MacArthur Foundation

This position is located in Chicago, IL.

Background
The MacArthur Foundation seeks a Program Officer for its General Program.  The General Program is a dynamic, energetic program that makes grants on a changing set of topics within the following grantmaking areas: the New Ideas Initiative, Public Interest Media, Arts and Culture in Chicago, and the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.  With a staff of eight, the General Program makes over $25 million in grants each year.  The Foundation is looking for someone with deep professional experience, excellent interpersonal, analytical, and communications skills, and the interest and intellectual flexibility to engage in work on changing topics and priorities.

Responsibilities
The Program Officer's responsibilities will include:

- Soliciting and reviewing proposals in areas of assigned work;
- Evaluating proposals, applying his/her understanding of the field of work and goals of the program;
- Presenting written recommendations to the President and Board of Directors;
- Supporting the Program Vice President in overseeing the grants;
- Helping design new areas of work through conducting research;
- Identifying thought leaders from whom to solicit ideas in a wide variety of fields;
- Evaluating ideas outside of current program areas using his/her knowledge of work in a broad set of fields for their importance, timeliness, and suitability for impact with Foundation resources;
- Selecting and overseeing consultants to conduct planning processes to further develop grantmaking options;
- Organizing meetings of grantees and experts;
- Writing grant briefs and other reports.

This Program Officer will report to the Vice President of the General Program.

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