Working at the Vermont Community Foundation
For more than 35 years, the Vermont Community Foundation has served Vermont through philanthropy and building stronger communities. Our mission—Better Together: inspiring giving and bringing together people and resources to make a difference in Vermont—provides the bedrock for our workplace culture. Our employees are passionate about making a difference every day and we approach our work with curiosity, respect, and integrity. We believe collaboration, equity, and diversity are key to bringing about positive impact across Vermont. When you join our team, your work will matter.
Position Summary
Closing the opportunity gap—the divide that leaves many Vermonters struggling to build bright, secure futures no matter how hard they work—is the cornerstone of VCF’s mission. VCF believes that communities are strong when they offer a shared sense of opportunity and potential for the future. The Program Officer will take the lead on a portfolio of projects, grants, and evaluative learning addressing the opportunity gap as it relates specifically to the adaptation of communities to climate change and environmental disruption, including:
· natural resources and conservation practices
· the environment
· agriculture
· sustainable enterprises
· adaptation and sustainability of built infrastructure
· sustainable agriculture and food systems
· preparing for and responding to natural disasters
· initiatives that enhance community resilience to challenges accelerated by climate change
· healthy forests and watersheds
· environmental justice
This role is responsible for setting strategic direction for various programs and projects, as well as for being involved in grantmaking decisions, investment decisions, and donor and fundholder engagement. The position is part of our Community Impact (CI) team which provides leadership, partnership, and investment strategy at the local, regional, and statewide levels. It requires a depth and breadth of knowledge within the issue areas to lead grantee and investee pipeline development, portfolio stewardship, networking activities, grantmaking, and evaluation of the Foundation’s impact.
The work you will be doing:
- Leading the Climate and Environment Impact area which focuses on the resilience of Vermont communities in the face of a changing climate, including:
- Supporting grantmaking programs in significant, multi-year, initiative-level work, with grant sourcing driven by community engagement, informed by data collection and analysis, and locally sourced project ideas developed collaboratively with the team and external partners
- Working with advisory committees and funding partners on aligning impact and evaluation in environmental and climate resilience programming, as well as collaborating on co-funding projects where appropriate
- Convening grantees for learning and development of shared goals and outcomes
- Representing VCF in leadership opportunities with statewide partners to advance strategies for a healthy environment, ecosystem conservation, sustainability, and climate resilience
- Working with communities to learn about environmental and climate challenges
- Building and managing a complex portfolio of projects and partners
- Engaging in strategic planning and effective project management to steward complex initiatives through all stages of development from conception to completion
- Gathering, tracking, and analyzing data on statewide, project-based, and lessons-learned levels to better communicate the systems-change work of the opportunity gap
- Working interdepartmentally to provide stories, metrics, and data to communicate impact for donors, fundholders, partners, and collaborators
The impact you will have:
- Fostering community vitality through resilience in the face of a changing climate
- Helping communities plan and navigate positive change
- Contributing to building more equitable and resilient communities with deeper confidence in the future
- Embracing curiosity, strengthening belonging, amplifying voices, engaging community, and building strategies based on deeper understanding and a commitment to a shared future.
The experience you will get:
- Ability to deepen your understanding of the types of strategies that will help close the opportunity gap for Vermont & Vermonters and build resilience in Vermont communities
- Build close working relationships across Vermont communities with a wide variety of nonprofit organizations and partners at the local, regional, and state levels
- Leverage grant dollars and local investments to make a lasting difference in the impact area
- Serve as a valued member of a dedicated, high-functioning team and an organization dedicated to making Vermont’s communities stronger
- Ability to contribute to efforts to grow and expand funding directed to Vermont communities while also exploring innovative and collaborative ways to do grant making
The skills, experience, and characteristics you will need to draw on:
- Experience being part of a collaborative team, contributing where needed, building trust, meeting deadlines, and problem solving
- A positive attitude, the ability to communicate authentically, and the self-knowledge to handle tough conversations with grace
- Being a critical thinker, working with self-direction, balancing information and insight from multiple sources, and adeptly adjusting when the need for change or new direction arises
- Comfort and ease in diverse social settings and the ability to engage communities and cross- sector groups around a common agenda
- Success in convening key stakeholders and building shared vision and momentum
- Creativity and innovation in the use of capital to achieve strategic objectives across sectors
- Leadership skills with stewardship and facilitation experience
- Knowledge of the challenges and barriers to accessing program resources that may exist, especially for traditionally marginalized groups, including rural communities, families living in poverty, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, people with special needs or disabilities, and people who identify as LGBTQ+
- Respect for colleagues, donors, and community partners and eagerness to engage with the team of program officers in collaboration and shared learning
- Excellent customer service and responsiveness to community partners, statewide audiences, philanthropic partners, colleagues, and fundholders
- Ability to travel throughout the state, go above and beyond when needed, and balance multiple competing demands
- Commitment to contributing to an inclusive and anti-racist work environment
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
Education
- Bachelor's degree and at least 5 years of professional experience working on strategic and impactful environment and /or climate resilience programs. (Five or more years of experience in a community leadership and impact role can substitute for a bachelor's degree.)
Location: This position is based in Burlington with a hybrid schedule. Expectation will be to travel to Burlington office 1-2 days/week.