Associate Program Officer, Medical Science

The Fidelity Foundations are a group of private foundations that fund a diverse set of programs on a national scale. The Fidelity Foundations are committed to advancing the long-term vibrancy of communities through capacity-building investments in arts and culture, education, conservation, health, and economic opportunity-focused non-profits.

Fidelity Foundations’ grantmaking seeks to build the capacity of leaders and organizations tackling important societal challenges and promoting thriving communities. We are dedicated to strengthening organizations by fostering robust partnerships and supporting projects that enhance our grantees’ long-term success. Each program centers on the ecosystems’ needs and identifies where our capacity-building grants can have the greatest impact. We have a deep history of funding organizations in Boston and New England for over 50 years and also supporting communities in specific regions nationwide.

Today, the Foundations are at an important and exciting stage in our organizational history, having grown and evolved in recent years. As our strategies and organization continue to develop, we are seeking individuals with skills and expertise that support the advancement and execution of a long-term portfolio of significant and strategic philanthropic investments.

As a capacity-building funder, the Foundations seek to make catalytic, lasting investments in non-profits at strategic inflection points and support projects that substantially enhance their impact and sustainability. Our values of excellence, integrity, respect, collaboration, and a deep sense of humility guide our quiet grantmaking.

The Foundations’ Medical Science program is currently focused on neuroscience and neurodegenerative research. Specifically, the program seeks to identify bottlenecks, knowledge gaps, and unmet funding needs in neurodegenerative disease research. We continually monitor the research and funding landscape to identify opportunities where philanthropy can uniquely address critical barriers to research advancement. We aim to identify and pilot systems-level solutions and innovative approaches to improve the effectiveness of the scientific ecosystem.

Current strategies include incentivizing global collaboration and lowering barriers to open data and sample sharing. There is potential to broaden the focus to other areas of biomedical research in the future.

The Associate Program Officer supports the work of the Medical Science team by partnering with senior program staff to develop, manage and evaluate philanthropic investments across the team’s portfolios. The Associate Program Officer will collaborate with and support senior program staff by engaging with existing and prospective grantees and community members as well as participating in programmatic efforts in support of organization-wide initiatives.

The Associate Program Officer’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Input relevant and timely information into the grants management system and maintain adherence to grant workflows and processes
• Develop processes and schedules to review and ensure data quality and integrity of grants-related data in grants management system
• Provide program staff with timely updates on grantee progress; support POs on grantee reporting requirements and reviews
• Support management of current awards, including conditional and contingent grants

• Under the direction of Program Officers and Senior Advisor, provide comprehensive support towards the advancement of promising proposals and organizations by conducting due diligence through research, financial analysis, proposal review, and recommendation drafting
• Contribute to development of grant recommendations
• Conduct initial evaluation of grants against stated objectives and formulate recommendations to align grants with sector goals
• Participate in managing schedules and contribute to managing portfolio pipeline

• Collaborate with and support program staff by engaging with existing and prospective grantees and community…