Position Summary:
Together We Rise was created to harness Chicagoland’s momentum,
energy and generosity to tackle the disproportionate impacts of
COVID-19 and the deep-seated inequities amplified by the pandemic.
Hosted at The Chicago Community Trust, the Fund will unite a wide
range of partners among philanthropic, corporate, public, non-profit
and community actors to accelerate equitable recovery in the Chicago region.
The Program Manager will manage the Fund’s collaboration, grant
making and fundraising operations as directed by the Associate Vice
President and provides essential support to the Associate Vice
President . The Program Manager will actively guide the initiative and
build relationships and partnerships to execute on the overall
strategic goal to accelerate equitable recovery. This position is a
key contributor to implementing the initiative, including idea
generation, connecting with community actors, and co-designing
grantmaking strategies. The Program Manager works collaboratively and
in close communication with Trust departments related to the
initiative, particularly with the Community Impact and Philanthropic
Services teams.
Position Responsibilities:
- Planning agendas and coordinating steering committee meetings.
- Facilitating collaboration with TWR partners on strategy
development (BCG/CCA) and community engagement (New America, MPC, CUE).
- Support the executive of the stakeholder engagement on strategy.
- Support project management of various TWR deliverables.
- Builds a plan to identify community, civic, and policy
organizations and actors to influence change; connects these actors
to resources to better align with the Trust’s strategic priorities.
- Designs and drives the grant making strategy, identifies grant
opportunities and facilitates the grant making process.
- Works closely with fellow program managers to develop
relationships with community leaders that enable community decision making.
- Moves from ideation to implementation on regular convenings with
partners across sectors to highlight issue areas and promising
service models.
- Engages key stakeholders including community leaders, civic
leaders, corporations and donors to inform strategy and resulting in
plans of action.
- Provides thought leadership by both creating and presenting strong
and clear written and verbal content internally and engaging
external partners to develop content, make decisions, and set direction.
- Organizes and facilitates meetings and events towards advancing
initiatives and strategies.
- Collects, synthesizes, presents, and leads research efforts
towards contributing knowledge to the field and sharpening the
Trust’s strategies and initiatives.
- Designs and implements learning and impact evaluations in order to
contribute to both the organization and the grantees’ development.
- Supports engagement and education of donors and stakeholders.
- Supports cross functional collaboration within the Trust.
- Other duties as assigned by Associate Vice President.
Position Competencies:
To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the
following key competencies:
-
Strategic Thinking - Understands, synthesizes and
articulates the "big picture", i.e., the underlying
assumptions, including industry context, trends, and business
drivers; goes beyond transactions details and provides broader
context for recommendations, based on analysis that accounts for
more than one perspective or approach or outcome.
-
Decision Making - Must engage in the process of
selecting a logical choice from the available options, weighing
positives and negatives, consider alternatives, then be able to
forecast the outcome of each option as well, and based on all these
items, determine which option is the best for that particular
situation.
-
Community Leadership - Is recognized as a leader within
the community and possesses the ability to engage and persuade
others to inspire action in line with the Trust’s strategic
priorities.
-
Thought Leadership Development - Is recognized as a
thought leader and shares thought leadership as a subject matter
expert through publication and other media; leads collaborative
development of thought leadership to execute on identified goals.
-
Influence - Comfortably communicates with various
stakeholders within the ecosystem to discuss issues, achieve
consensus and influence decision making. Is recognized as a
resource and strong voice in the community.
Position Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree desired.
- Minimum of 7 years of related work experience, 10 years preferred.
- Demonstrated experience in in community economic development,
civic engagement, sectors, particularly in the network of local and
national actors, agencies and organizations dedicated to mitigating
challenges to equitable opportunity in large urban communities.
- Demonstrated ability to work in partnership with residents and
local leaders to strengthen and advance multiple aspects of
community and economic development. Experience working with racially
and ethnically diverse and low-income urban communities on social
services and social justice programs.
- Experience in the development, implementation, and evaluation of
strategies to effect change and in promoting and contributing to a
strong learning culture
- Strong experience in project development and management.
- Strong verbal and interpersonal communication skills, including
the ability to listen well, convey thoughts clearly, speak in public
and to a wide variety of audiences, and work effectively as a member
of a team.
- Demonstrated skills in facilitation, relationship building, and
collaborative planning.
- Technical skills in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Power Point,
Outlook, Access).
- Entrepreneurial propensity for self-starting and approaching the
role in the spirit of creativity and growth.
- Ability to manage complex problems and generate enthusiasm for
proposed solutions; coordination skills are paramount to success in
this role.
- Strong quantitative skill set to apply to project feasibility analyses.
- Experience in project management, with the ability to assess and
resolve implementation issues and to establish best practices.
- Strong interpersonal skills, written communication, and comfort
with cross-cultural communication.
- Cultural competency.
This position will work remotely until Trust leadership decides
when to return to the workplace.
History of The Chicago Community Trust
The Chicago Community Trust is a community foundation dedicated to
advancing metropolitan Chicago and improving the lives of the people
who call it home. The Trust serves as a philanthropic partner,
connecting the generosity of donors with community needs. Today,
following the creation of a new strategic plan in 2018, the Trust
stands committed to addressing Chicago’s legacy of systemic inequity
and closing the racial wealth gap. With assets of approximately $3
billion, the Trust in partnership with its donors distributes more
than $400 million in grants each year. Our unwavering mission is to
mobilize resources, people, organizations and ideas in support of this
vision for a truly equitable, connected and thriving community.
The Trust was founded in 1915 by Norman and Albert Harris, father and
son duo of the Harris (now BMO Harris) bank family. The Chicago
Community Trust was the fourth community foundation ever created.
There are now 750 community foundations across Canada and the US.
Since 1915, the Trust has been part of nearly every major civic
milestone of the Chicago region. From the creation of Millennium Park
and Chicago’s Harris Theater to Leadership Greater Chicago and Chicago
Urban League, the Trust has worked to support the people and
organizations that have made Chicago a world class city.
The Trust Team seeks to match the passion and commitment of donors,
grantees, residents and community leader that continue to work
tirelessly to make this City one where all have the opportunity to
realize their dreams.