The James Irvine Foundation (“Foundation”) seeks a curious, adaptive, and highly collaborative learning strategist to serve as its next Senior Impact Assessment & Learning Officer. Guided by the Foundation’s Impact Assessment and Learning Framework and working across different teams, the new Senior IA&L Officer will help facilitate strategic learning efforts to inform grantee, staff, and board insights and decision-making. This is an attractive opportunity for an accomplished and dynamic learning professional to play a key role in strengthening strategic and comprehensive impact efforts as the foundation grows its staff and programmatic portfolio.
The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California. The Foundation’s vision is a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. Since 1937 the Foundation has provided more than $2.09 billion in grants to organizations throughout California. The Foundation ended 2021 with more than $3 billion in assets and provided $128.9 million in grants. There are about 80 staff across the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. The Irvine Foundation is committed, internally and externally, to the values of accountability, curiosity, empathy, equity, nimbleness, partnership, and transparency.
The Foundation’s programmatic efforts are focused on four major, multi-year initiatives: Better Careers, Fair Work, Priority Communities, and Just Prosperities. Since the Foundation is ever-evolving, adjusting for social relevance and policy shifts in both its current initiatives as well as piloting new ones, investments in program development, implementation, and learning are highly integrated. We also are excited to be involved in and supporting the operationalization of our Racial Equity statement, which is impacting how we think about and approach our work internally and externally to Irvine. IA&L at the Foundation supports assessment and learning efforts to guide strategy and enhance impact; advance accountability and transparency about what the Foundation is doing and learning as well as how that learning is being applied; and, where relevant, uplift these experiences so that they can be leveraged by others. We seek to ensure that evaluation is done equitably and in service of equity with those we seek to serve at the center of our work. To accomplish this, the Senior IA&L Officer will collaborate with others to build multiple spaces and modalities for Foundation staff, grantees, and partners to interrogate and evolve their practices, determine how/if they align with evolving foci and principles, identify next steps, and provide strategic tools and resources to advance their work.
Reporting to the Director of Impact Assessment & Learning, Kim Ammann Howard but working closely and collaboratively with other IA&L team members, program staff, and foundation leadership, the Senior IA&L Officer will be a close partner and strategist around institutional learning and impact. As each Initiative manages its respective programmatic evaluation efforts, the Senior IA&L Officer will be charged with advising Initiative Directors and their teams at key points along their learning journey and pulling out salient learning themes that may be applied in other areas across the Foundation. Specifically, this Officer will be charged with serving as a thought partner and advisor to the Fair Work and Better Careers program initiatives, which are currently undergoing exciting priorities’ planning. They will understand and navigate both the potential and challenges presented by the Foundation’s projected growth, working to facilitate learning by building capacity, providing a suite of learning tools and methodologies tailored to each situation, and possess the organizational acumen to work deftly with a range of personality and professional types. While the exact balance of responsibilities will ebb and flow as needed, it is anticipated that they will spend approximately 40% of their time focusing on Impact Assessment & Learning priorities (such as strategic learning with the Foundation’s Board and senior leadership, grantmaking colleagues, and broader organization), 40% working with program Initiatives, and the remainder working with external learning partners and ad hoc issues as determined by IA&L team leadership.
Ideal candidates will have a strong understanding of organizational and systems-level change management and evaluative practices that drive learning and reflection. They will also bring an extensive amount of experience in applied social science activities, which preferably includes philanthropic contexts. Compelling candidates for this position must be highly motivated, capable of self-directed work, detail-oriented, and able to work collaboratively across teams and departments. Incumbents must exhibit a keen sense of responsibility and enjoy working with multiple demands, shifting priorities, and ongoing change. While an understanding of current evaluation and learning concepts, norms, and practices is important, formal education in evaluation or experience as a professional evaluator is not required. Candidates must have experience facilitating convenings, workshops, and peer learning across issues; a history of working with an explicit focus on anti-racism, equity, and inclusion; and proficiency in developing learning agendas, materials and other products that advance learning and adaptation.
Previous experience working in a complex organization is highly desired, as is the ability to hold space for others, understand multi-directional power flow and experience working in collaboration with a kaleidoscope of organizations, consultants, and sector leaders with different missions. The successful candidate will be a strong relationship builder. Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills are necessary. Strong verbal and written communications skills are absolute musts. Most importantly, a personal and professional commitment to anti-racism, equity and inclusiveness is vital to advancing the work, including the understanding of how one’s own identity and lived experiences inform their work.
Application Instructions
Talent Citizen, a national executive search and consulting firm focused on the pursuit of positive social impact with equity at its center, is partnering with the Irvine Foundation on this search. President Tracy Welsh and Senior Associate Connor Daley are leading this engagement. Additional questions and nominations should be directed to Connor (cdaley@talentcitizen.com).
Interested parties should please send an updated resume, cover letter, and how you learned of the position to IF-SIAL2@talentcitizen.com.
