Associate Director, Strategy and Learning (San Francisco)

About the Organization

ClimateWorks Foundation is a global organization committed to our mission: to end the climate crisis by amplifying the power of philanthropy. Since our founding in 2008, we have awarded over $1.3 billion in grants to more than 600 organizations advancing climate solutions around the world. We helped grow the field of climate philanthropy to where it stands today, establishing infrastructure, global networks, and momentum for continued growth. Through our Global Programs and Services, we equip philanthropy with global knowledge, networks, and solutions to drive climate progress.

• Scaling solutions: Our collaborative Global Programs focused on solution areas including carbon dioxide removal, cooling, industry, transportation, and more produce results that are bending the greenhouse gas emissions curve. From the U.S. to Europe, China, Brazil, and beyond, we collaborate with a diverse community of funders, NGOs, and climate leaders to accelerate just and equitable climate solutions.

• Guiding and supporting funders: Our Global Services provide funders with comprehensive resources to assess, build, evolve, and execute high-impact climate-giving strategies. Our Global Intelligence service equips funders and the climate community with climate insights to pinpoint opportunities for impact and philanthropic insights to help identify investment priorities. We facilitate Global Collaborations that enable funders to increase individual and collective impact. Our Global Grantmaking services enable funders to invest in climate solutions around the world.

• Fostering collaboration, exploration, and growth: Our collaborative approach and commitment to learning ensures that we continuously explore innovative ideas and emerging opportunities all with the aim of scaling philanthropy-supported initiatives to help end the climate crisis.

As experts in climate science, public policy, economic and social analysis, and strategic philanthropy, ClimateWorks staff understands the multi-faceted challenges and opportunities of climate change. We are researchers, strategists, collaborators, and grantmakers who care passionately about our mission. For more information, please visit ClimateWorks.org.

Department Summary

The Strategy, Impact, and Learning (SIL) team is responsible for developing innovative approaches that translate CWFs theories of change into actionable strategies that increase the organizations impact and that of the broader philanthropy community. Additionally, the team is responsible for institutionalizing learning pathways and culture in an organization that believes learning is a key function when operating in rapidly evolving and dynamic systems. The SIL team is small, innovative, and highly collaborative.

Job Summary

ClimateWorks Foundation seeks an Associate Director of Strategy and Learning who is a nimble, cutting-edge, and yet practical strategist to help build the organizations systems-based approach for its program strategy development cycles and to help align program strategies with organization-wide strategy. Working closely with the Director of SIL, this position will support a thoughtful, balanced, and long-term view of strategy, monitoring, impact, learning, and evaluation for CWF. A veritable thought partner and relationship builder, the new Associate Director will work collaboratively across the organization to help frame and guide decision-making around strategic choices coupled with deploying a system of impact measurement and ongoing organizational learning.

While this role will work across the strategic learning cycle, the primary remit will be focused on program strategy development. Program strategies articulate how the program is addressing decarbonization, and/or emissions reduction, and/or adaptation and resilience. The strategy must convey the programs theory of change, the tactics and levers, the impact, and most importantly, why this is an important and effective use of philanthropic resources. This position provides strategy expertise to the programs, facilitates a strategy development process that includes all of the programs stakeholders, helps to identify and gather relevant data, ensures that programmatic strategy is linked to overall organizational strategy, and supports materials that communicate the program strategy to different audiences, including the ClimateWorks Board of Directors, funders, and grantee partners.

Essential Tasks

Provide assistance to up to 10 program and service teams in developing strategies along with tools and methods to track their progress.

• Support teams to develop progress tracking tools and report on progress (e.g., results reporting, dashboards).
• Facilitate collaborative design of inputs to proposal and reporting processes (e.g., theories of change, KPIs, outcomes, indicators and other metrics, etc.).
• Support the development of program-level strategies and solutions, including designing the processes and timelines to support strategy development.
• Collaborate with program leads, programs leadership, and philanthropic partnerships to determine a cycle of program strategy development.
• Provide input on survey design and other data collection tools.
• Support reporting on grants.

Engage with the climate philanthropic ecosystem on strategy, monitoring, evaluation, and learning-related activities

• Maintain a high degree of knowledge about relevant strategy, research, and learning in the climate change ecosystem.
• Participate in working groups of funders and grantees to discuss and take action on issues related to monitoring and reporting.
• Ensure excellent responsiveness and dialogue with funding partners.
• Work collaboratively with other ClimateWorks teams to respond to grantee perception report findings and support an effective process of reporting for our own grantees.
• Manage a small group of external consultants focused on programmatic strategy and evaluation.

Incorporate data and evidence into programmatic strategies and organizational priorities

• Support the implementation of the ClimateWorks-wide results/impact framework.
• Support the learning process, including providing analysis and recommendations, emerging from end-of-year reviews, grantee perception surveys, organizational health surveys, and more.
• Provide analysis of knowledge products (e.g., evaluations, qualitative findings, surveys etc.) as an input into yearly planning and strategy development.
• Support efforts to enable decision making, including synthesizing and summarizing operational and programmatic data.

Facilitate and communicate learning

• Design and support in-person and virtual meetings and workshops on a variety of strategic learning topics.
• Produce reports, memos, presentations, or other materials to communicate learnings to a variety of stakeholders.
• Provide analyses or summaries of learning products.
• Support the development of improved knowledge management practices across the foundation.

Support work on equity and justice

• Support deepening incorporation of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion approaches into the Planning team, including in our metrics and results frameworks.

Required Qualifications

• 10 years of relevant professional experience focused on monitoring, learning, evaluation, and/or strategy development.
• Experience working in a climate change-related field, and lived experience in communities directly affected by climate change, ideally in the geopolitical south.
• Experience designing strategies and managing evaluations in climate change-related fields.
• Ability to provide strategic discretion in the process of proposal writing and reporting to funders.
• Experience managing contracts and grants effectively and guide the work of consultants.
• Excellent analytical skills and demonstrated ability to synthesize information into meaningful conclusions.
• Understanding of advanced concepts related to monitoring and evaluation, including design of evaluations and impact studies, and results frameworks.
• Advanced knowledge and application of research methodologies.
• Strong organizational and project management skills, excellent attention to detail and ability to set priorities and complete projects in a timely manner.
• Exceptional communications skills, both written and oral, and demonstrated experience in facilitating cross-team conversations and learning.
• Ability and willingness to do the day-to-day project management aspects of the role.
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint.

Approach

• Takes initiative and is not afraid to try new approaches.
• Proven diplomatic approach, with sound professional judgment, discretion in handling sensitive matters, flexibility, and problem-solving skills in a multi-stakeholder environment.
• The highest level of personal and professional integrity and quality standards.
• Enthusiastic and natural team player the ability to work with cross-functional, virtual, and diverse teams.
• Ability to effectively manage and prioritize time, projects, and budgets.
• Ability to work effectively and efficiently (both virtually and in-person) with minimal supervision.
• Ability to work within the Pacific time zone work day and occasionally take early or late calls to accommodate different time zones where needed.
• Commitment to a diverse, inclusive and equitable work environment.
• Commitment to]]>