Program Officer

About The Just Trust

The Just Trust is a brand new fund that is 100% dedicated to powering criminal justice reform, state-by-state and across the nation. We’re a team of grantmakers, directly-impacted people, and allies, and we invest in visionary leaders, organizations, and campaigns—from underdogs to heavyweights, organizers to policy wonks, rural folks to city dwellers—all fighting for the safety and wellbeing of their communities.

Our Vision & Our Hiring Approach

Our vision is to transform the justice system into a just and compassionate engine of public safety for all—one where we hold each other to account, treat each other with dignity, and where the strength of our communities keeps people from entering the system in the first place.

We seek to do this by strategically investing (through grants and other direct support) in leaders’ and organizations’ sharpest efforts, across state and party lines, to change hearts, minds, and laws.

At The Just Trust—a fiscally sponsored project of the New Venture Fund—we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we know that our collective success is dependent on building out a team that includes a diverse set of people. This especially includes those who have direct, lived experience with the criminal justice system—those with criminal convictions and formerly incarcerated people, family members of currently and formerly incarcerated people, crime survivors and people who have worked within the system including law enforcement, prosecutors, public defenders and corrections. In addition, we want to build a team of individuals from different backgrounds, experiences and political beliefs who can challenge each other's assumptions with fresh perspectives. To that end, we look for a diverse pool of applicants including those from historically marginalized groups—women, people with disabilities, people of color, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or gender non-conforming, first and second-generation immigrants, veterans, and people from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

If this sounds like the place for you, keep on reading.

The Opportunity

With an initial commitment of $350 million (and counting) over the next five years, The Just Trust seeks to hire an experienced Program Officer to oversee grant-making within their portfolio(s).

The ideal candidate is passionate about criminal justice reform with either lived experience and/or deep subject matter expertise. They are a strategic thinker and master project manager with grant-making experience. They will thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative work environment where they manage multiple projects simultaneously. They have a strong track record of building trusted, collaborative relationships with grantees or other movement stakeholders.

This person loves thinking outside the box. They also love bringing together diverse partners to help make advocacy efforts more effective. They are proactive but know how to react with precision. They are excited by the idea of supporting a small, hardworking team focused on big, big challenges.

You will:

• Under the supervision of the Program Lead, serve as a key grantmaker.
• Own grant portfolio(s), including devising the investment strategy and securing approval from the Program Lead, conducting grantee due diligence, owning grantee relationships and reporting on impact.
• Project manage grants in your portfolio(s), both internally and through the fiscal sponsor’s grant-making process.
• Serve as a liaison between communications and program leads to ensure that the Just Trust elevates grantees’ work within your portfolio(s) and responds to grantee announcements in a timely, equitable and supportive manner.
• Build trusting relationships and champion collaboration with other leaders in the field. Identify opportunities for cross-grantee collaboration and convene grantees for shared learnings, strategy development, and infrastructure building.
• Center justice, diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion in your personal and organizational leadership both internally and externally.
• Assist in preparing board materials for the executive team.
• Travel regularly (when it is safe to do so).

You have:

• A minimum of four years experience in business or non-profit work.
• Direct experience with grant-making and in developing and implementing a grant portfolio investment strategy.
• Direct experience with or extensive knowledge of the criminal justice system.
• Impeccable and effective writing, editing, and verbal communication skills.
• Attention to detail and an ability to produce an efficient and high-quality work product.
• Project management experience.
• Meaningful experience supporting staff and grantees with direct experience of incarceration.
• Demonstrated ability to develop partnerships with allies such as progressive and conservative advocates and leaders, faith leaders, crime survivor groups, and law enforcement/corrections organizations.
• Track record as a collaborative worker who excels in managing multiple projects, and is comfortable working in a fast-paced and non-traditional work environment.
• Experience using CRM software, Google Workspace, and Slack.

Salary and Benefits:

The salary for this role is $120,000 to $140,000 depending on experience. New Venture Fund offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, 3% employer match on 401k contributions, pre-tax transportation benefits, and paid holidays, vacation, sick, and volunteer time off. The role is exempt from overtime.

New Venture Fund Careers:

The Justice Accelerator Fund is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. The New Venture Fund is committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding, and enables each of us to realize our potential. The New Venture Fund’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.