Program Officer

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; Flint (MI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation seeks a Program Officer to lead the national One Water initiative within its Environment program. This role will design and shape a new philanthropic strategy to influence how water is managed across the United States.

The Officer will connect state and local efforts to national partners, elevate success stories, and help secure policy wins that can be replicated and scaled over a multi-year horizon.

Responsibilities

• Support networking and technical assistance for water policy groups to build One Water momentum nationally.
• Support opinion research, message development and media to tell One Water success stories at local, regional, state and national levels.
• Support selected efforts outside the Great Lakes basin to secure One Water policy wins and model projects across the country.

Job description

The Foundation is seeking a Program Officer to manage the One Water’s national approach, a new focus area within the Environment program’s water initiative. CSMF plans to grant $10 million per year for ten years to advance the goals of the One Water initiative in its entirety, with the funds split between the Great Lakes and national work. This Program Officer role is an exciting opportunity for a water policy expert to help design and shape a new philanthropic strategy poised to make an impact on how water is managed in the United States. Specifically, the national grantmaking portfolio seeks to:

• Support for networking and technical assistance for groups in the water policy and adjacent fields to build One Water movement strength nationally.
• Support for opinion research, message development and media to tell One Water success stories at the local, regional, state and national levels.
• Support for selected efforts outside of the Great Lakes basin to secure One Water policy wins and demonstrate model projects that build momentum for progress across the country.

As the Foundation launches this work, the Program Officer will help strengthen the national “One Water” ecosystem—connecting state and local efforts to national partners, elevating compelling stories of progress, and supporting policy wins that can be replicated and scaled. The Foundation is approaching the national strategy with both ambition and humility, recognizing that durable change will require sustained coalition-building, pragmatic solutions, and engagement beyond traditional environmental audiences over a multi-year horizon.