Program Assistant

The Andrew W Mellon Foundation•New York, NY

2h•$80,000 - $85,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Mellon Foundation is a not-for-profit, grant-making organization dedicated to the belief that the arts and humanities are essential for expressing complex humanity and that everyone deserves access to their beauty and freedom. The Foundation supports initiatives in Higher Learning, Arts and Culture, Public Knowledge, and Humanities in Place, as well as Presidential Initiatives. This role is for the Arts and Culture team, providing programmatic and logistical support to a Program Associate, their supervising Program Officer, and the wider team. The ideal candidate is thoughtful, motivated, energetic, collaborative, and congenial, possessing strong communication and organizational skills, flexibility, composure, effective time management, precision, patience, efficiency, and discretion.

Requirements

1-3 years of relevant professional experience
Knowledge of organizational practices and trends in museums and visual arts organizations of all sizes
A keen understanding of and interest in the arts, culture, and humanities
Flexibility, curiosity, integrity, as well as a willingness to learn from mistakes
An empathetic manner grounded in compassion, grace, and humility
Ability to manage multiple projects, while being a committed team player
An orientation toward self-starting, proactive anticipation of team needs, and creative problem solving
Superior written communication skills; excellent analytical, critical thinking, and organizational skills with precise attention to detail
A high degree of competency in the MS Office suite, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, Adobe Suite, and the ability to learn new applications quickly

Nice To Haves

Experience working in philanthropy
Experience working in a not-for-profit environment and/or grants administration
Ability to read and understand organizational budgets, and/or financials

Responsibilities

Serving as a liaison for prospective and existing grantees alongside the Program Associate and the Program Officer, by participating in meetings and site visits.
Participating in building a grant portfolio of new and renewal funding proposals under the direction of the Program Associate and their supervising Program Officer.
Monitoring the progress of proposals from first receipt to approval, including their timely tracking and management in Fluxx, the Foundation’s grants management system, and communicating with grantees as directed about the progress of their proposals in line with Foundation deadlines.
Carefully reviewing grant reports and requests for modifications, extensions, and transfers, corresponding with grantees about successes as well as challenges, alerting program colleagues regarding key activities or difficulties, and following up as appropriate.
Working with other Foundation departments to ensure timely delivery and processing of grant-related information for proposals, reports, and modifications, and facilitating rapid response to internal questions as they arise.
Traveling to site visits, conferences, and other engagements, as needed.
Keeping grant files in the Foundation's file management system up to date as well as resolving inconsistencies and preparing reports.
Undertaking general office and grant-related work, such as electronic filing, maintaining program records, preparing correspondence, responding to requests for information, scheduling, etc.
Assisting with information gathering regarding the development of new grant initiatives and the review of existing programs as requested by program leadership.
Participating in team-level process-improvement projects, as assigned.
Representing the Arts and Culture program in cross-functional meetings and collaborating with other departments to advance program goals.
Offering administrative support for convenings, gatherings, and events, as needed.