The Program Officer supports the Foundation’s integrated Refugees strategy through strategic grantmaking, portfolio management, grantee partnership, and field learning. Reporting to the Senior Program Officer and collaborating across the Initiative, this role manages grants aligned with the board-approved strategy to help young refugee and host community children be physically and emotionally healthy and learning. The Program Officer identifies and assesses potential grantees, supports proposal development and due diligence, monitors grant performance, and applies evidence and learning to portfolio decisions. The current Refugee portfolio focuses on Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, and Uganda, and the role represents the Foundation with grantees, partners, public agencies, funders, and other stakeholders.
The ideal candidate is a collaborative, proactive professional with experience in refugee-hosting settings and knowledge of early childhood development, livelihoods, refugee integration, or related fields. Success requires sound judgment, strong analytical and project-management skills, clear communication, attention to detail, and the ability to build trusted relationships across cultures, organizations, and geographies.
Portfolio Development, Implementation, and Monitoring
- Identify, assess, and cultivate grantees and partners that advance the Refugees Initiative’s strategy in assigned geographies.
- Manage the full grant lifecycle, including proposal development, due diligence, compliance review, recommendations, board materials, monitoring, approved changes, and closeout.
- Partner with grantees to strengthen project design, outcomes, budgets, implementation, organizational capacity and fiscal health.
- Document grant activity, portfolio progress, key decisions, field learning, and follow-up actions in the Foundation’s grantmaking and knowledge management systems.
- Use data, evaluation findings, community perspectives, and field insights to recommend portfolio adjustments and future investments.
- Conduct site visits and travel to understand local context, identify opportunities, and monitor grants.
Strategic Support for the Initiative
- Partner with the Senior Program Office and Refugees team to plan, implement, and adapt the integrated strategy.
- Collaborate with internal teams to track progress, strengthen learning, and support cross-geography coordinate.
- Stay current on relevant research, policy, practice, and funding trends and apply insights to strategy and portfolio decisions.
- Support convenings, field engagement, consultants, and other work that strengthens grantee practice and advances the initiative's goals.
Communications
- Prepare clear board materials, briefings, presentations, grantee communications, and internal updates.
- Synthesize portfolio learning, field insights, and grantee progress for internal and external audiences.
- Collaborate with the Communications department on relevant content and materials.
- Represent the Refugees strategy with grantees, community partners, public agencies, funders, and other stakeholders.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in related field, or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
- At least seven years of relevant experience in the nonprofit, public, philanthropic, or social-impact sector.
- Demonstrated experience in refugee-hosting settings within the strategy’s geographic focus areas; experience in Uganda or Ethiopia is especially valued.
- Experience in at least one relevant area, such as early childhood development, livelihoods, refugee integration and leadership, financial inclusion, impact investing.
- Knowledge of refugee-related program and policy issues, field dynamics, and funding landscapes.
- Ability to manage a portfolio, assess opportunities and partner capacity, track progress, and adapt based on evidence and learning.
- Strong relationship-building and cross-functional collaboration skills across cultures, teams, geographies, and issue areas.
- Excellent analytical, organizational, written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information clearly.
- Experience using grantmaking, knowledge-management, or data systems to document engagement, decisions, progress, and learning.
- Ability to follow the Foundation’s hybrid schedule of three days per week in Westlake Village - Monday through Wednesday - or reside in a geography strategically critical to the work and travel to headquarters several times per year.
- Willingness to travel and support routine administrative needs associated with the role.
Preferred
- Graduate degree in related field, or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
- Experience managing grants or philanthropic portfolios, including due diligence, grant recommendations, monitoring, and portfolio learning.
- Direct field experience in international development or with nongovernmental or community-based organizations.
- Experience working in Ethiopia or Uganda with relevant language skills.
- Candidates with lived experience related to the strategy’s issue areas are encouraged to apply.