Portfolio Manager, Education

Position description

Founded in 2006, the One8 Foundation aims to support and accelerate social impact in its priority grantmaking areas. The Foundation operates as a venture philanthropy working alongside partner grantee organizations to improve and scale while also incubating new ideas and scaling those with demonstrated outcomes. Our strategic grantmaking teams come from premier consulting firms, giving us the expertise to provide strategy support to our most important grantees. We believe deeply in the importance of high-quality implementation and sweat the small stuff alongside our grantees in pursuit of measurable outcomes.

The Foundation’s priority grantmaking areas are Education and Jewish Continuity and Community, each with a dedicated staff team. The One8 Foundation also funds direct community support to assist children and families in need and help them improve their own lives. The organizations that One8 believes are most promising have game-changing ideas, excellent leaders, high-fidelity implementation, measurable impact, and sustainable approaches. The One8 Foundation is committed to identifying and providing meaningful support to a select set of nonprofits that achieve results and have the greatest potential to create large scale, sustained change. The Foundation also supports leaders to start up innovative, potentially high impact new initiatives in our focus giving portfolios. The Foundation’s trustees have high risk tolerance and are committed to impact.

ABOUT OUR EDUCATION STRATEGY
At One8 we seek to transform classrooms in Massachusetts, alongside our national grantee and school partners, to prepare students for a rapidly changing, data-rich world. Our work is anchored in Applied Learning programs – core, elective and supplemental K-12 standards-aligned instructional materials – where students collaborate and iterate to answer real-world problems, making their learning relevant and impactful. Applied Learning fundamentally changes the way students engage with content, the way teachers engage with students, and the way that students work with one another. One8 identifies proven Applied Learning curricula and supports grantees, school leaders, and educators to pursue high-quality adoption. The Education Team includes a Portfolio Team responsible for grant making and grantee management and an implementation arm, the One8 Applied Learning Hub, that works alongside our portfolio management team to ensure high-quality, supportive school adoption. We believe Applied Learning is the next instructional leap in education and we are working with over 700 Massachusetts public schools to adopt this important approach.

A nation’s most valuable resource is its people and a high-quality education for all is the most powerful lever for a just and thriving society. Yet less than half of K-12 students are on grade level in our country. Meanwhile our world is rapidly changing, upending what students must learn to be successful. Critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, teamwork, and communication are necessities. To develop these competencies, learning by doing, creating, questioning, and failing forward must anchor students’ experiences in school. Applied Learning is the scalable, impactful, doable answer to this crisis. Our intent is to demonstrate what is possible in an entire state to act as a catalyst for change beyond Massachusetts.

ABOUT THE POSITION:
The Portfolio Manager will spearhead select grantmaking efforts in the education portfolio, refine the Foundation’s strategy and build the Foundation’s public presence. The role reports to the Vice President, Education. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Identifying and Supporting Grantee Organizations
• Identify prospective grantee organizations that align with the Foundation’s mission and strategy through networking and research.
• Manage all aspects of moving a potential grantee through the Foundation’s due diligence process, including:
o Assessing the strength of an organization’s leadership and strategic plan o Developing a thesis for how the Foundation may work with a potential grantee o Leading strategic planning sessions, focused on issues like theory of change, model codification, strategic priorities, financial modeling, and implementation planning. o Performing necessary analyses such as benchmarking and competitive assessment. o Determining, in conjunction with the Vice President, whether a grant should be pursued, and if so, how the grant should be structured, and how success should be measured.
o Drafting a paper that makes the case for a grant to the trustees. o Preparing the grantee to present in front of trustees.
o Developing and finalizing the grant agreement.
• Demonstrate commitment to grantee implementation success by creating close, positive relationships, providing ongoing problem-solving support and eliminating barriers to their success. Conduct annual step-back processes to refine strategy in response to new information.
• Track grantee progress through ongoing implementation support, site visits, data collection, and third-party evaluation and problem-solving session.
• Keep the Vice President and President apprised of grantee progress and seek assistance as needed to ensure grantee success.

Supervising Associates
• Provide direction to Portfolio Associates as they support due diligence work and ongoing strategy or implementation projects with active grantees.
• Provide feedback and coaching to Associate so they continue to develop as professionals.

Partnering with the Applied Learning Hub (ALH) Team
• Collaborate with the ALH team to develop new approaches to grantee implementation work with the potential to dramatically amplify student impact.
• Support ALH to develop and deliver educator and leader programming that advances and accelerates the work of grantees.
• Provide thought partnership and feedback to ALH on the team’s body of work to strengthen Applied Learning connections across different grantee programs.

Developing and Supporting Foundation Strategy and Approach
• Develop and maintain a breadth of knowledge about existing research, current trends, and emerging issues in the Foundation’s areas of concentration.
• Use research and data analysis to inform ongoing refinement of strategy for the

Education portfolio, in collaboration with the team.
• Develop, nurture, and access a robust network of operators, public sector leaders, academics, and philanthropists who will help inform strategy and identify high-caliber emerging organizations and approaches to K-12 sector improvement.
• Represent the One8 Foundation at meetings, conferences, and other events.
• Prepare communications and reports for trustees.

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS:
The Portfolio Manager will identify great leaders and develop grants and partnerships that can affect systemic change. The Portfolio Manager must embody the Foundation’s high standard for rigor, passion, and commitment, while working alongside grantees and providing support and skills to ensure their success. Qualified candidates will possess:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience, including at least 2 from a strategic consulting environment.
• Operating experience in a school district, nonprofit, or other mission-driven organization preferred.
• Analytical orientation with the ability to structure investment hypotheses, conduct the associated research, assess programmatic, management, and financial information, and unearth relevant implications and opportunities.
• Strong networking and relationship-building skills.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with senior organizational leaders, collaborate effectively, and interact with diverse organizations.
• An abiding belief that education is a primary means to dramatically improve the life outcomes of children and that all children can achieve at high levels independent of their circumstances.
• Insatiable curiosity, a love of learning, and the desire and skill to help others succeed.
• A sense of humor, the preference to work in teams, and the ability to bring out the best in others.
• Self-motivation and the ability to work independently, take initiative, and solve problems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail.
• Familiarity with the U.S. education landscape preferred.
• Ability to occasionally work in office on Mondays and Fridays for relevant business needs.
• Bachelor’s degree (required); MBA preferred.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
The salary for this position will be within the $150,000 to $190,000 range and will vary based on prior work experience. If your experience exceeds our job requirements, let’s talk. In addition, the One8 Foundation offers a comprehensive benefits package.

Application instructions

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