The Organization
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world, seeks to recruit a Program Director for the Environment Program. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development and population, performing arts, and philanthropy, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation’s assets are approximately $9 billion, with annual grant awards totaling more than $400 million. A fourteen-member Board of Directors provides overall direction for the Foundation. For more information about the Hewlett Foundation, please visit its website at www.hewlett.org.
Preserving the environment has been a cornerstone of the Hewlett Foundation’s grant making from the very beginning. To that end, the Environment Program supports groups working on land, water, and energy issues, and looks for opportunities to engage people on the ground where particular issues are unfolding. Today, the commitment is expressed through the Foundation’s investments to mitigate the most severe effects of climate change, to preserve ecological diversity in the North American West, and to enhance opportunities for Bay Area youth to experience nature and the outdoors. In 2008, the Hewlett Foundation Board approved a landmark five-year, global effort to collaborate with an international network of funders, regrantor and nonprofit organizations, and other climate leaders to strengthen philanthropy’s response to global warming. In 2013, the Foundation renewed its commitment to this Climate Change Initiative and to bringing combined expertise in climate science, public policy, economic and social development, and strategic philanthropy to bear on keeping global warming below two degrees centigrade. The Environment Program continues to experiment, learn, and adapt as they seek to make their best contribution to a prosperous, sustainable, low-carbon future. In 2014, the Foundation likewise renewed its commitment to preserving biodiversity in the West with a focus on lands, rivers, and energy development. In 2015, the Foundation added a new California Drought Initiative to help bring about long overdue reform of California water policy.
Through its grant making, the Environment Program pursues three goals designed to protect the environment for future generations.
• Avoid the worst effects of climate change and promote prosperity and health by dramatically cutting greenhouse gas pollution and ultimately meeting all energy demand from clean and renewable energy sources.
• Conserve the ecological integrity of the western United States and Canada for people and wildlife.
• Reduce environmental problems that disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.In addition, the Program has launched a three-year initiative to modernize state water policy to better respond to a less predictable water future.The Environment Program has a professional staff of ten and operates with an annual grants budget in excess of $130 million. The position is based in Menlo Park, California.
Position Overview
The Program Director should ideally embody the following professional qualifications and personal attributes:
• Demonstrated record of innovative leadership within the nonprofit, philanthropic, private or public sector.
• Experience working with complex budgets, including sophisticated financial analytical skills and an interest in evaluation and performance measurement metrics.
• A proven record of success in working with government agencies at all levels and with the private sector. Experience developing and implementing public policy advocacy strategies is a plus.
• Experience building private/public partnerships and other nontraditional coalitions to produce lasting and meaningful results in the policy, private, and philanthropic sectors.
• Ability to generate and deliver clear and persuasive oral and written communications.
• Ability to inspire trust, to organize people into teams and to motivate team members to work well together.• Ability to lead and manage a dedicated professional team.
Personal Attributes
• Passionate commitment to the Foundation’s mission.
• Ability to listen to others and learn from their best ideas.
• Intellectual curiosity, coupled with an innovative and entrepreneurial drive.
• Humility and grace, flexibility, an ability to give credit and recognition to others.
• Impeccable integrity, high energy level, and the possession of a sense of humor.
Compensation
Compensation for the Program Director includes a competitive base salary, and an excellent employee benefits package.
Physical Demands/Work Environment
The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to sit for extended periods of time and to travel via various modes of transportation for extended periods of time.
Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter responding specifically to the experience and qualifications being sought to: Daniel Sherman, President, Explore Company at resumes@explorecompany.com. Refer to Hewlett/EPD in the subject line.
No phone inquiries please.
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and invites individuals who bring a diversity of culture, experience and ideas to apply.All correspondence will remain confidential.