CLIMATE PROGRAM OFFICER, MOBILITY

About the Barr Foundation

The Barr Foundation’s mission is to invest in human, natural, and creative potential, serving as thoughtful stewards and catalysts. As stewards, Barr nurtures and enhances vital community assets. As catalysts, the Foundation cultivates and advances the breakthrough ideas that will shape our collective future. Barr focuses on achieving impact as a constructive partner, willing to exercise leadership.   

Based in Boston, Barr focuses regionally, and selectively engages nationally, working in partnership with nonprofits, foundations, the public sector, and civic and business leaders to elevate the arts and creative expression, advance solutions for climate change, and connect all students to success in high school and beyond. Founded in 1997, Barr has grown to become one of the largest private foundations in New England with assets in excess of $2 billion and a 2021 grantmaking budget of nearly $120 million.   

A set of core values, defined by Barr’s founding trustees, expresses our beliefs about what constitutes effective philanthropy and guides how the Barr Foundation carries out its philanthropic mission. Barr is committed to strive for impact, invest in leaders, center racial equity, act with humility, take the long view, embrace risk, and demonstrate curiosity. These core values extend to our workplace culture, where we engage in learning opportunities on diversity, equity, and inclusion; reflect on our practices, policies, and grantmaking; and strive to create an environment where everyone is valued and included. Additionally, while each program is guided by distinct priorities and goals, Barr embraces a common set of approaches in all aspects of its work, namely flexibility and nimbleness, a broad range of tools, knowledge, and learning, openness and transparency, and active collaboration. For more information on the Barr Foundation, please visit barrfoundation.org and @BarrFdn on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Barr’s Climate Program

Since its inception, the Barr Foundation has prioritized the environment as a principal area of funding, and in 2010 focused its efforts on the monumental problem of climate change, through work on both mitigation and resilience. 

The Climate Program’s mitigation efforts focus on the two areas that produce the most greenhouse gas emissions: 1) how we generate and use energy across the Northeast (Clean Energy); and 2) how we move around in the Greater Boston area and Massachusetts (Mobility). In addition, we acknowledge that even with concerted efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, some of these impacts are inevitable. Our Climate Resilience focus area aims to increase the capacity of Metro Boston communities to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change. We believe that while climate change is a global challenge, cities and states have become vital agents of change, and by focusing on these three areas, we can play an important role in helping to catalyze and advance equitable solutions. 

Across this work, we seek to center racial equity. We do this by prioritizing communities that have suffered the most from the fossil fuel economy and focus on elevating the leadership of equity-centered climate organizations to grow their power and shape the climate field.

 

Program Officer Position

The Barr Foundation is seeking a Program Officer to work primarily with the Mobility strategy of its Climate Program (roughly 65-75% of the time), along with support to its Clean Energy strategy and the Climate Program overall. 

Barr’s Mobility strategy focuses on two areas: transforming the transportation system and accelerating the development of low-carbon communities. Our grantmaking supports the advocacy community, research, communications, pilots and demonstration projects, and more through a variety of grantmaking strategies, Barr-led initiatives, and partnerships. All of the mobility work centers on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while addressing the needs of those most impacted by climate change. Learn more about our Mobility work here: https://www.barrfoundation.org/climate/mobility. 

The Program Officer will report to the Senior Program Officer, Mobility.

 

Key Responsibilities

·     Collaborate with the Climate team members in developing grantmaking strategies in Mobility that will have a strong impact in areas important to the Foundation.

·     Contribute to assessment and modifications of strategy in response to new knowledge, changes in context, and new perspectives, and serve as a thought partner on the Mobility team. 

·     Maintain a wide breadth and depth of knowledge about the current trends, professional practices, and policies pertinent to the program. 

·     Assist with developing and tracking program and project budgets. 

·     Work with the Senior Program Officer for Mobility and the Director of Climate to identify potential grant opportunities related to Mobility. Evaluate new proposals, conduct site visits, actively assist organizations in improving the quality of proposals and activities, manage active grants, assess their progress, and analyze and act on financial and programmatic reports.

·     Support the Program Officer for Clean Energy and the Director of Climate on grantmaking processes, such as evaluating new proposals, working with existing grantees, and managing projects.

·     Draft internal documents and analyses for Foundation leadership and trustee consideration of grant proposals.

·     Collaborate with the Climate and Learning and Evaluation teams on the evaluation of grants or grant clusters in support of program strategy reviews.

·     Collaborate with the Communications team to share learnings, shape public narratives on mobility issues and generate positive attention for the work, ideas, and voices of our partners to contribute to the fields of mobility, climate, nonprofits, and philanthropy. 

·     Develop and manage consultant engagements as necessary for Mobility and Clean Energy program strategies.

·     Respond to inquiries and proposals in the Climate program area. 

·     Coordinate and collaborate with staff engaged on Climate Resilience strategy and on other Barr program teams, as needed. 

·     Develop and cultivate strong working relationships with grantees, outside advisors, experts in the field, public sector partners, and colleagues in philanthropy. 

·     Contribute to the team’s knowledge by keeping abreast of current trends, emerging issues, policies, political landscape, influential leaders, and best practices.

·     In collaboration with the Climate team, commission papers and program-related reports that broadly contribute to the Foundation and others’ understanding of new approaches, best practices, and issues relevant to the program’s interests.

·     As appropriate, organize meetings and convenings of field experts to share best practices, encourage collaboration, and explore strategies for collective impact.

·     Learn and provide leadership in the professional field through speaking engagements, writing, and use of social media.  

Qualifications

While no single candidate may embody all the qualifications below, an ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences. 

·     A commitment to and subject matter expertise in climate change, and mobility and transportation in particular, as demonstrated through a strong record of achievement with a minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience working in the nonprofit, public, or private sector. 

·     Commitment to, knowledge of, and experience with diversity, inclusion, and racial equity and racial justice, including lived experience.

·     Ability to listen to and empathize with community challenges and a commitment to supporting the expertise of grantees, partners, and community-based leaders.

·     The ability to analyze complex organizational and community conditions; understand policy, political, and community dynamics; knowledge of organizational development and systems change work. 

·     Demonstrated ability to think strategically and execute strategies as part of a team, including the ability to define program objectives, evaluate progress, and independently manage projects through a complete lifecycle.

·     Quantitative and qualitative analytical skills necessary for designing initiatives, identifying investment opportunities, and evaluating grant proposals.

·     Experience using both objective data and informed opinions to evaluate the impact of an organization’s work. Experience in assessing nonprofits’ health and effectiveness through analyzing financial statements, evaluating the feasibility and strategic value of proposed programs and activities, and assessing management, leadership, and organizational capacity.

·     Strong project, time, and budget management skills to meet deadlines; ability to identify, plan and execute on multiple active projects without sacrificing attention to detail. 

·     Experience in communicating with diverse constituencies in a variety of settings.

·     Independent initiative and a collegial spirit in sharing ideas and receiving feedback.

·     Strong skills in Microsoft Office suite; familiarity with Salesforce or similar database programs would be an asset. 

·     Academic degrees in public policy, urban planning, transportation, environmental sciences, or related fields are welcome but not required.

 

The Details

Position type: Full-time, salaried

Reports to: Senior Program Officer, Mobility

Salary range: Salary is commensurate with experience and we anticipate a starting salary range between $115,000 to $125,000.

Benefits: The Barr Foundation offers an attractive benefits package including health, dental, vision, and life insurance. Benefits also include 15 vacation days to start and generous parental leave. 

Barr Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, with a commitment to building and fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. We welcome candidates who would both contribute to and learn from working in such an environment. In addition, Barr is a Compact Signer for the 100% Talent Compact, which is administered by the Boston Women’s Workforce Council, a unique public-private partnership between the Boston Mayor’s Office and Greater Boston employers dedicated to eliminating the gender and racial wage gap. We are proud to be part of this first-in-the-nation approach to reaching pay equity for women and people of color across our region.  


Covid-19 Update

This position is based in our Boston office. At this time, due to COVID-19 and out of concern for the health and safety of our employees and guests, the Barr Foundation is planning to work remotely through summer 2021. As a result, this position would begin as a remote work arrangement, with a return to the office subject to those policies and procedures that will guide the office reopening in 2021.