Program Officer, Local News

Summary

Job Description

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the nation's largest independent foundations. The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur invests in solving some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., revitalizing local news, expanding who creates, uses, and benefits from artificial intelligence, and strengthening the well-being of Native communities. In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago. The Foundation also maintains offices in Nigeria and India.

Local News is a Big Bet grant portfolio focused on catalyzing thriving local news ecosystems in the United States. The goal of this portfolio is to support proven innovations and interventions that center local news as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability. This work operates through four strategic approaches: Equity (ensuring people in historically underserved communities benefit from accurate and trusted news), Engagement (strengthening ties between local media organizations and their communities), Infrastructure (strengthening nascent and emerging local news ecosystems), and Visibility (creating the enabling environment for news and information).

This work is done in partnership with Press Forward, a national collaborative of more than 110 national and local funders that has invested over $400 million collectively. MacArthur co-created and co-leads this multi-funder initiative, which aims to catalyze philanthropic coordination, scale innovations, and advance public policy interventions that provide lasting support for local journalism.

The Program Officer will work with the Director, Local News, and the administrative team to implement the Local News program’s strategic plan. The Program Officer will bring expertise in the journalism sector and local news landscape to develop and execute grantmaking, including across the Local News program’s four priority geographies: Chicagoland, U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Appalachia, and the Southeast. In this role, the Program Officer will manage part of the grantmaking portfolio, build strategic relationships, contribute to analytical frameworks around local news archetypes and ecosystem progression, and help position the portfolio for its 2028 Strategy Review with the Board of Directors. The successful candidate will have substantial experience in journalism or local news infrastructure and a sophisticated understanding of how to strengthen nascent and emerging local news ecosystems.

MacArthur's Big Bet programs are time-limited strategies that include evaluation, periodic review, and refinement. This is a term-limited position tied to the Foundation’s Local News work, currently scheduled for a strategy review in December 2028, with a possibility of an extension as part of that strategy review.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Grantmaking & Portfolio Management

• Manage a caseload of active grants, including reviewing proposals, writing grant briefs, reviewing periodic reports, maintaining accurate records and thoughtfully engaging with grantees
• Conduct due diligence, prepare grant recommendations for internal and Board consideration, and communicate decisions to potential grantees and internally as needed
• Monitor grant performance and implementation of grant strategies
• Maintain and nurture relationships with grantees
  
  

Field Building & Ecosystem Development

• Maintain active relationships with peer funders, Press Forward partners, journalism support organizations, backbone organizations, and field leaders
• Identify prospective grant recipients that strengthen local news ecosystems, with particular attention to organizations serving historically underserved communities
• Support grantee capacity building through convenings, peer learning, and connections to shared services
  
  

Research, Analysis & Strategic Thinking

• Apply ecosystem development frameworks and archetype analysis to inform portfolio decisions
• Keep abreast of current events, developments, and issues in the field
• Monitor developments in local news business models, technology adoption, policy landscape, and field infrastructure
• Write extensively for internal purposes, including strategy memos and grant recommendations
• Collaborate with learning and evaluation colleagues and help prepare for the 2028 Strategy Review
  
  

Collaboration & Representation

• Build and sustain relationships with the Local News team, colleagues across the Foundation, and with leaders and organizations in relevant fields
• Work closely with the Journalism and Media Program Director and team
• Represent the Foundation at conferences and other public events, including as a speaker or panel participant
• Anticipate potential issues and propose solutions
  
  

Other Duties And Responsibilities

• Serve on internal Foundation committees, as appropriate
• Perform other duties, as assigned
  
  

Qualifications

• Six to ten years experience and expertise in the journalism sector, specifically in local news
• Mature understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the journalism industry
• Ability to meet deadlines, work independently, and consistently produce high-quality work
• Experience with or connections to Local News’ priority geographies preferred
• Excellent analytical and communications skills, including writing and public speaking
• Self-confident, collegial, and diplomatic, with an appreciation of the role of a grantmaking institution
• Computer literate, with a high level of comfort with new applications
• Other essential skills include effectiveness in interpersonal relations with a proven ability to work as part of a team; the ability to organize and convey problems and issues clearly and succinctly; ease with and openness to people who hold diverse views; a talent for managing multiple tasks with significant initiative
  
  

The Program Officer must be willing to travel frequently (once or twice a month).

The position is hybrid and based in Chicago, Illinois.

Annual salary for this role will start at $120,700. We offer a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and a comprehensive benefits package to support your life, health, and well-being.

Physical Requirements And Work Environment

The work environment is an office setting. Intermittent physical activities will include bending, reaching, sitting, and moving around the office during working hours. Requests for reasonable accommodations will be considered to enable a person with disabilities to perform the job. Reasonable accommodations are also available during the interview process.