Program Officer, Policy

The Organization

The Commonwealth Fund — among the first private foundations started by a woman philanthropist, Anna M. Harkness — was established in 1918 with the broad charge to enhance the common good. Today, the mission of The Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, and people of color.

The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy.

The Commonwealth Fund envisions a health care system that values and benefits all people equally — one that pursues equity in health care and health outcomes as well as in leadership and decision-making. We believe this requires an alliance of people and institutions across society working together to recognize and value the lived experience of all individuals; ensure the delivery of compassionate, affordable, quality health care;

and strive for equitable outcomes for all. We place great value on the varied backgrounds and experiences our staff bring to our organization and encourage employees to bring their full selves to the workplace. We look for talented, nimble, empathetic, and supportive team players who are ready to roll up their sleeves, create impactful change, and celebrate accomplishments.

The Commonwealth Fund’s Policy Hub aims to equip policymakers with the evidence they need to make informed decisions. To that end, the Policy Hub anticipates and responds to emerging policy opportunities with research and analysis produced by Commonwealth Fund experts and grantees. Our focus is:

• Investing in projects that generate timely, evidence-based insights and analysis for federal and state policymakers, policy influencers, and stakeholders.
• Disseminating and sharing lessons learned in policy and practice, with a focus on education and information-sharing among policymakers, policy influencers, and stakeholders.
• Facilitating states' ability to learn from each other and fostering dialogue between state and federal policymakers.
• Ensuring the research needs and policy priorities of state and federal officials are reflected in the Commonwealth Fund's programmatic strategies.

The Policy Hub informs policymakers and influencers through educational briefings and events, strategic grantmaking, facilitating connections between grantees and policymakers, and providing written responses to policy proposals and requests for information. The program also maintains strategic partnerships with organizations that serve specific target audiences, such as state legislators, health policy leaders, and Medicaid directors.

The Program Officer will report to the Senior Vice President, Policy who leads the Policy Hub and support the SVP in coordinating the overall work and efficiency of the team to ensure goals and priorities are met.

The Program Officer will work closely with the SVP and other team members and specifically be responsible for:

• Developing new grant projects in consultation with the SVP, including identifying prospective grantees, working with prospective grantees to improve project design and working with internal team to review projects.
• Developing strategic program plans for the Policy team in partnership with the SVP. This includes evaluating opportunities in the field, synthesizing findings from the past year from all projects across the program area and assisting in the development of strategic options for the program for the year ahead.
• Managing grants for the Policy Hub. This includes the tracking of projects through ongoing contact with grantees, reviewing grantee interim and final deliverables, and providing subject matter expertise as appropriate.
• Reviewing Completed Grant Memoranda drafted by the program associate to ensure they capture achievements, any issues in implementation, and lessons learned for Fund grantmaking.