Program Officer – Jewish & Learning

Open Position:
Program Officer – Jewish Life & Learning

Program Officer – Jewish Life & Learning
Location: New York City (in-person with travel)
Reports to: Director of North American Grantmaking

At a consequential moment in Jewish history, Maimonides Fund (MF) is expanding our grantmaking and programmatic work in service of our mission in North America and Israel. Through strategic investments and targeted initiatives, including SAPIR:
Ideas for a Thriving Jewish Future, we support serious ideas, strengthen institutions, and help advance durable impact across North American Jewish communal life and for the State and People of Israel.

The Opportunity
MF seeks to hire a Program Officer to help to build the future of Jewish life and learning in North America, becoming an expert in grantmaking, nonprofit finance, and change making, while working with MF staff, philanthropic partners, field experts, practitioners, and thought leaders to identify innovative ideas and interventions to advance this work.

Our Program Officers are issue‑area specialists who have substantial responsibility for growing and sustaining portfolios of grants in our various focus areas. Program Officers contribute to developing our philanthropic strategy and actively participate in grantmaking by seeking, developing, recommending, and administering grants in their program areas. Program Officers are expected to build networks and partnerships around issues central to our mission;

develop expertise in their program areas; communicate and advocate for systemic change; and multiply the impact of our investments and influence.

Grant portfolios and mandates may vary depending on the Program Officer’s expertise and background and team bandwidth, but this position will work primarily to strengthen Jewish learning and education, and the educators, clergy, and professionals dedicating their lives to transformative, joyous, and content‑rich Jewish education. As a Program Officer, you will take over an existing portfolio of grants, working to deepen our existing work, while also carrying a mandate to think big about the Jewish future and how best to advise MF in its decision‑making regarding future grants, programs, gatherings, and other tools in the philanthropic toolbox.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a portfolio of grants, including performing due diligence, site visits, progress assessment, and evaluating current and potential grantees and partners;
• Evaluate invited grant requests, including detailed financial statements and complex narratives;
• Prepare research memos, proposal analyses, and policy papers in areas of program interest;
• Work alongside colleagues in developing and executing new grantmaking strategies and in planning and executing Maimonides Fund-sponsored programs and events;
• Maintain and expand upon a breadth of knowledge to enhance MF’s strategies, including current trends, emerging issues, evaluations, academic literature, policy interventions, and innovations;
• Represent Maimonides Fund within the nonprofit and philanthropic communities, including local and national site visits, conferences, and events. Communicate with grantees, thinkers, field professionals, and funding colleagues on a regular basis, both seeking and providing information and recommendations necessary to support the efficacy and efficiency of MF’s philanthropy.

You have:

• 10+ years of experience in a professional office environment;
• An excellent working knowledge of the organized Jewish community and Israel;
• Demonstrated experience distilling complex information to form opinions, vocalize arguments, develop recommendations, and navigate implementation;
• Strong project management and operational experience;
• Exceptional quantitative and qualitative analytic and financial skills, including financial review and analysis and data‑informed research;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; and
• Sound professional judgment, objectivity, tact, and humility.

Other Desirable Skillsets and

Experience:

No candidate will have all of these, but please indicate relevant experience in any of these areas:

• Jewish education, formal or informal/experiential;
• Leading teen, college…