Program Officer, Employment

The Constellation Fund is seeking a talented individual with strong analytical abilities and communication skills, a clear passion for poverty alleviation, and subject matter expertise in employment for the role of Program Officer, Employment (PO). The PO will thoughtfully evaluate programs and conduct benefit-cost analyses following Constellation’s evidencebased approach to grantmaking. The PO will build and maintain relationships and partnerships with grantees to identify, support, and scale our community’s most impactful assets in the fight against poverty. 

About The Constellation Fund 

Modeled after the Robin Hood Foundation in New York City and Tipping Point Community in San Francisco, the Constellation Fund makes evidence-based investments of philanthropic resources in the nonprofits making the largest measurable improvements to the living standards of those living in poverty in the Twin Cities. 

With one-in-five residents of the Twin Cities living in poverty, our philanthropic community must strategically focus its resources on the interventions providing the largest povertyfighting impacts. Constellation will address this pressing challenge by thoughtfully applying the principles of modern economic decision-making to the important business of local philanthropy. By carefully leveraging peer-reviewed research, local demographic information, and data from nonprofits, Constellation conducts detailed quantitative analysis along with best-in-class qualitative consideration to identify and fund poverty-fighting interventions that, judged with the best available evidence, are the most impactful among the available options. 

Since the Board of Directors underwrites Constellation’s operating costs, every outside dollar raised by the organization goes directly to its carefully selected nonprofit grantees, which are provided not only with funding, but also with access to best-in-class pro bono partners that can provide invaluable services and expertise otherwise inaccessible to most nonprofits in their efforts to improve and scale their impacts. 

About the Position 

The PO will be part of a small team of officers with expertise in issue-specific areas of impact – including employment, education, and health – who will serve as Constellation’s liaison with current and prospective nonprofit grantees. The PO will lead Constellation’s quantitative and qualitative evaluations of poverty-fighting organizations focused on the issues of employment and workforce to form funding recommendations. 

Responsibilities 

1. Quantitative Analysis
 

• Acquire and impart to grantees a working understanding of Constellation’s metrics framework. 
• Work closely with current and prospective nonprofit grantees to collect data and other relevant information necessary to drive Constellation’s quantitative impact analysis. 
• Calculate a Benefit-Cost Ratio for each current or prospective grantee using Constellation’s metrics. 
• When relevant data and/or research is unavailable, work as necessary with internal team members and institutional partners to make defensible estimations based on the best available information. 
• Work with Constellation’s Metrics and Evaluation team to define new metrics to estimate the income and health benefits of employment or housing programs. 
• As necessary, conduct research into relevant subject areas to update, improve, and adapt Constellation’s metrics. 

2. Qualitative Analysis 

• Work closely with prospective and current nonprofit grantees to thoughtfully evaluate organizational effectiveness in attributes such as quality of leadership, organizational capacity, organizational capacity, financial health, and scalability of impact. 
• Gather and synthesize relevant data to understand the local landscape in which prospective and existing grantees operate, how they meet community needs, and the role philanthropic funding plays for these organizations. 

3. Impact Assessment Reports and Grant Allocations 

• Develop a funding strategy including possible focus areas for the employment and workforce impact area. 
• Review employment and workforce grant applications and make informed selections of organizations that Constellation will fully evaluate. 
• Develop benefit-cost analyses for employment or housing organizations as part of the full evaluation that informs a grant recommendation. 
• Provide as-needed technical assistance to grant applicants regarding the assessment process. 
• Draft detailed quantitative analysis reports for prospective and current grantees, clearly describing the estimated income and health benefits from the organization’s work as estimated using Constellation’s metrics. 
• As part of the Impact Team, formulate Constellation’s proposed grant allocations across multiple issue areas based on the benefit-cost analysis and the qualitative factors gleaned through the impact assessment reports. 
• Present the results of the impact assessment reports and resulting proposed grant allocations to Constellation’s Board of Directors, fielding questions, and providing additional context as needed. Amend grant allocations as necessary based on Board action. 
• Manage grant agreements based on final Board of Directors grant decisions. 

4. Grantee Cultivation 

• Develop and maintain a meaningful network of contacts within the employment and workforce sector that will result in deep community relationships with those that align with Constellation’s values. 

5. Beyond Dollars Support 

• Along with the Beyond Dollars Program Director, identify and help to implement capacitybuilding support from pro bono partners to complement Constellation’s grantmaking and further improve and scale the impact of grantees. 

Competencies 

• Program evaluation. Previous exposure and solid experience in program evaluation or quantitative research role with exposure to benefit-cost models preferred. 
• Analytical and critical thinking. Comfortable with investigating and summarizing qualitative and quantitative data, drawing useful and nuanced findings, and asking critical questions to refine conclusions. 
• Project management. Effective organizational and time management skills. 
• Demonstrated empirical skill. Comfortable with analysis of program data. 
• Intellectual curiosity. A passion for assessing the impact of poverty-fighting interventions through the use of economic analysis and applied research fundamentals. 
• Employment & workforce issues. Demonstrated interest in or knowledge of employment & workforce programs, including training programs, economic development strategies, or multi-strategy interventions. 
• Tools. Experience using Excel, Google Sheets, or statistical packages (e.g. Stata, R, SPSS). 
• Teamwork. Comfort with and enthusiasm for working in a small team and contributing to the generation of new ideas while also maintaining an effective autonomous workflow. 
• Partnership building. Enthusiasm for and ability to build and maintain strong interpersonal relationships and partnerships with outside organizations and individuals to inform and improve internal work-product. 
• Communication skills. Ability to speak and write clearly, effectively, and succinctly, including under time pressures. Ability to synthesize information and tell narrative stories about what qualitative and quantitative data means for grantees and for those living in poverty in the Twin Cities. 
• Emotional intelligence and humility. Ability to acknowledge the achievements of others, to share credit, and to welcome feedback. 
• Empathy and respect. A high degree of awareness for the immense challenges facing people experiencing poverty, poverty-fighting organizations, and social services work, and respect for the individuals dedicated to those important efforts. 
• Comfort with uncertainty. Commitment to using benefit-cost methodology and the best available evidence to inform funding decisions. 

Qualifications
 

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of five to seven years of professional experience required; graduate degree strongly preferred, ideally MPH, MPP, MBA, etc. 
• Experience with program evaluation, basic statistical skills and knowledge, and intermediate economics skills and knowledge. 
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to adroitly handle detailed interactions with high-level stakeholders. 
• Experience leading the execution of complex projects; proven ability to work collaboratively with numerous stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success working with nonprofit service providers, foundations and/or other nonprofit enterprises and policy leaders preferred. 
• Expertise in employment and workforce issues. 

Salary and Benefits 

Constellation offers a benefits package that includes medical and dental insurance, as well as an employer-matched Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Salary range is $80,000-$90,000 and is commensurate with experience.