Program Officer, Education

New York, NY

Robin Hood

About Robin Hood

Robin Hood is New York's largest poverty-fighting organization, and since 1988 has focused on finding, funding, and creating programs and schools that generate meaningful and measurable results for families in New York's poorest neighborhoods. Since its founding, Robin Hood has raised more than $2.5 billion in dollars, goods and services to provide hundreds of the most effective soup kitchens, homeless shelters, schools, job-training programs and other vital services that give New York’s neediest citizens the tools they need to build better lives. Robin Hood's board of directors pays all administrative, fundraising and evaluation costs, so 100% of donations go directly to organizations helping New Yorkers in need.

About the Education Portfolio
Robin Hood funds education as a poverty-fighting tool. The K-12 Education portfolio makes grants totaling about $30 million annually. These cover diverse interventions including charter, district and parochial schools, teacher training, after-school, college access and success, education technology and school-based mental health programs. Their aim is to drive improved education and life outcomes for young people in New York City living in poverty.

Position Overview
Robin Hood is seeking a program officer to join the education portfolio. Education is one of our best poverty-prevention methods and the program officer is responsible for finding and funding the most innovative and successful K-12 education organizations that provide low income children with an excellent education. Program officers serve as a resource and thought partner for existing Robin Hood grantees and as a catalyst for identifying potential new opportunities. Program officers articulate a clear and persuasive rationale for funding new and ongoing programs. This is accomplished by understanding the education landscape and the need for a specific intervention and conducting comprehensive reviews of organizations’ program models, performance data, and fiscal information.

Responsibilities (including but not limited to)

• Identifying and funding new, game-changing organizations and programs in K-12 education
• Identify the most innovative and effective organizations in the K-12 education space
• Rigorously evaluate potential grantees based on performance analysis, social return on investment and fit with Robin Hood’s mission
• Develop a thoughtful and clear articulation of the strengths and weaknesses of a potential grant and capture them in write-ups and presentations delivered to program staff and board oversight committees to secure grant approval
• Scale our most effective interventions where appropriate
• Managing a portfolio of 12-15 current grantees
• Identify, establish and refine methods for quantifying impact with reference to current research studies and findings
• Monitor grantee performance through analysis of outcome data, grantee reports and site visits
• Establish goals to be achieved with each grantee over the term of the grant and payment timing
• Work with grantees to help them reach stretch goals for growth and improvement
• Identify grantee challenges, develop recommendations for management assistance interventions, and prioritize interventions with grantees; track effectiveness of interventions
• Provide ongoing consultation to program leadership as needed
• Reading and interpreting school and student data and telling a story about what the data means for portfolio grantees and for children living in poverty in New York City
• Supporting Robin Hood development and communications staff as required by providing expert program knowledge to advance Robin Hood fundraising goals

Qualifications and competencies

• Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree strongly preferred
• A minimum of five years of professional experience, with a demonstrated passion for education; classroom teaching experience strongly preferred
• Exceptional research, writing and presentation skills
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment, working toward tight deadlines
• Excellent analytical and critical thinking abilities
• Strong project management and organization skills
• Demonstrated flexibility in approach to work and dealing with ambiguity, passion for learning and openness to feedback
• Strong interpersonal skills, judgment and humility; Appreciation of the challenges and difficulties in poverty-fighting work, ability to share credit, and ability to influence and motivate others to achieve shared objectives, both internally and externally
• Experience engaging with low-income communities preferred; knowledge of New York City education landscape preferred

Robin Hood Culture

• Below are some words that describe the people who work at Robin Hood. If this sounds like you, we invite you to apply.
• Passionate. We are driven to create, find and fund the most effective ways to fight poverty in New York City.
• Smart. We see the end result and can make quick and thoughtful decisions to get there.
• Creative. We generate new, unexpected answers to thorny problems.
• Fast. We thrive on new information and new opportunities and run a continuous campaign against poverty, 12 months a year, 12 hours a day.
• Gets Good to Great. We constantly look for opportunities to improve our work, searching for best-in-class practices where appropriate, and not reinventing the wheel.
• Flexible. We are able and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
• Fun. We take our work seriously, but not ourselves. We like to laugh and hang out together.

​Salary and Benefits
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Robin Hood offers excellent benefits and a flexible work environment.

To Apply
Please complete the online application here.

Robin Hood is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants from diverse cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.