Programme Director, Disadvantaged Children & Youth

The Atlantic Philanthropies

New York, New York

The Search

The Atlantic Philanthropies (Atlantic), a global foundation dedicated to fostering lasting change in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people, seeksexceptional candidates for the position of Programme Director, Disadvantaged Children and Youth.Atlanticfocuses its investments in four principal areas of social concern – Ageing, Disadvantaged Children & Youth, Population Health, and Reconciliation & Human Rights. With programmes in seven countries – Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States, and Viet Nam – Atlanticis known for its large, multi-year grants and for its support of organizational capacity building as well as policy reform.

Over the next 8-10 years, Atlanticwill be spending down its approximately $4 billion endowment in keeping with the high-impact giving while living philosophy of its founder, Charles F. Feeney. Since its inception in 1982, Atlantic has made over4,000grants totaling more than $4 billion. Atlanticwill continue to commit at least $350 million a year until it completes active grant makingaround 2016.

Atlantic’s Disadvantaged Children & Youth (DCY) programme seeks “to make lasting improvements in the lives of disadvantaged children and youth. We are committed to giving them access to the educational and health resources and support of caring adults that can change their life trajectory. We focus on disadvantaged children and youth in Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States.” The programme currently invests approximately $70-80 million a year.

Reporting to Atlantic’s new Vice President, Marcia A. Smith, the DCYProgramme Director willlead a grantmaking team of 13 located in New York (8), Dublin (3), and Belfast (2). Key challenges include working with this team and other colleagues to sharpen and refine the strategy for the DCYprogramme; overseeing the stewardship and implementation of that strategy;providing thought leadership within and beyond the foundation in the area of children and youth; and leveraging the programme’s work through effective communication, collaboration, and vigorous advocacy. Attention to team building and responsive staff management will be important, especially given the geographic separation of the team members.

The ideal candidate for this position will have a track record driving social change in an arena related to vulnerable children, youth, and families. Some experience as a grant maker is preferred as is experience working internationally. The role calls for excellent strategic and intellectual abilities, political instincts, and analytic skills. It also requires demonstrated experience leading and guiding high-level professionals, preferably through a change process.

Atlantic is working with the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, Inc. on this recruitment. Inquiries, nominations, and applications should be submitted in confidence to the search firm, as indicated at the end of this document.

Background

Created in the early 1980s in Bermudaby Irish-American entrepreneur Charles F. Feeney, the Atlantic Philanthropies operated anonymously for nearly twenty years and supported a range of key organizations and initiatives around the world. In 2001, the policy of making grants anonymously ended, and in 2002 Atlantic announced its decision to spend down its multi-billion dollar endowment no later than 2020 and to complete all active grantmaking by approximately 2016. In 2004, Atlantic committed itself to four core programme areas and seven geographic regions. Since then, the foundation has assumed an increasingly public and communicative identity in recognition that its work, and that of its grantees, is strengthened through greater transparency and accountability.

Gara LaMarche joined Atlantic as president and CEO in April, 2007 and has been spearheading a collaborative process of refining the foundation’s vision and strategies in its final decade. This has resulted in a reaffirmation of Atlantic’s mission and overall commitment to its seven geographies and four programme areas, and the creation of a vision statement that expresses the foundation’s vision and values. The basic organizational structure of Atlantic that was put in place by John R. Healy, LaMarche’s predecessor, is also being preserved. It consists of globally integrated programme teams buttressed by a strong web of support services in strategic learning and evaluation, communications, finance, human resources, and information technology..

The foundation is now actively pursuing LaMarche’s stated priorities of: 1) reform of the grantmaking process and explorations of cross-regional and cross-programmatic work; 2) expanding Atlantic’s public presence; 3) deepening the intellectual life of the foundation and its discussions of strategy and practice; 4) strengthening its advocacy capacity; and 5) promoting a culture of debate and collegial problem solving.

Comprehensive reviews of each of Atlantic’s four programme areas are underway, beginning with its programmes in Reconciliation and Human Rights and in Ageing. It is expected that these reviews will further sharpen and focus Atlantic’s work moving forward, especially in the context of the foundation’s size and limited lifespan and in light of its heightened interest in supporting public policy advocacy.

Atlantictoday employs 114 staff globally, approximately half of whom are in programme. Each programme is led by a Programme Director and supported by programme staff who bring depth of substantive, content expertise and who are the frontline grant makers and the go-to experts in their fields or countries.

Programme Director, Disadvantaged Children & Youth

The DCYProgramme Director will inherit a large, complex portfolio of approximately 150ongoing grants, many of them multi-year commitments. In the United States, much of DCY’sprogramming to date has involved large grants to intermediary organizations. Its current focus is on middle school children, with an emphasis on both after-school learning opportunities and on integrated school-based supports. In the Republic of Ireland, the DCY team has built some exemplary partnerships with government to provide innovative childhood development and family-support services. In Northern Ireland, Atlantic’s work includes a focus on improving outcomes for pre-school children and their families. The DCYprogrammein Bermudais working to strengthen the organizational capacityof and collaboration among child and youth serving groups. In addition, all of the regions are engaged in efforts to influence public policies related to children and youth – work that will accelerate in the future.

Moving forward, the new Director will be charged with leading a comprehensive review and reshaping of the DCY programme. This review is expected to build upon work and projects already underway while setting the stage for new programming in the context of a sharpened and more precise strategy.

The specific objectives for the Programme Director include:

  • In close collaboration with the programme staff team, and as guided by the Vice President, clarify andrefinethe strategic direction of the DCYprogramme. Ensure that the programmedirection and the specific strategies 1) incorporate the political, economic, and social contexts that surround them;2) reflect Atlantic’s overall mission and vision; and 3) are achievable within the foundation’s timeframe with impact well beyond the Atlantic’s life. Help articulate the unique role that Atlanticwill play in the DCYfield, including how it expects to leverage the work.
  • Mobilize the Atlantic community around these strategies. Ensure that the value propositions are understood and embraced internally by staff and board as well as in the grant-seeking community.
  • Help to communicate Atlantic’s DCYstrategies locally, nationally, and globally within and well beyond the philanthropic community. Forge productive ties with governmental, non-governmental, and business partners.
  • Ensure that Atlantic’s current DCY investments are strengthened through increased involvement of stakeholders at the community level and leveraged through effective advocacy.
  • Support, guide, and advocate on behalf of DCY’s excellent staff. Foster team cohesion. Promote strong partnerships with Atlantic colleagues in group services roles such as strategic learning and evaluation, communications, finance, information technology, and human resources.
  • Contribute actively to Atlantic’s efforts to work across fields and regions and to consider new initiatives. Forge connections with other Atlantic programmes.
  • Keep well informed about global, national, and regional trends, practices, public policies, and political sensitivities related to Atlantic’s work in children and youth. Ensure that the programme’s grantmaking is flexible enough to adapt to evolving circumstances and political realities.

Qualifications and Experience

Because the field of children and youth is so broad and multi-faceted, the Programme Director cannot be a substantive expert in all aspects or geographies of Atlantic’s DCY work. But the Director must know enough in content terms to ask the right questions and to bring a critical eye to current and proposed strategies and projects. The Director will be expected to be a thought leader for the programme, helping to frame it in its broadest possible terms and then provide clear articulation of the programme rationales moving forward. To do so, the Director must offer a political and social analysis of what the conditions are that hold back vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families and bring some hypotheses about where Atlantic might have its best impacts within its limited timeline.

The strongest candidates will have experience designing, delivering, and supporting programmes to enhance the lives of vulnerable children and families. Grant making experience will also be an advantage. At a minimum, all candidates must show a track record of moving forward a social change agenda and translating creative ideas into action.

While no one candidate will embody every quality, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional qualifications and personal qualities:

  • Informed passion for Atlantic’s mission, vision, and values. A demonstrated commitment to working for social and economic justice.
  • Excellent strategic and intellectual abilities and analytic skills coupled with pragmatism and a roll-up-one’s-sleeves attitude. A lifelong learner with sound judgment and the ability to see connections and bridge gaps. A willingness to take risks and learn from mistakes made along the way.
  • Experience working internationally is preferred. A global perspective, and cultural sensitivity and receptiveness, is essential.
  • Demonstrated team building experience. A track record of effective management of professionals. Vision and energy that is inspirational but also the collaborative gene – someone who leads by drawing the best from others.
  • Outstanding oral and written communication skills. Able to represent the foundation in diverse communities, including speaking engagements, attending conferences, and participating in other key internal and external meetings.
  • Understanding of public policy and of the role of the not-for-profit community in driving social change. The greater the knowledge of governments and political systems and processes the better.
  • An outcome orientation as well as familiarity with evaluation research and the use of metrics to measure progress. Proven skills in project assessment. Ability to make mid-course corrections and share knowledge of successes and failures.
  • Demonstrated commitment to the value of diversity and inclusiveness. Cultural sensitivity and receptiveness.
  • Solid experience in administration, financial management, budgeting, and planning.
  • Deep respect for the grant seeking community and for the importance of its strong partnership with the foundation coupled with an ability to maintain objectivity and resist the “flattery” directed at grant makers.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills. Ability to work well with a wide range of stakeholders within and outside of Atlantic. Team orientation along with a willingness to circulate widely and listen well.
  • An outgoing and optimistic personality. High integrity, humility, creativity, resilience, flexibility, tenacity, and energy. A sense of humor and ability to have fun and enjoy oneself and one’s colleagues.

TO APPLY

Inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed in strict confidence to:

Karen Wilcox, Vice President & Director

or

Nii Ato Bentsi-Enchill, Associate

Isaacson, Miller

334 Boylston Street, Suite 500

Boston, MA02116

617.262.6500

More information can be found at

May 20, 2008

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