Senior Program Assistant

The Andrew W Mellon Foundation•New York, NY

22d•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the Program Director for Humanities in Place, the Senior Program Assistant will provide programmatic, logistical, and research support to programmatic work in Humanities in Place. The successful candidate will be thoughtful, highly motivated, energetic, collaborative, and congenial, with well-developed communication and organizational skills. This position includes independent work on on-going grantmaking activities (such as serving as a liaison to grantees, corresponding with grantees about proposals; managing program-related information in the Foundation’s grant portal (Fluxx) and other information systems like Monday.com and PowerBI; tracking grant files, data, and budgets, reviewing and preparing proposals and reports; and assisting with preparing dockets and other materials for trustee meetings); episodic or long-term research projects; collaborative work with colleagues across program areas, the President’s Office, and the Foundation (for example on compliance, legal, program planning, and program-related event coordination); and administrative work in support of the Program Director and grantmaking out of the Humanities in Place program. This role will include travel several times per year for site visits, meetings, and programs nationwide, and have responsibility for the development of internal and external grantee engagement, learning, and relationships as well as for related presentations, content, coordination, and convenings. The work of the Senior Program Assistant is highly detail-oriented and requires accuracy, the ability to anticipate outcomes, multi-tasking, effective time-management, flexibility, creativity, rigor, cool-headedness, precision, patience, efficiency, and the ability to work with both nuance and discretion. The role includes ongoing coordination and management of tasks with colleagues and project teams or consultants and may include the direct management of program interns or apprentices.

Requirements

Commitment to the Foundation’s mission, core values, and focus on social justice;
Demonstrated interest and knowledge in place-based or cultural heritage-focused programs, initiatives, and projects;
Demonstrated interest in and commitment to advancing social justice through work in the arts and humanities—and in public, community, or institutional spaces;
Proven ability to take direction but also to work with minimal direct supervision and manage multiple projects, while being a committed team player;
Excellent written, oral, and visual communication skills;
Ability to read, understand, and develop organizational and project budgets;
An orientation toward self-starting, proactive anticipation of team needs, and creative problem solving;
Demonstrate time and task management and prioritization skills;
Superior written communication skills; excellent analytical, critical thinking, and organizational skills with precise attention to detail;
Keen understanding of and interest in disciplines in the arts, humanities, design, and humanistic social sciences;
Commitment to a collegial work environment and to collaboration with colleagues in all the Foundation’s program areas;
Flexibility, adaptability, curiosity, integrity, and a good sense of humor;
Interest in community engagement and inclusion and with a strong sense of ethical practice and empathy;
Interest in lifelong learning and professional development and a willingness to learn from mistakes;
An awareness and thoughtfulness of the dynamics of personal and institutional agency, power, and privilege;
A high degree of competency in the MS Office and Adobe suite; familiarity with web-based technologies and data visualization and analysis applications (Box.com, Monday.com, Power BI, etc.), or a willingness to learn and experiment is desirable;
Experience with business-related travel and/or participating in site visits, conferences, or convenings.

Responsibilities

Monitor the progress of prospective grants from first receipt to presentation to the Foundation Officers and Board of Trustees, to post-award management, including their tracking and management in Fluxx, the Foundation’s online grant portal, an communicate with grantees as directed about the progress of their proposals and grant activities;
Develop an assigned grant portfolio of new and renewal funding proposals under the direction of the Program Director and advising grantees in preparation and revision of the narrative and financial components of proposals;
Monitor and carefully review grant reports and requests for modifications, extensions, and transfers, correspond with grantees about deficiencies, alert program colleagues to unresolved difficulties, and take appropriate actions;
Identify the need for grant modifications and no-cost extensions, and facilitate the modification approval process by providing instructions to the grantee, reviewing request materials, and updating relevant information in Fluxx;
Review and research unsolicited inquiries and collect them for discussion with the Humanities in Place program team;
Participate in meetings with current and potential grantees; take notes and maintain notes and files on grant and potential grant activities;
Support the Humanities in Place Program Director and key staff and consultants with prospective, current, and prior grantee engagement, relationships, coordination, and learning;
Support and coordinate special projects for grantmaking work and other initiatives for Humanities in Place and across the Foundation’s program areas, Vice President’s and President’s Offices, and other Foundation departments; and
Develop and coordinate research, planning, content, and arrangements for on- and off-site visits, meetings, and programs.
Conduct research in connection with current and new program initiatives and strategies;
Assist with information gathering regarding the development of new grant initiatives and the review of existing programs as requested by program leaders;
Prepare briefing materials for the Humanities in Place Program Director, senior leadership and key staff, and Foundation Vice President, and President, as assigned;
Support and coordinate special projects for grantmaking work and other initiatives for Humanities in Place and across the Foundation’s program areas, Vice President’s and President’s Offices, and other Foundation departments; and
Develop and coordinate research, planning, content, and arrangements for on- and off-site visits, meetings, and programs.
Work with other Foundation departments to ensure timely delivery and processing of grant-related information, and facilitate rapid response to internal questions as they arise;
Keep grant files in the Foundation's file management system up to date; resolve inconsistencies, and prepare briefings and reports;
Undertake general office and grant-related work, such as electronic filing, maintaining program records, preparing correspondence, responding to requests for information, scheduling, etc.;
Participate in team-level process improvement projects as assigned by Program Director or collaboratively with the team;
Represent the Humanities in Place program in cross-functional meetings and collaborate with other departments to advance program goals; and
Listen actively within the program team and elevate any opportunities for improvement identified by the team and/or large issues/concerns to senior leadership.