Communications Officer, William Penn Foundation

The William Penn Foundation, founded by Otto and Phoebe Haas in 1945, is a leading American philanthropy located in Philadelphia with over $3.7 billion in assets and a $155 million annual grant budget. Our approach to grantmaking is focused on one central idea: let’s help make more lives better by connecting more people to more opportunities and more resources. We aim to do this work in the Philadelphia region particularly for groups of people who have often been shut out of opportunity in the past because of disinvestment, discrimination, or systemic inequities.

The Foundation makes grants in five programs, primarily focused in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties:

• Arts and Culture – Increase access to diverse, inclusive arts and culture experiences.
• Children and Families – Expand access to programs and resources that support the healthy development and academic success of young children, ages 0-8.
• Environment and Public Space – Increase access to the benefits of natural areas, public spaces, and community assets while decreasing harmful impacts on the environment.
• Democracy and Civic Initiatives – Expand engagement in democratic processes and collaborative efforts that make the city and region responsive to the needs of residents.
• Workforce Training and Services – Support Philadelphia residents to successfully prepare for, secure, and retain family sustaining employment.

In pursuing our program goals and objectives, we will be guided by the following values:

• Prioritize opportunities for communities that have been most affected by economic inequity, discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation, and other forms of injustice.
• Elevate community voice.
• Value partnership, collaboration, and transparency.
• Minimize and respond to the impacts of climate change.
• Leverage our leadership to advance important citywide and regional initiatives and to respond to changing needs of the city and region.
• Share our learning locally and nationally.

The Communications Officer will focus on our Children and Families, Democracy and Civic Initiatives, and Workforce Training and Services grantmaking portfolios. This individual will be responsible for helping with strategy and execution for all communications activities for the those three grantmaking programs. As a Communications Officer, this work will include managing strategy as well as implementation of a communications plan, media relations, planning and execution of convenings, release of new research or evidence, and working with our Senior Digital and Social Media Associate on developing content for the web site and social media, as well as the production of any other digital content, and other activities.

This position will also help offer strategic guidance to grantees of the three grantmaking programs on their individual efforts to promote WPF-funded work and will also support the programs’ learning communities. This position will also identify new venues for sharing information about the Foundation’s work and its grantees and will help manage relationships with outside consultants. The Officer will participate in select team activities with the expectation that s/he will become deeply immersed in the grantmaking work.

Lastly, the Communications Officer will work with the Chief Communications and External Affairs Officer on developing a strategic plan to support the department’s expanding function around external affairs.

• Develop and implement strategic communications plan for the Children and Families, Democracy and Civic Initiatives, and Workforce Training and Services program teams.
• Responsible for shared team updating/production of the Foundation’s web site.
• Responsible for offering strategic communications guidance to grantees, as needed, as they seek to elevate their WPF-funded work.
• Generate story ideas related to Children and Families, Democracy and Civic Initiatives, and Workforce Training and Services projects by meeting with respective Program Director to identify new opportunities for press and securing coverage.
• Conduct interview preparation work – reporter background, search of relevant articles, prep of key messages,…