McCormick Foundation & Cantigny Park Hiring for Education Portfolio Director at Chicago, IL Full Time

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation envisions a Chicagoland comprised of thriving communities where all individuals have the resources and opportunities to succeed, without regard to income, race, ethnicity, gender, or ZIP code. We invest in people and organizations across the region to develop educated, informed, and engaged communities.

The Foundation was established in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The Robert R. McCormick Foundation is one of the nation’s largest foundations, with more than $2 billion in assets. Our philanthropy is focused on Chicago’s South and West Sides and the following issues: early childhood education, public safety, community development, veterans, and journalism.

Since 2017, the McCormick Foundation has granted more than $200 million to non-profit organizations working to build thriving communities in Chicagoland and across Illinois, with an emphasis on Chicago’s South and West Sides. We invest in programs that support pathways to opportunities for individuals living where racial and economic disparities are concentrated, with a special focus on the Englewood and Little Village communities. This includes grantmaking to support youth and families, economic advancement, and safety.

Portfolio Summary

The Foundation envisions a Chicagoland region in which all children have access to quality early education programs and start school Kindergarten-ready. To achieve this vision, we invest in leaders, teachers, and families to strengthen educational leadership, improve early childhood instructional quality and retention, and equip families to partner in young people’s development.

For more than 35 years, we have been a leader and partner in transforming educational systems across the state to ensure they best serve all children. Developing accurate, real-time data has been central to our approach and will remain critical to informing and anchoring our work moving forward. Through our community engagement, we also identify additional opportunities to support neighborhood institutions, programs, and residents to support young learners.

Position Summary

This position leads the Foundation’s efforts to improve the quality of early education. The position is responsible for identifying and developing investment opportunities, ensuring they are aligned with the Foundation’s other investments, and supportive of our community partners.

The Director holds primary responsibility for communicating with the CEO and Board, leading or supporting initiatives and partnerships in the early childhood field and playing a citywide and statewide leadership role- to improve early learning.

This work includes cultivating and managing the Foundation’s relationships with diverse individuals, organizations, and peer funders; collecting and evaluating qualitative and quantitative data related to our work in early childhood education; and crafting persuasive, data-driven, and outcomes-oriented recommendations to inform Foundation actions in pursuit of its mission.

Success in this job requires a collaborative, team-centered approach. The team member is comfortable wrestling with complex social, political, and economic questions; is an active listener who seeks input from colleagues and community stakeholders; is confident developing and acting on shared goals; sets benchmarks and strategically assesses progress; and will learn from and communicate mistakes to improve future approaches.

Essential Functions

Partner

Deepen our understanding of people, trends, and issues related to the Foundation’s work in early childhood.

Develop and manage strong working relationships with residents, researchers, policy makers, thought leaders, and other stakeholders and influencers in the field.

Execute programs that support deeper understanding of early childhood education, related challenges, and opportunities, and enhance collaboration among stakeholders.

Design events that bring people together to learn from and with each other.

Cultivate and manage relationships across sectors (e.g., education, safety, job training) and geographies.

Leverage networks to collect information to share with the Foundation’s grantmaking team to collaboratively develop investments that achieve impact.

Build networks of internal and external stakeholders to achieve Foundation and community goals.

Draw on a deep understanding of sector and geographic issues to foster relationships among partners and strengthen their capacity and capability to succeed.

Strategize

Develop and lead strategies to achieve the portfolio’s vision and goals, in partnership with Foundation leadership. Ensure these are aligned with stakeholder priorities and grounded in data.

Identify and prioritize investment opportunities, based on qualitative and quantitative data collected from partners, grantees, and other relevant sources. Anchor the Foundation’s investments in the data on primary challenges and opportunities to focus our approach.

Investigate investment opportunities through site visits and thorough vetting of application materials, including financial statements, workplans, budgets, and other relevant information.

Focus on outcomes. Measure and report on the portfolio’s performance. Capitalize on knowledge gained through evaluation to identify and recommend avenues for augmenting impact.

Customize and capitalize on the tools available through philanthropy to maximize the Foundation’s impact. This requires creative problem solving internally and externally.

Lead

Clearly, concisely, and coherently synthesize and relay information in writing and in person for the Foundation’s Board, leadership, colleagues, and external partners. This information might include grant pitches and recommendations, lessons from the field, and analyses of data to show trends.

Proactively create and capitalize on opportunities to leverage information to shift the actions and attitudes of decision-makers.

Use research, relationships, and technology to positively change the behaviors of stakeholders in the portfolio’s areas of investment to align them with established best practices for achieving our shared goals.

Lead, build, and influence networks to inform, test, scale, and sustain successful strategies to advance shared long-term goals related to our work in early childhood education.

Represent the Foundation at meetings, forums, and public presentations, as appropriate, to advance our work.

Perform other miscellaneous duties as assigned.

Essential Skills

Communication:
Clarity

Outstanding listening skills

Concise and coherent speaking, writing, and presenting

Organization:
Reliability

Strong planning and time management skills

Flexible

Thrives in a dynamic environment

Collaboration:
Respected and Respectful Engagement

Actively contributes to the grantmaking team

Advances inclusiveness through the work

Strong emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s Degree; Master’s Degree in public policy, childhood development, or early childhood education preferred

Experience: 10 to 12 years in early childhood public policy, research, or education in a senior leadership position

Skills:
Exceptional leadership presence – internally and externally

Must demonstrate exceptional judgment

Demonstrated ability to craft and implement successful strategies with clearly articulated goals, metrics, benchmarks, and data-driven reports on progress and impact

Outstanding communication, organizational, and collaborative skills – as outlined above

Must be able to work with ambiguity

Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, impact-oriented environment

Comfort with existing technology and enthusiasm to embrace new technology to enhance efficiency and effectiveness

Working Conditions

Full-time position. The Foundation is headquartered in downtown Chicago and most work is performed in a typical office environment. The Portfolio Director will also spend time in Englewood, Little Village, and other communities with which the Foundation partners. Regular travel to community organizations on Chicago’s South and West Sides is required. Requires some weekend and evening work.

Benefits

The McCormick Foundation offers industry-leading benefits that reflect the Foundation’s mission and support a healthy and productive culture.

Healthcare and Paid Time Off:
In addition to our high-caliber and comprehensive medical, dental, and vision care, we provide:

Paid time off and paid sick leave

11 employer-paid holidays

Disability insurance and life insurance at no cost to employees.

Other benefits to support our employees include health club reimbursement, a hybrid work schedule, and an employee and dependent educational assistance program.

Retirement: To assist employees in saving towards their retirement, we offer:

A generous pension plan with a Foundation-paid contribution of 8% of an employee’s salary.

We also offer a 403(b) Salary Deferral Plan with a $1 for $1 Foundation-paid matching contribution of 6% of an employee’s salary.

Giving Back to Community: The Foundation supports our employees’ personal philanthropy by:

Matching two-for-one every dollar of qualified charitable contributions an employee makes, up to $50,000.

Offering four Foundation-paid service days and a contribution of $500 per service day donated by the Foundation to the 501(c)(3) organization with which the employee volunteered on the service day.

Donating $500 for every 5 years of employment to a 501(c)(3) organization of the employee’s choosing.

Vaccination Requirements

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation requires as a condition of employment that all employees are fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) or have been approved for an accommodation based on a medical condition or conflicting religious belief.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Cantigny Park and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation provide equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, individuals with disabilities, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital and housing status.