Director, Portfolio Impact

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Audacious Project seeks a Director for the Portfolio Impact team. This position will help to create and deliver a best-in-class capacity to help funded organizations thrive on the Audacious platform. Our work is in service of Audacious social entrepreneurs and the incredible impact they are making in the world.

The Director of Portfolio Impact will manage relationships with a subset of funded organizations in our portfolio, guiding social entrepreneurs through the Audacious journey – from supporting proposal development and goals setting through grant development, project launch and implementation, and planning for exit and long-term sustainability. The Director will also serve as a bridge between project teams and their Audacious donor groups, creating strong partnerships to advance impact and learning across the platform. This position will specifically support our Breakthrough Science and Climate organizations, but will oversee a diverse portfolio of organizations across all of our issue areas.

While TED’s headquarters are in New York City, this position is fully remote. The candidate can be based anywhere in the world, but this person must be willing to have some daily working hours overlap with US time zones.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Supporting a vibrant portfolio of Audacious organizations

• Manage relationships with approximately 20 funded organizations, working in partnership with another Director to ensure that every funded project is supported effectively and in line with Audacious’ equity principles.
• Serve as a go-to resource for the grantee portfolio, onboarding them onto the Audacious platform and advising on a wide range of strategic and tactical matters over the course of their multi-year grant terms. Help grantees identify areas where course corrections or additional support may be needed, engaging the donor community and other stakeholders accordingly.
• Maintain an updated perspective on grantee and portfolio-level implementation and impact. Capture insights and trends to share with the Director of Evaluation & Learning and share with other practitioners and key stakeholders.
• Build and deepen connections amongst funded organizations in the portfolio, co-developing and supporting cross-cohort and peer-to-peer exchanges.
• Partner with and support grantee leadership and core teams, identifying and deeply understanding where they are on track and where additional support may be needed. Serve as a resource for organizations as they develop and grow to implement their Audacious projects, helping to recognize areas where they may need organizational growth and development support.

Serving as a bridge between Audacious project grantees and donors

• Strengthen ongoing partnerships between funded organizations and Audacious donors to advance impact and shared learning; help grantees establish and cultivate relationships with their donors and the broader Audacious network over time.
• Partner with projects on planning, preparation, and follow-through for annual donor meetings.
• Advise grantees on donor communications and reporting as they work towards the goals and milestones set forth in their Audacious proposals. As needed, support revisions to grant terms in response to major opportunities or challenges that arise over the course of the multi-year grant agreements.
• Serve as a credible champion of the work of the Audacious portfolio by developing sufficient knowledge and understanding of the organizations, their issue areas and the sector ecosystem, and the geographic and cultural contexts in which they operate.
• Support Audacious donors to feel engaged in learning and impact of their funded projects and as part of the overall Audacious donor community.

Stewarding smooth grantmaking and reporting processes

• Shepherd the grant development process by aligning grantees and their donor groups around a common set of goals, key performance indicators, reporting requirements and timelines, and payment schedules and ensuring timely execution of grant agreements.
• Track and manage a wide range of grant-related activities, including: funding commitments, payment schedules, project implementation milestones, reporting deadlines and donor update meetings.

Identifying and strengthening partnerships within and outside of the TED community

• Partner across the three main Audacious verticals (Portfolio Impact, Discovery & Insights and Donor Community) to enhance the pipeline for breakthrough science ideas, identify potential new donors to add to the Audacious community, and create new opportunities to amplify grantee achievements.
• Strategize with the Portfolio Impact team on ways to enhance the grantee experience, including in-person convening, webinars, and networking events.
• Liaise with staff across the TED organization to identify opportunities for additional partnerships and community engagement to support the portfolio.
• Work hand-in-hand with The Bridgespan Group to support project diligence, development and review of investment proposals and talks, and preparation for the donor funding retreat.
• Utilize professional networks and resources to facilitate connections for grantee partners with other peers, nonprofit support services, potential donors, and in spaces where their work can be amplified.

Requirements

The Audacious team represents a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences: We are storytellers, producers, consultants, technologists, and social sector professionals. We actively seek candidates with a diversity of backgrounds, particularly with lived experience in the Global South. With that in mind, we seek a candidate with the following qualifications and skills:

• 10+ years of overall professional experience with at least 3 years in social impact stewardship at a foundation or grant-giving organization
  • A track record of building and / or advising mission-driven organizations
  • Working knowledge of social sector design elements such as operating models, governance, program design and execution, partnership development, fundraising, strategic communications, etc.
  • The capacity to develop and manage grants or contracts
  • Experience conducting due diligence across a wide range or geographies and issues areas
• Applied science background, ideally with experience in a social impact / environmental context
  • Interest and proficiency in a broad range of scientific topics
  • Critical thinking and analytical skills - ability to analyze and assess feasibility of cutting-edge scientific ideas, including extensive experience evaluating technical proposals for funding and potential for impact
  • Experience in analyzing investment proposals, reports and other key data to pull out trends, key insights and important questions for further discussion
• Willingness to flex up and down in the role, from shaping strategy to executing the details
  • Aptitude for managing complex projects, centering multiple stakeholders (particularly in cases where you are not the expert in the subject matter)
  • Capacity to collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data, derive and communicate key insights in a cohesive and compelling narrative, and identify opportunities for iteration and improvement
• Fluency across borders and sectors
  • Experience operating in different cultural contexts (particularly in the Global South), with multinational teams and with a wide range of global issues
  • Understanding of how different sectors – government, civil society, business, and finance – impact systems change, both locally and globally
• Strong facilitation and communications skills
  • A track record of building trust and forging consensus among multiple stakeholders, understanding where interests diverge and proposing actionable solutions that bring them together
  • Experience with agenda setting and meeting facilitation, from one-on-one meetings to larger convenings and roundtables
  • Ability to facilitate conversations to identify the best ways to make change that are both nurturing and generative
  • Demonstrated experience in effectively communicating analysis in writing – through proposals, reports, assessments, or due diligence

WHO YOU ARE

• A Generalist with a Scientific Mindset: You have a background in the sciences, either through your education or your professional experience. You have a knack for understanding and analyzing a wide range of scientific ideas. But you also have a broad and innate curiosity across a wide range of issue areas that makes you a generalist at heart. You enjoy delving into scientific topics, but don’t want that to be your entire experience.
• Humble Leader: Nothing is beneath or above you. You are quick to always lend a hand, or two, and you're not afraid to roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches yourself! You are able to earn influence without authority and naturally seek to support both small projects or large strategic goals.
• Committed to Inclusion: You're always asking: “whose voice is not at the table?” You have experience working with diverse teams and successfully navigating cross-cultural communication in both local and global contexts, and you deeply value creating a workplace that is supportive of difference.
• Convener. You recognize that a well-supported community can achieve far more than a single, highly talented individual. You can bring together thought leaders and facilitate conversations to identify the best ways to make change that are both nurturing and generative. You enjoy removing barriers to our partners coming together, including taking care of the logistical details so they don’t have to.
• Resourceful & Adaptable: You’re at ease with ambiguity and rapid change. You possess a positive, can-do attitude, and are adept at identifying creative solutions to obstacles. You can juggle many important responsibilities at once and you’re rigorous about prioritizing. You enjoy learning to improve processes and are not afraid to seek out support when needed.
• Relationship Builder. You thrive on meeting new people and like to foster relationships. You enjoy learning what motivates people, what inspires their work and makes them feel appreciated.
• Planner & Thinker. You are excited about making projects work and have a knack for getting things done. You are meticulous about planning and are always thinking three steps ahead. You have an eye for keeping track of the little things--in service of big, exciting projects.
• Changemaker. You are ready to take on opportunities to make the world a better place. You understand what it takes to put big ideas into practice--and can share what you’ve learned about getting things done. You see the way the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can work together to make things happen and you are ready to help changemakers across the globe solve many different kinds of problems. You are committed to making philanthropy more trust-based, equitable, and transformative.