Program Director, Economic Opportunity – Philanthropy Roundtable – Washington, DC

The Philanthropy Roundtable, a national association of individual donors, foundations, donor-advised funds, and other grantmakers, is seeking a director to run our programs highlighting philanthropic strategies and solutions that increase economic opportunity for individuals and  families who face adversity. The position is available in Summer 2010. 

The mission of the Roundtable is to foster excellence in philanthropy, to help donors achieve their philanthropic intent, to protect philanthropic freedom, and to assist donors in advancing liberty, opportunity, and personal responsibility in America and abroad. 

The Roundtable serves donors through conferences, publications, and private, customized seminars to help donors improve the effectiveness of their giving. We serve as a “catalyst and connector,” linking donors with resources, information, and people who can help them be more effective in their philanthropy. 

Emphases of the “Economic Opportunity” program

 Our “Economic Opportunity” program focuses on five sets of philanthropic strategies in its conferences, publications, and customized donor services: 

1) Philanthropic strategies to encourage entrepreneurship and economic growth, including business formation among low-income populations. 

• Entrepreneurship education and mentoring;
• Legal, financial, incubation, and peer-learning services for entrepreneurs;
• Removal of regulatory and cultural barriers to business creation and growth. 

2) Philanthropic strategies to encourage job training, placement and advancement, with a special emphasis on private-sector work. This will include a focus on employment programs for specialized populations, such as ex-offenders, legal immigrants, welfare recipients, and people with disabilities. 

3) Philanthropic strategies to encourage ownership of assets. These include: 

• Programs to increase sustainable home ownership and protect against foreclosure;
• Programs to encourage savings for retirement, ownership, and emergencies;
• Financial literacy and management, including programs to foster credit-worthiness. 

4) Philanthropic strategies to foster personal responsibility and life skills that help people to help themselves. 

• Character-building institutions such as Scouting and youth sports;
• Mentoring and other programs that emphasize skills and responsibility;
• Programs that reduce alcohol and drug abuse;
• Programs that support and strengthen families. 

5) While most of our work on economic opportunity focuses on the United States, our program also works on a limited basis to advance philanthropic strategies to encourage enterprise-based approaches to third-world development, including: 

• Microfinance and microfranchising
• Investment funds to encourage growth of larger enterprises in promising business sectors;
• Promotion of rule of law, freedom of international trade and investment, and other institutions that permit business creation and growth to flourish. 

Responsibilities and Qualifications of Program Director

The responsibilities of our director of programs in economic opportunity will include:

• Organizing and hosting three to four public conferences for philanthropists across the nation per year. These conferences will highlight excellence in giving in the field of economic opportunity, and will enable new and existing donors to exchange ideas and strategies with each other and national experts. Our program director will explore donor interest to choose location and theme, organize the content, coordinate logistics and marketing, distribute meeting notes afterwards, and follow up with conference attendees.
• Meeting with individual donors. The program director will identify, build relationships with, and serve philanthropists to help them improve the effectiveness of their giving in this field. An annual goal is to build relationships with 40 donors.
• Commissioning, producing, and disseminating an electronic newsletter and/or other publications on highly effective philanthropy that opens economic opportunity and helps people to help themselves;
• Building internal systems, including maintaining a database with extensive notes on the interests of donors and our interactions with them. 
• Building relationships with thought leaders and outstanding service providers in each sub-area of the field.  

The position will require substantial domestic travel. It is preferred but not necessary that the director be based in Washington. The position reports to Adam Meyerson, president of The Philanthropy Roundtable. 

Qualifications for the position include: 

• At least three years of significant experience in business, government, or the nonprofit world working to expand economic opportunity;
• At least two years of significant experience in the planning and management of complex projects;
• Excellent program evaluation skills;
• A broad interest in philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunity;
• Excellent “people” skills, including the ability to win the confidence of senior business and philanthropic leaders;
• Good writing and public speaking skills;
• Experience working with customer relationship management databases;
• Ability to self-manage;
• A bachelors and ideally a masters degree; and
• The entrepreneurial spirit to build and run a growing program.

Additional Information 

The Philanthropy Roundtable is a growing, financially healthy non-profit with a $6 million annual budget and 20 full-time staff. We offer attractive health care, pension and vacation benefits. 

Candidates should send a resume and cover letter outlining their qualifications (including their philosophical interest in the mission of Philanthropy Roundtable and salary requirements) to claire@talentmarket.org.