Senior Impact Officer Strategic Initiatives

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Headquarters (ID); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation seeks a Senior Impact Officer, Strategic Initiatives, to translate strategic priorities into coordinated action across Grantmaking and Impact teams in Kansas City, MO. You’ll lead cross-cutting analysis, support learning, and strengthen collaboration across pillars.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, you’ll foster stakeholder engagement with internal teams, grantees, and partners to advance entrepreneurship, education, and workforce

Responsibilities

• Build strong communication and collaboration infrastructure across the three strategic pillars; facilitate shared learning, peer support, and knowledge transfer.
• Serve as Impact Team liaison to the Uncommon Leader Awards work group.
• Work closely with the SDSI to ensure coherence across all grant pathways and to effectively communicate alignment with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Strengthen team decision-making and alignment across all shared grantmaking processes; surfacing risks or decisions that need leadership attention.
• Support change management and continuous improvement by helping with consistent adoption of new tools/processes while identifying workflow gaps and opportunities.
• Provide strategic sensemaking on cross-cutting issues by pulling together internal and external perspectives and translating it into useful assessments of implications and recommendations for leadership.
• Develop productive relationships with internal teams and external partners, reviewers, consultants, and community stakeholders as needed to advance strategic initiatives.
• Serve as a representative of the Foundation, advancing EMKF's strategic priorities and grantmaking philosophy, goals, and opportunities.
• Support the implementation of the Collective Impact grant pathway.
• In collaboration with Impact team members, source and evaluate potential grantees and proposals based on strategic fit and organizational capacity.
• Provide clear, concise, and insightful written analysis and recommendations for funding.
• Manage and oversee assigned grant portfolio, staying attuned to challenges in the field, grantees' needs, learnings, and opportunities for further impact.
• Stay abreast of topic areas associated with respective grantmaking portfolio, including trends, barriers, and areas for exploration.
• Work collaboratively with internal support teams, e.g., grants administration, research, learning and evaluation, legal, or strategic communications, in all stages of a grant request from intake to commitment letter.
• Prepare requested data and updates for board reports.
• Upon grant closure, provide clear and insightful written analysis of strategic and operational learnings to inform future grantmaking.

Job description

At the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, we first listen to the communities we serve, tap into our learnings and relationships, and bring everyone together to build and support programs that improve education, boost entrepreneurship, and help Kansas City thrive.

Senior Impact Officer Strategic Initiatives

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that provides access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity - regardless of race, gender, or geography. The Foundation uses its grantmaking, research, programs, affiliates, and initiatives to support the start and growth of new businesses, a more prepared workforce, and stronger communities. Our work is grounded in the principles of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion and is consistent with the aspirations of our founder, Ewing Marion Kauffman.

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kauffman Foundation is one of the largest foundations in the United States with an asset base of approximately $3 billion. While striving to have national impact and global reach, the Foundation is deeply committed to Kansas City, as evidenced by work on initiatives that reach into neighborhoods and enrich the community and quality of life in the region. For more information about the Foundation, please visit the website at www.kauffman.org.

Reporting directly to the Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives (SDSI), the Sr. Impact Officer - Strategic Initiatives serves as a connective hub across the Impact Team, strengthening communication, collaboration, shared team learning, and coordinated execution across the foundation's three strategic pillars of grantmaking: College Access & Completion, Workforce & Career Development, and Entrepreneurship. The role translates strategic priorities into coordinated action, creates structures that support effective collaboration, and helps ensure that learning and insights are shared across pillars. The Strategic Initiatives Senior Impact Officer will be part of a team that thrives in an entrepreneurial team culture, characterized by innovation, proactivity, and a commitment to high impact, each of which is integral to successfully implementing the Foundation's relaunched grantmaking strategy.

Working as part of the Strategic Initiatives vertical, the Senior Impact Officer partners closely with all Impact team associates to strengthen structure, accountability, and coherence across the team.

Specific Responsibilities Include:

Strategic Initiative Responsibilities

• Build strong communication and collaboration infrastructure across the three strategic pillars; facilitate shared learning, peer support, and knowledge transfer (especially during staff transitions).
• Serve as Impact Team liaison to the Uncommon Leader Awards work group
• Work closely with the SDSI to ensure coherence across all grant pathways and to effectively communicate alignment with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Strengthen team decision-making and alignment across all shared grantmaking processes; surfacing risks or decisions that need leadership attention.
• Support change management and continuous improvement by helping with consistent adoption of new tools/processes while identifying workflow gaps and opportunities.
• Provide strategic sensemaking on cross-cutting issues by pulling together internal and external perspectives and translating it into useful assessments of implications and recommendations for leadership.
• Develop productive relationships with internal teams and external partners, reviewers, consultants, and community stakeholders as needed to advance strategic initiatives.

Grantmaking Responsibilities

• Serve as a representative of the Foundation, advancing EMKF's strategic priorities and grantmaking philosophy, goals, and opportunities.
• Support the implementation of the Collective Impact grant pathway.
• In collaboration with Impact team members, source and evaluate potential grantees and proposals based on strategic fit and organizational capacity.
• Provide clear, concise, and insightful written analysis and recommendations for funding.
• Manage and oversee assigned grant portfolio, staying attuned to challenges in the field, grantees' needs, learnings, and opportunities for further impact.
• Stay abreast of topic areas associated with respective grantmaking portfolio, including trends, barriers, and areas for exploration. May be asked to provide leadership on a specific subject, while developing expertise on a broad range of issues.
• Work collaboratively with internal support teams, e.g., grants administration, research, learning and evaluation, legal, or strategic communications, in all stages of a grant request from intake to commitment letter.
• Prepare requested data and updates for board reports.
• Upon grant closure, provide clear and insightful written analysis of strategic and operational learnings to inform future grantmaking.