Program Associate (HLI

The Haas Leadership Initiatives (HLI), a project of the Tides Center, was founded in 2005 by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund (the Fund) to make it possible for the Fund’s grantee partners to access strategic leadership and organizational development resources. The HLI program understands that it takes skilled leaders to change policies and systems and to do the hard work of advancing rights and creating opportunities for all people.

And that it takes strong, fully funded organizations to keep at it and to work effectively in social movements. Across the country, nonprofit organizations and public agencies are tackling tremendous challenges with limited support. Investing in leadership development makes a big difference; stronger leaders catalyze lasting and transformational change and get better results. The HLI’s leadership investment programs are a key strategy for ensuring the success of individual organizations and of the networks and movements of which they are a part.

Beyond investing in the capacity and leadership of the Fund’s grantee partners through its centerpiece program The Flexible Leadership Awards , the HLI focuses on building the field in two ways:
1) improving leadership and consulting practice by supporting innovative approaches to raising resources, cultivating talent, and embracing racial equity; and
2) encouraging foundations to invest more – and more effectively – in leadership.

HLI is home to the Haas, Jr. Fund’s Flexible Leadership Awards Program, the Leader Power Collaborative (the expansion of the FLA to other funders), and the ReSet Fundraising Initiative. In 2019, more than eighty grantee partners -- non-profit organizations across the state and the country -- were supported by the Haas Leadership Initiatives capacity building programs. The Irvine Foundation’s Fair Work Initiative is HLI’s newest foundation partner, coming on-line in June 2020.

The Program Associate plays an integral role in supporting three HLI Program Directors and affiliated organizational development practitioners in their work on behalf of the Haas Leadership Initiatives. The position reports to the HLI Program and Finance Manager and is nested within a highly collaborative and matrixed team. The Haas Leadership Initiatives is a project of the Tides Center and currently located in the offices of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr.

Fund in San Francisco.

The Program Associate is an at-will, exempt position. The salary for this position is $75,000 per year with a very competitive benefits package (medical, dental, 403b).

As noted above, this position interfaces with multiple stakeholders, including the HLI team, funders, the project’s fiscal sponsor (the Tides Center), consultant practitioners, and grantee partners, and therefore requires excellent interpersonal and customer service skills. Because the Program Associate is a critical component of an umbrella initiative housing several robust programs, they must be someone who takes initiative, enjoys creating systems to ensure smooth and efficient coordination of activities for the programs, takes a strategic and big picture approach to solving problems, and possesses good judgement and the confidence to make reasoned decisions that resolve and advance various activities.

This position supports all areas of the Haas Leadership Initiatives, including, but not limited to:

• Program Administration Support (30%) - This role requires commitment to learning about the purposes and substance of various HLI initiatives well enough to be a contributing member in planning and program implementation. As a member of the HLI team, you will:
  • Contribute and coordinate program planning and implementation for each HLI program (g. HLI annual planning, consultant convening, internal/external meetings);
  • Provide timely resources and support to the HLI team and its consultants; and
  • Provide scheduling and administration for complex projects and meetings as needed.
• Consultant Network Management (25%) - This role will support the Haas Leadership Initiatives’ growing community of organizational development consultant…