Program Director, Environment

Program Director, Environment PURPOSE

The Program Director provides leadership and management for the Environment domain. The Margaret

A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP), which includes the Margaret

A. Cargill Foundation and the Anne Ray Foundation, organizes most of its grantmaking activities into seven program domains with defined strategies, guided by donor intent. Across all programs, MACP seeks to support work in and with communities toward developing solutions that deliver effective, sustainable programs that provide meaningful assistance and support to society, the arts, and the environment.

The Program Director collaborates closely with the domain’s core team of four Program Officers and Program Associate(s), along with Managing Director, Programs, Vice President, Programs, and staff from other program and functional areas in MACP, all toward building, managing, and evaluating an effective grantmaking domain. The Program Director reports to the Managing Director, Programs and is primarily responsible for ongoing development and implementation of program strategies, providing direction and oversight for domain grantmaking and operations, directly managing the team, and engaging when needed with the Program Committee of the Board and outside organizations as necessary.

The Environment team currently focuses on work in four ecosystem program areas:
Tropical Forests, Coastal Marine, Grasslands and Freshwater across four geographic regions:
North America, Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific. In addition, the team manages a small portfolio of Legacy grants that support work in the Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia and California.

The core strategy of the Environment Domain focuses on community conservation approaches that center Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) as long-term stewards of natural resources in tropical forest, coastal, freshwater, and grassland ecosystems. This approach aligns with MACP values and commitment to work deeply in and with communities and is grounded in our hypothesis, or theory of change, that:
Lasting conservation of critical ecosystems and their resources is best achieved when their management is defined and implemented by the communities who most depend on them.

Oversee program portfolios aligned with program strategies and ensure Program Officers translate those strategies to develop proposals and implement grants for selected programs of the Margaret

A. Cargill Philanthropies. Grantmaking assignments may shift over time as MACP continues to evolve. Detailed aspects of this work include:

• Lead department budget development and manage cash distribution goals across all five program areas of the domain.
• Oversee and support four Program Officers and Program Associate(s) to manage program portfolios in a manner that fosters meaningful and respectful relationships with grantee and funder partners, respects workload demands on staff and grantees, captures, and applies relevant learning, and keeps staff and board leadership appropriately informed of progress, risk and lessons learned.
• Translate and communicate domain-level program strategy, adapting to the needs of diverse audiences, ensuring the Program Committee and Board have the necessary knowledge to fully consider and understand domain strategy and refinements.
• Occasionally travel with Program Officers and others to source new grantmaking opportunities, develop and monitor grant outcomes and learning with grantee partners, build constructive relationships, and stay current with program strategies and relevant fields of knowledge.
• Collaborate with the Managing Program Director on strategy, process, implementation, and evaluation, ensuring accountability, timely communication, strong cross-team coordination and effective delegation.
• In partnership with Program Officers, develop and oversee evaluation plans for the domain in the context of MACP’s evaluation and organizational learning goals.
• Maintain accountability for due diligence on all grants within the portfolio with support from Program Operations and cross-functional colleagues, and in collaboration with legal,…