Program Officer

Program Officer

• The Perigee Fund
• July 10, 2024
• Seattle, WA

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About Perigee Fund

Deeply committed to equity and compelled by the urgent need to increase mental health support for prenatal-to-age-3 families impacted by trauma, Perigee Fund is a Seattle-based national philanthropic organization that invests in systems change to ensure that during pregnancy and early childhood, more families receive healing programs, services, and resources that protect and nurture their unfolding relationships.

We work alongside advocates and family-serving systems to make a generational shift in practice and policy so that parents, babies, and toddlers thrive – particularly those that carry a history of individual or collective trauma. We resource efforts across the U.S. through a mix of grantee partnerships and open funding opportunities, and through deeper work in our home state of Washington.

We prioritize efforts in which the voices of families impacted by trauma play a central role in shaping services, defining policy, and advocating for change.

We were founded in 2018 and expect to sunset in less than 15 years. As a spend down philanthropy working in under resourced priority areas, Perigee Fund invests in so that the impact of our work may endure long after Perigee sunsets.

Our Vision is to end intergenerational trauma through the power of early relationships.

Our Goal is to shift policies and systems to increasingly value and embed supports for caregiver and infant mental health in the places where families are during pregnancy and early childhood.

Learn about our strategic framework .

Learn more about Perigee Fund .

The Opportunity

Perigee seeks a systems change-focused program officer to join its outstanding program team. Following its first strategic planning process in 2023, Perigee is in a period of transition as it operationalizes and implements its new framework while prioritizing strong exits to some earlier investments.

The program officer will partner in many areas and lead in some others. Reporting to the director of programs, the program officer will work with all members of the program team and contribute to a collaborative and feedback-oriented culture. The program officer’s portfolio will consist of both inherited projects and grants, day to day management of grants cultivated by Perigee leadership team members, as well as opportunities to develop or implement new grant relationships that advance Perigee’s strategic framework.

A few exciting focus areas for the program officer include:

• Managing Perigee’s investments in , a groundbreaking guaranteed income pilot focused on Urban Indigenous and Pacifica families in the Puget Sound region, with broader aspirations to inform and influence public investment in cash for families during pregnancy and early parenting.
• Managing a set of Washington Indigenous Birth Justice Network grants in their final year with a strong exit in terms of relationship and impact.
• Contributing to internal teams working on new national funding opportunities focused on the growth and sustainability of equitable prenatal-to-age-3 mental health models, state and regional prenatal-to-age-3 systems collaboration, and the use of somatic healing practices.

The program officer will navigate investments toward Perigee Fund’s and guiding principles. Committed to learning, the program officer will participate in ongoing team and individual equity work with openness, self-reflection, stamina, and accountability to self, colleagues, and community.

Candidate Profile

We recognize that there is a spectrum of lived and professional experience that will set candidates up for success in this role. While no one candidate will have every experience outlined in the position description, ideal candidates will display the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:

Connection to Perigee Fund’s Mission of Systems Change

• Deep commitment to and understanding of why investing in systems change is essential to effect change in the prenatal-to-age-3 field.
• Ability to identify and implement the key levers for systems change that promote equitable systems in communities.
• Experience strategically deploying philanthropic resources to advance systems change.

Design, Management, and Evaluation of Funding Strategies to Advance Clear Objectives

• Demonstrated experience and savvy in nonprofit financial management, budget analysis, and how social purpose business models can be financed through multiple funding streams to achieve desired impact through prenatal-3 programs and services.
• Ability to employ iterative processes to collaborate internally and externally to maximize the impact of funding.
• Proficiency leveraging advisors, technical assistance and capacity building providers, learning communities, evaluators and complementary policy and communications.
• Demonstrated experience performing grant due diligence and risk analysis, ensuring strategic alignment and capacity for impact.
• Ability to analyze solicited and unsolicited grant proposals and program contract proposals to assess organizational capacity, strengths/weaknesses, financial health, and program design of prospective grantees, as well as develop insight beyond what is written in grant proposals.
• Experience conducting quantitative and qualitative impact analysis at portfolio levels, as well as for individual grants over time.

Relationship and Partnership Management Toward Impact

• Ability to embody Perigee’s belief that change happens through relationships and to serve as an effective liaison and representative for Perigee with grantees, partners, and the communities they serve.
• Demonstrated experience cultivating and maintaining strong partner relationships, acting as a sounding board, source of constructive feedback and resource for grantees, while respecting their self-determination.
• Facility for navigating racial/gender/economic power and political dynamics in all relationships. Demonstrated ability to determine appropriate roles and levels of involvement for a philanthropic funder, discerning when to lean in and when to lean out.

Thought Leadership

• Experience serving as an agent of change, contributing subject matter expertise, and representing an organization’s philanthropic approach at key tables and with key groups.
• Experience staying abreast of relevant policies, news, resource flows, initiatives, leadership changes, and research findings in the broader ecosystems of priority work areas.

In addition, strong candidates will offer:

• Strong detail orientation and deep understanding of organizational financials and grant budgets.
• Experience working at the intersections of early childhood, mental health, and health care highly preferred with a track record advancing less visible issues using both direct and leveraged approaches.
• Ability to calibrate pace of work as the environment and situation warrant while knowing when to move nimbly and when to slow down.
• Comfort working in and contributing to a young, small organization, which has both exhilarating and messy aspects.
• Strong Excel skills.
• Capacity to work both as a team player and independently and the ability to collaborate with colleagues who have different strengths, work styles, and responsibilities.
• Receptive to feedback and demonstrated ability to learn from both challenges and successes.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required. Advanced degree in a field relevant to Perigee’s work a plus. Lived experience related to work is valued.
• Minimum 7 years of experience working with systems change focus with demonstrated results for practitioners and families.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary range is $130,000 - $165,000.

An 80% FTE arrangement is possible, if desired, with a commensurate salary range of $108,000-$132,000.

Most qualified candidates could expect to start in the low to middle section of the range to allow for learning and growth in the role.

A comprehensive benefits package includes fully paid medical/dental/vision for the employee, 15 vacation days (increasing with tenure), 10 sick days, four wellness days, a one-week end of year office closure, Federal holidays, a 5% retirement match (increasing with tenure), annual professional development resources, and generous parental leave upon the arrival of a new child.

Other Considerations

Perigee Fund is a supporting organization of Seattle Foundation, which administers many of Perigee’s back-office functions. While Perigee maintains a separate office and external identity, Perigee employees are also Seattle Foundation employees.

The position is based in Seattle. Perigee operates in a hybrid arrangement with staff working from the office with required common hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Staff may choose to work from home or the office on the other days. Perigee provides staff with a parking pass or transit pass for office days. All staff must also remain flexible about attending occasional in-person special meetings with advance notice regardless of day of week.

The position will require occasional travel within Washington and out of state.

Contact

Koya Partners l Diversified Search Group has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Karen Yetman Rea and Alicia Salerno. Please submit a compelling cover letter and resume by . All inquiries are strictly confidential.

Koya Partners l Diversified Search Group is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email . If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

Perigee Fund is an equal opportunity employer and proudly values diversity. Candidates of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

About Koya Partners l Diversified Search Group

Koya Partners, a Diversified Search Group company, is the nation’s premier search firm dedicated to mission-driven leadership. Since its founding in 2004, Koya has had an exclusive focus on mission-driven clients and was founded on the belief that the right leader can transform an organization and have a deep and measurable impact on our world. Koya works with nonprofits & NGOs, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.

Diversified Search Group is consistently recognized by Forbes on its top 10 list of “America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms” and is an industry leader in recruiting transformational leaders for a changing world. The firm is deliberately different in its approach, with best-in-class teams who have decades of experience in cultivating inclusive leaders, understanding the dimensions of diversity, and building equitable teams.

Learn more about Koya Partners l Diversified Search Group via the .