Tides is Hiring!

Tides is a group of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations committed to building a world of social justice. Founded in 1976, Tides accelerates the pace of social change, working with innovative partners to solve the world's toughest problems. Tides focuses on equality and human rights, a sustainable environment, health individuals and communities, education, and economic development. Tides' services include donor-advised funds, fiscal sponsorship, and shared spaces in San Francisco and New York City. For more information, please visit www.tides.org.

2021 was a landmark year in Tides’ 45-year history. We are experiencing a unique and powerful opportunity for transformative change for the future in how we lead and impact social justice and shared prosperity. Taking committed actions to prepare for this change, we have welcomed an expanded and largely new executive team, partnered with a top-notch social impact consulting firm to revitalize our strategic plan, and focus our operational excellence initiatives, and grown our core staff significantly. These investments will help Tides to better serve our partners and bring our vision – of a world of shared prosperity and social justice – to life.

The Role:

The Program Officer, Civic Engagement and Democracy (PO) is the civic engagement and democracy issue area lead for Tides. The PO is a core member of the Philanthropic team and the broader Partner Services Department at Tides. The Philanthropy team provides integrated services for individual, family, foundation, and social change leader partners to support grantmaking, impact investing, advocacy, donor collaboration, and strategic advisory solutions. In addition to providing support to our grantmaking and social change leader partners, the team designs and manages several important pooled grantmaking initiatives that align with Tides’ equity impact goal and our vision, mission, and approach.

Day to day, the PO will serve as the lead for the Healthy Democracy Fund (HDF), one of several key grantmaking initiatives designed to increase the power, resources, and capacity of underrepresented communities in our democracy, especially people of color and young people. The PO will create and iterate HDF’s grantmaking strategy and manage its implementation and take primary responsibility for building and nurturing partnerships with state-based grantees, aligned funders, donor organizing networks, and movement leaders in the civic engagement and democracy ecosystem.

The PO will lead in identifying best practices and emerging trends in civic engagement and democracy philanthropy with an eye toward partner education, future growth, and strategic response to increasing demand for Tides solutions and heightening our impact. The PO will work collaboratively with partner segment leads to offer educational and convening opportunities for our partners to enhance our collective impact in the democracy space and to ensure grantees and social change leaders' needs and perspectives are considered and uplifted in the donor community. They will ensure that the entire Tides partner services team has the tools, training and resources needed to deepen engagement with partners across Tides’ network.

In addition, the PO will have a small, focused portfolio of partners who prioritize civic engagement and democracy grantmaking (donor partners) and fundraising (social change leader partners). In addition to providing core grantmaking and fund management support, the PO will help design and deliver enhanced scopes of work for partners, including more complex and/or strategic grantmaking initiatives from design to execution.

The PO works in a matrix management structure to support Tides partners. Success depends on building strong, trustworthy cross-functional relationships with staff from within the Partner Services division and across the entire organization. The PO is responsible for uplifting and embodying Tides core values - Respect, Accountability, Creativity, Equity and Empowerment - in all areas of work and engagement with team members and Tides partners.

This position is classified as part of the collective bargaining agreement (SEIU 1021).

What you will do:

Healthy Democracy Fund Program Leadership

• Design and execute effective multi-year grantmaking strategy with an annual budget of approximately $10 million in alignment with Tides VMA and impact goal.
• Develop fund strategy and priorities and decision-making frameworks for grantmaking.
• Establish and implement appropriate fund governance, including participatory grantmaking frameworks; recruit and support decision-making of Independent Advisory Council (IAC) members.
• Design and oversee implementation of operational plans for HDF grant dockets; develop RFP and LOI processes and produce dockets.
• Monitor progress on approved grants, including review of interim and final reports, synthesize findings to measure HDF impact.
• Provide non-financial support to grantees (i.e., capacity building, trainings, convenings, etc.).
• Maintain and build relationships with grantees, thought leaders, funding partners, and other experts and leaders in the field to increase the effectiveness of HDF.
• Conduct research and analysis on programs, donors, and democracy sector trends and areas of strategic priority.
• Build honest and responsive relationships with current and potential grantees.
• Partner across departments to lead internal and external events featuring HDF.
• Manage consultants to help evaluate, modify, and implement grantmaking strategies and evaluation frameworks.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Communications to develop resources for HDF including websites, donor reports, and grantee announcements.
• Convene donor briefings and raise financial resources for the Healthy Democracy Fund in partnership with Marketing and Communications and Development staff.
• Co-lead Tides’ effort in creating org-wide templates and standards to support collaborative funds in measuring grantee impact, developing evaluation frameworks, feedback structures and tracking systems.

Issue Area Leadership

• Serve as Tides civic engagement and democracy issue area lead externally.
• Build and maintain relationships with key climate organizing networks to stay abreast of sector trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities.
• Serve as the resource hub for Tides staff on civic engagement and democracy to better serve all Tides partners.
• Craft timely briefs in partnership with the Marketing & Communications team to showcase Tides’ knowledge on important and/or emerging issues in philanthropy to benefit key stakeholders, including current partners.
• Participate in joint efforts with movement leaders, foundations, donor organizing networks and affinity groups to uplift marginalized and under resourced groups and communities in the civic engagement and democracy space.
• Keep abreast of the civic engagement and democracy funding landscape to identify emerging needs, gaps, and opportunities.
• Support business development through outreach to potential partners and by working collaboratively on proposals with the Strategic Partnerships team.
• Represent Tides on a regular basis by attending and presenting at conferences, gatherings, professional associations, and other external events.

Partner Relationship Management

• Serve as primary relationship manager to an assigned portfolio of philanthropic partners who come to Tides with a desire to invest and leverage their charitable giving especially in the civic engagement and democracy space.
• Serve as the relationship lead on cross-functional internal partner service teams including Grants, Finance, Legal, Strategic Partnerships, and Marketing and Communications to support partner goals.
• Deliver high quality service to a portfolio of assigned partners that utilize a range of solutions, including donor advised funds, collective action funds, fiscally sponsored projects, complex grantmaking support, advocacy funding, and impact investing.
• Create connections and foster collaboration between Tides civic engagement and democracy- focused partners in alignment with Tides VMA and impact model.
• Develop a strategy for creative engagement and exceptional service delivery that accelerates the impact of each partner and delivers a richer experience with support from Tides teams.
• Provide support to other Advisors in resolving partner escalations, develop policy and procedural changes to mitigate future service challenges.
• Assess risk factors for partners’ activities, such as contracts, grants, advocacy, and lobbying, in conjunction with Tides Legal, Risk Management and Compliance team.
• Help lead Tides’ effort in creating templates and standards to support partners in measuring grantee impact, developing evaluation frameworks, feedback structures and tracking systems.

What you will bring:

• Strong alignment with Tides’ Vision, Mission and Approach and our organizational values of respect, equity, empowerment, accountability, and creativity
• Demonstrated commitment to and experience in progressive social change through civic engagement and democracy initiatives.
• Deep understanding of and connection to community level needs in the civic engagement space (including base-building, leadership development, and nonpartisan voter engagement).
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement consulting engagements or grantmaking initiatives from concept phase to completion.
• Successful fund development experience, especially with major donors and foundations.
• Experience with measurement and evaluation of grantmaking programs.
• Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills with a strong service orientation to facilitate collaborative problem-solving to reach solutions that benefit all parties.
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity, manage expectations, and steward important relationships.
• Ability to hold self and others accountable for high-quality, timely, and effective outputs with a demonstrated commitment to meeting the needs of internal and external partners for a high level of satisfaction.
• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, different communication styles, and a wide range of diverse colleagues.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with a proven ability to develop proposals, make presentations, and communicate effectively with partners.
• Demonstrated ability to hold information confidential with excellent judgment and to engage in a direct and truthful manner.
• Strong motivation and an ability to simultaneously manage multiple assignments at varying levels of complexity, from administrative to strategic partner services.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to work with and manipulate data from multiple sources, assimilate and present information in a clear and concise manner.
• Ability to use systems and other tools (Salesforce & NetSuite) to gather data, insights to measure outcomes.

Education & Experience:

• BA/BS or higher degree, or equivalent experience may be substituted for a college degree.
• 5 - 10 years of demonstrated experience working in the philanthropy and/or nonprofit sector.
• 2-4 years’ experience in civic engagement and democracy grantmaking and / or advocacy.

Life at Tides

Working at Tides connects you with world-class teammates, enduring relationships, and an inspired sense of purpose - while our employee benefits support our team’s talent and well-being. This is an exciting time to join Tides. In the past, Tides staff have worked predominantly from our offices in San Francisco and New York. Today, our hybrid work model supports staff with remote work from anywhere in the United States.

Important Information

Any Tides Network employee who wishes to use the office or travel to the office must be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 and boosted. You are required to submit proof of vaccination to the Human Resources Department at least 2 days before your first visit to the office. Employees who do not have vaccination information on file will not be permitted in the building.

Application Instructions

Please submit a resume and a thoughtful cover letter online. Your cover letter should express your interest in working for Tides and your qualifications for the role. You may also share your detailed LinkedIn profile with us. Tides is an Equal Opportunity employer. We value diversity and inclusion and we look forward to reviewing applications from all who are qualified to apply.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Tides is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, and bilingual and bicultural individuals, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions. Also pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we encourage and will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Applicants with Disabilities

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. If you seek an accommodation, please advise in writing at the time you apply.