking opportunities that include efforts to: demonstrate the effectiveness of specific, targeted projects, practices, and models; advocate for and implement federal, state, and local public policies; and empower, mobilize, and develop leadership in communities and agencies to encourage civic participation.

A successful candidate will demonstrate an eagerness to engage in ongoing assessment of the Strong Local Economies Program's priorities under the leadership of the Program Director, and to work with the Sustainable Environments and Thriving Cultures programs to develop cross programmatic opportunities that ultimately help achieve the goal of creating just and sustainable communities.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Maintaining a breadth of knowledge, including research, about current trends, emerging issues, policy interventions, and innovations in the program's areas of focus to enhance the effectiveness of program strategy and understanding of staff and board.
• Monitoring and tracking ongoing grants and initiatives, including evaluating and reporting to staff, board, and external colleagues on performance.
• Working closely with other programs at Surdna and facilitating cross-program collaboration.
• Reviewing, assessing, and proactively cultivating grantmaking opportunities, assisting grantees in improving proposal quality. Recommending grants for funding by soliciting peer reviews and providing critical analysis of project strengths, weaknesses and risks.
• Conducting site visits of pending and active projects.
• Helping to plan and implement learning opportunities for grantees, staff, and board, including an annual grantee conference.
• Working with and managing external consultants.
• Assisting with institutional efforts to enhance the sustainability of Surdna's internal practices.
• Assisting in external communications: developing Web site content, newsletters, public presentations, and articles as appropriate.
• Developing partnerships with other institutions to extend the impact of the Foundation's grantmaking.
• Tracking and contributing to the development of best practices among funders.

Qualifications

• Strong record of achievement and relevant experience in the nonprofit, public, or private sector. A minimum of 6 years in the field and interdisciplinary experience favored.
• Substantive knowledge of the fields and issues (economic and community development, planning, housing, transit oriented development, workforce development and public policy/administration) related to at least one of the Strong Local Economies Program's goals. Advanced degree in related field strongly preferred.
• Excellent leadership, strategic thinking, and planning skills.
• Outstanding communication (speaking and writing), interpersonal, organizational, language and computer skills.
• Energetic, flexible, self-starting team player with a direct, honest, and respectful approach to problem solving, and ability to foster collaboration and contribute to a strong sense of community among staff and board.
• Must thrive when working under deadlines, have strong project, time, and budget management skills, and be able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously without sacrificing attention to detail.
• Familiarity with a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and a willingness to share in both "big picture" thinking and administrative tasks.
• An appetite for and sensitivity to working with diverse communities across race, class, ethnic, political and geographic boundaries.
• Good and compassionate listener and a sympathetic participant with grantees.
• Willingness to travel up to 30% of the time.

Compensation is competitive and commensurate with previous experience.

Excellent benefits.

Please click here to submit resume and cover letter

 

A first review of applications will occur on May 20^th, but applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.