The Portfolio Manager, Exceptional Educators Position
The Exceptional Educators portfolio within the Foundation focuses on increasing the retention of effective educators in K-9 so that more children have access to teachers who empower them to reach their full potential.
The Foundation is seeking a full-time Portfolio Manager to lead the Exceptional Educators portfolio. Reporting to the Associate Program Director, and managing an Associate Program Officer, the Portfolio Manager will work collaboratively to refine and clarify the investment strategy for the portfolio, build and nurture relationships across the K-9 ecosystem (with a primary focus on empowering educators), and use a scientific method approach to hypothesize and sharpen strategies to support early stage and growth stage ventures to scale, cost effectively and sustainably, to improve academic and socioemotional outcomes for kids. Given the nature of this work, the Portfolio Manager should expect 10-20 percent of this role to include travel for grantee site visits, conferences, and funder meetings.
Visit www.overdeck.org for more information. To learn more about our Exceptional Educators portfolio, visit the websites of some of our partner organizations: Teaching Lab, EdReports.org, Leading Educators, and Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture.
What You’ll Help Us Do:
Design, monitor, and evolve a portfolio strategy:
Lead the development of a coherent portfolio strategy, which evolves from setting ambitious portfolio goals that are grounded in the analysis of evolving market opportunities, trends, and gaps in the education and philanthropic landscapes
Define a clear and differentiated position for Overdeck Family Foundation within the portfolio strategy issue area that is grounded in evidence, research, and efficiency of investment
Measure, evaluate, and capture lessons from investments to inform strategy iteration and to build strong pattern recognition for how to best provide strategic support to portfolio investments to achieve stated goals
Propose investments in early and growth stage organizations:
Identify organizations aligned to the portfolio strategy and conduct rigorous diligence on prospective investments that are grounded in the foundation’s investment criteria
Form a hypothesis and narrative for each investment to create actionable, written grant recommendations and present these to the Board of Trustees
Build a balanced portfolio of investments grounded in the potential of each organization to spur innovation, build evidence, and grow to deliver impact while also ensuring that the overall portfolio realizes ecosystem-level impact with minimized risk
Provide strategic support to grantees:
Become a credible and valuable partner for grantee organizations, and strategically connect them with supports in four key focus areas: 1) revenue models, 2) cost analysis, 3) impact evaluation, and 4) growth channels
Manage and prioritize allocation of strategic supports to grantees in service of grantee and portfolio goals, grounded in an understanding of the holistic needs of individual grantees and the portfolio, including direct supports, third-party supports, and portfolio-wide learning experiences
Serve as a strategic advisor to grantees by developing a strong and trusting partnership—inclusive of providing support, coaching and/or taking on board roles when appropriate—to help grantees understand their organizational needs and achieve their vision for impact
Influence the field:
Build momentum for positive change related to the portfolio strategy by proactively developing relationships with influential stakeholders
Develop and maintain an extensive and diverse network of partnerships across nonprofit, philanthropic, public, and private sectors to advance the mission and goals of the portfolio grantees
Partner effectively with peer funders to build awareness of the Foundation’s strategy, identify ways to support each other, and elevate promising grantees to attract additional funding
Create and implement a plan for public engagement and thought leadership that builds awareness of the portfolio strategy and learnings while elevating and amplifying high-performing grantees, including speaking at conferences, hosting and participating in key meetings, and engaging in thought leadership writing
Manage and Coach Associate Program Officer:
Build a relationship with the existing Associate Program Officer to establish yourself as a strong manager and mentor while honoring the tenure, knowledge, and expertise they bring to our work
Support Associate Program Officer to identify a pipeline of prospective investment opportunities and conduct due diligence of those opportunities against Foundation investment criteria
Collaborate with Associate Program Officer to create their professional development plan; regularly revisit progress on growth by taking an active and supportive coaching role to ensure Associate Program Officer has a clear path to recognize and expand their strengths, while also addressing opportunities to improve
Support Associate Program Officer to navigate obstacles using effective problem solving, as well as discussing and identifying connections, networks and/or opportunities to advance portfolio or grantee goals
Engage in joint decision-making around grantmaking, including measurement, reporting, and monitoring targets
Who You Are:
A strategist who is able to pursue the right research to arrive at an evidence-based approach to making investments and supporting grantees. You are analytically natured, curious, and learning oriented. You leverage the scientific method to produce data and evidence that drive strategic decisions around investments and portfolio support. You are also comfortable with ambiguity—confidently exploring your hypotheses without knowing the answer while seeing failure with learning as a path to success.
A strong leader and operator who is able to efficiently make grants and deliver non-monetary support to ventures. You have experience with early stage and growth stage organizations and understand the challenges they face as they clarify and scale their models. You can build deep relationships across grantees, surface their challenges, observe patterns of need, and build and nurture meaningful and efficient supports to help them succeed.
An authentic professional who builds deep and candid relationships with ease. You possess a strong presence and gravitas, knowing how to build a clear narrative when communicating a concept or approach with the right level of specificity to meet the audience. You build trusting relationships internally and externally because you are authentically you and you value candor and kindness in your interactions.
Someone who understands the K-9 education space and policy trends. You understand the K-9 school ecosystem and have developed relationships within that ecosystem. You are familiar with current trends, emerging issues, policy interventions, and innovations focused on maximizing the potential of educators and leaders, as well as understanding product market fit, business/revenue models, and scale and distribution channels. You are able to evaluate an education intervention to understand if it is cost-effective, scalable, impactful, sustainable, and grounded in teacher and student needs (user-centered).
A team leader who enjoys managing, coaching, and developing direct reports. A colleague who seeks reciprocal learning and growth from colleagues at every level. You deeply believe in the potential of all professionals to learn and grow. You look forward to building and sustaining an effective, growth-oriented, and inclusive team. You are able to collaboratively set a clear vision for the Exceptional Educators investment portfolio and you can map individual roles and responsibilities in service of this vision across your team.
A values-driven and empathetic leader who will find success in our context. You operate with a high level of self-awareness, humility, and emotional intelligence and you value the same in your colleagues. You engage in conflict confidently and with kindness. You are excited about working in an environment where complex problems are being considered. You are able to articulate and navigate tensions with an orientation towards understanding and valuing multiple perspectives. You don’t shy away from holding two opposing ideas at once and you are comfortable with not knowing or not agreeing and committing.
Required experience:
Bachelor’s degree
Minimum of 10 years of work experience including time spent leading teams to deliver results in or adjacent to early and/or growth stage organizations
Direct experience and content expertise in innovation, school design, education, nonprofit management, adult teaching & learning, philanthropy, or policy
Demonstrated experience formulating and executing strategy, identifying challenges, and implementing solutions
Demonstrated management experience, focused on staff development and growth
Preferred experience:
Master’s degree in relevant field of education, policy, business, law, statistics, math, science, nonprofit management, or engineering
Venture philanthropy experience supporting organizational growth and development through informal and formal support (i.e. grants, board experience, consulting, providing non-monetary support)
Experience conducting cost benefit analysis and/or cost effectiveness analysis
How to Apply
Overdeck Family Foundation is partnering with RCG Talent Solutions to find our next Portfolio Manager, Exceptional Educators. Please submit your application using the link on this page and direct all questions to openroles@rcgtalent.com.