Senior Program Officer for Community Development

The Organization

Gates Family Foundation celebrated its 78th anniversary in 2024. Since its creation, the Foundation has distributed more than $550 million in grants, with another $60 million committed to impact investments in recent years. Representing a partnership of family and community representatives, the Foundation maintains a strong commitment through its grantmaking and other strategic efforts in four key areas:

• Education: Expanding access to educational opportunity for all children in Colorado.
• Natural Resources: Supporting land and water conservation, forest and watershed health, and management and protection of Colorado’s natural resources.
• Community Development: Addressing the root causes of economic inequality and inequitable community development.
• Informed Communities: Ensuring all Coloradans have access to trustworthy, rigorous, fact-based local news and information about important civic issues.

In recent years, the Foundation has sought to increase its impact through more creative approaches to grantmaking, an expanded impact investing program, additional staffing and expertise, and an increased focus on convening, partnering, and where appropriate, leading in the community. Climate impact has become a lens through which all Foundation grantmaking, investments, and activity are viewed, and since 2018, the Foundation has made an intentional commitment to advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts internally and through its grantmaking and impact investing.

To learn more about Gates Family Foundation and its programs, visit our website at www.gatesfamilyfoundation.org.

Community Development Priorities

As Colorado’s population continues to grow in some areas and shrink in others, Gates Family Foundation’s Community Development program invests in strategic efforts to increase the equity, vitality, and resilience of Colorado’s urban and rural communities. The following factors have all influenced the Foundation’s Community Development priorities:

• Equitable and resilient Colorado communities provide economic opportunities to residents while also supporting the infrastructure needed for individuals and families to thrive – such as accessible and affordable housing, access to parks and community spaces, and multi-modal transportation options. Colorado’s robust economic growth has not benefited all, with major disparities experienced along racial, gender, and geographic lines. The summer of 2020 brought a tidal wave of recognition of systemic inequalities and racial injustice in the United States, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequities. With a narrowing middle class, an increase in low-wage jobs, and persistent racial wealth and income gaps, there are complex economic issues that need to be addressed to ensure a prosperous state and quality of life for all.

• Housing access and affordability is a crisis in both urban and rural areas. A lack of supply, increasing demand, material and labor shortages, dramatic price increases, a lack of renter protections, missing "middle" or workforce housing, a legacy of historical race-based discrimination, and several public policy challenges make housing a critical and complex issue to address in the coming years.

• The Front Range and some mountain communities continue to experience dramatic population growth, leading to transportation challenges, environmental degradation, pressure on agricultural lands, and gentrification and displacement pressures – with disproportionate impact on communities of color, low-income residents, and renters.

• A decline in extractive industries and a dramatic move away from coal-fired power generation are impacting rural Colorado, and there is a need to support “just transitions” to new economic futures for impacted workers and their communities. Agriculture is important to Colorado’s economy and rural heritage, but farmers and ranchers are having an increasingly difficult time earning a living in the current economic market and food system structure.

• Climate change will continue to impact Colorado communities, and residents need strategy solutions that are equitable and rooted in community needs and environmental justice. Equitably distributed parks and open space, impacts on agriculture, resource consumption in cities, and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation and land use decisions are all factors that intersect with Community Development.

Based on these key factors, the Community Development program’s 2022-2026 focus shifted from a broader set of funding areas to a more targeted approach, with two key strategies as the primary focus areas. Community Development work also prioritizes communities that have historically been excluded from decision-making power or faced barriers to accessing opportunity, such as low-income residents and Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, and other communities of color, acknowledging the diverse urban and rural contexts of the state.

The priority strategies for Gates’ Community Development program include:

Advance Economic Mobility – Address systemic economic inequities and build a more just, inclusive economy that creates living-wage jobs, develops small businesses, and builds community wealth for low-income residents and communities of color in urban and rural Colorado. Relevant areas of focus include equitable access to capital, workforce development, home and business ownership, community investment vehicles, and employee/cooperative ownership models. Examples include:

• Increase access to entrepreneurial capital through loan pools and other investment tools
• Invest in models that transfer ownership and equity to workers, residents, and communities
• Invest in community-based programs that build local economies and wealth
• Increased awareness and adoption of shared-equity models
• Expanded technical support resources for entrepreneurship and increased rate of new businesses formed by low-income and/or BIPOC communities
• Grant support for worker cooperatives, employee ownership, and other models that transfer wealth
• Support rural communities facing declining economies through just transition work and other reinvestment and resilience strategies
• Advance efforts to specifically address the racial wealth gap and advance economic opportunity for communities of color
• Support agricultural and food systems market development that supports Colorado farmers and ranchers

Invest in Place-Based Community Assets – Support efforts to create and preserve affordable housing, address displacement pressures, build community-serving infrastructure like parks and multi-modal transportation, and envision a more equitable and climate-sustainable future for Colorado communities, with a focus on resident-led efforts. Examples include:

• Invest in policy development, regulatory changes, and capital pipelines that remove barriers and produce innovative financial models to expand the supply of affordable housing
• Invest in technologies or innovations that increase affordability and create new housing types and construction models
• Preserve existing affordable housing and stabilize neighborhoods undergoing gentrification, ensuring equity is integrated into community solutions for affordable housing

The Position

The Foundation is seeking to hire a Senior Program Officer for Community Development. This position will lead Community Development strategy and grantmaking.  This position will report to the Foundation’s President and is part of a team of 12 staff members working across the Foundation’s program teams, finance/administration, impact investing, strategic communications, learning and evaluation, and grants management.

Job responsibilities for this role will include:

• Identify new partner relationships and grant opportunities, analyze their feasibility, shape specific opportunities, present recommendations internally, and negotiate grant agreements.
• Provide strategic thought partnership and support to grantees and non-grantee partners.
• Review grant applications and make recommendations on funding, including for economic mobility, affordable housing, multi-modal transportation, community planning, and other areas of Community Development funding
• Support the review and decision-making regarding capital grant requests
• Work with the finance and administration team on analysis and due diligence for impact investments with a Community Development focus
• Provide intellectual leadership and guidance to continually refine the Foundation’s theory of change and strategies with respect to Community Development work
• Represent the Foundation in the community – build and maintain relationships with nonprofit, philanthropic, public sector, and community leaders and partners to maximize the impact of the Foundation’s Community Development work
• Work with partners to identify and track outcomes to evaluate the impact of Foundation investments and inform its Community Development strategies

Qualifications

• Strong working knowledge of community planning, economic development, affordable housing, tools and pathways to supporting economic mobility, and Community Development finance and public policy.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Commitment to supporting a culture of continuous improvement and organizational excellence.
• Flexible, innovative, energetic, and able to work effectively as a member of a small team.
• Experience managing complex projects involving multiple stakeholders, completing tasks in a timely manner with outstanding attention to detail.
• College degree (advanced degree preferred) with more than five years of community development-related work experience such as roles in community planning, affordable housing, economic development, finance, etc.
• Demonstration of an entrepreneurial work history that resulted in significant community impact.

Desired Mindsets and Orientations

• A commitment to Colorado, ideally including a working knowledge of the state and a never-ending curiosity regarding the challenges and opportunities the state faces.
• Experience and comfort working in an environment that requires generating new ideas and approaches, handling shifting priorities, working autonomously, and adapting to rapid change.
• A team player who loves learning, seeks feedback, collaborates, coaches, and supports other teammates.
• A strategic thinker who achieves impact while maintaining ease, values-alignment, and efficiency for all stakeholders.
• Brings new and varied perspectives and experiences to the team that are reflective of Colorado’s diverse communities.

Working at Gates Family Foundation

Currently, staff members are expected to be in the Foundation’s downtown Denver office at a minimum on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The balance of the week is flexible, and each team and team member are free to decide what approach is optimal. This position is expected to require travel within the state (roughly 1-2 trips per quarter), as well as occasional out-of-state travel (approximately 1-2 out of state trips per year).

Gates Family Foundation offers a comprehensive benefits package and paid parental leave. The Foundation’s work environment is characterized by a culture of collaboration, a commitment to continuous learning, and an inclusive environment that empowers staff to bring their unique perspectives and skills to the work. The Foundation places particular emphasis on the following values:

Respect – We seek out diverse perspectives and listen with humility and a spirit of learning.

Creativity – We harness all resources to find new approaches, support experimentation, and drive systemic, lasting solutions.

Engagement – We partner, convene, collaborate, and lead to catalyze transformative change.

Place – We are deeply rooted in Colorado, with a long-term commitment to its people, communities, and civic capacity.

Equity – We prioritize individuals and communities that have been historically marginalized by addressing systemic barriers and creating pathways to opportunity.

How to Apply

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to Carol Menard at cmenard@gatesfamilyfoundation.org. In your cover letter, please incorporate responses to the following three questions:

• What compels you about the work of the Gates Family Foundation and about the Senior Program Officer for Community Development role specifically?
• What past experiences have best prepared you for this role?
• What professional values are most important to you? How have those values shaped your behavior and decisions in your career so far?

Applications will be accepted through September 16, 2024.

Gates Family Foundation believes that diverse teams lead to better solutions, creative thinking, and greater depth in experiences and perspectives. The Foundation strives in its hiring to ensure that candidate pools are diverse in terms of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, lived experience, socioeconomic background, physical or mental ability, origin, and religion.

Research suggests that women and BIPOC individuals are more likely to self-select out of opportunities if they don’t meet 100% of the job requirements. The Foundation encourages anyone who believes they have the skills and the drive necessary to succeed here to apply for this role.