Chief Partnerships and Program Officer

Job Summary

The Chief Partnerships and Program Officer is a senior member of the Newman’s Own Foundation team, reporting to the President/CEO. The role will oversee all partnership and relationship development, results management, and grantmaking functions of the Foundation.  

Alongside the President/CEO, this role is key to Newman’s Own Foundation’s achieving our mission through (1) finding and selecting grantee partners, (2) supporting grantee partners with both financial and non-financial resources, (3) developing partnerships with other funders and strategic partners that can support our grantees, and (4) putting in place best-in-class results management and learning systems to build our knowledge of the Foundation’s and our grantee partners’ impact over time. 

The Chief Partnerships and Program Officer will oversee and manage 3 direct reports, with potential for consultants and interns as needed. 

This is an exciting time to join Newman’s Own Foundation. First, our model—originally conceived 40 years ago when Paul Newman started selling salad dressing and wanted to ‘give it all away’—remains unique and innovative compared to other foundations, corporations, and social impact organizations. Newman’s Own Foundation owns Newman’s Own, Inc., a food company, and 100% of the royalties and profits of the food company, along with license fees from third parties, go to the Foundation. The Foundation then grants out these funds to nonprofit social impact organizations in service of our mission. Second, building on our legacy, we launched a new, more focused mission in 2022, “to nourish and transform the lives of children who face adversity,” with three priority programmatic areas: Nutritious Food in Schools, Indigenous Food Justice for Youth, and Joyful Experiences for Children with Serious Illnesses. We are now building a team to implement this new focus, with a renewed commitment to our legacy of impact and innovation.  

 Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Build, manage, and oversee strategy, grantee partner relationships, staff, policies, systems, and operations as they relate to all of Newman’s Own Foundation grantmaking, creating processes that are open, transparent, fair, impactful, and best in class as regards grantee selection. 
• Develop relationships and partnerships with foundations, corporations, high-net worth individuals, and other organizations to support fundraising and strategic partnerships for our grantees, supporting those grantees based on their needs, with measurable results in terms of dollars catalyzed for our grantees, partnerships created, and excellent feedback from grantees. 
• Manage and oversee the building and operationalization of results management and learning function of Newman’s Own Foundation, creating systems that allow Newman’s Own Foundation to hold itself accountable to our grantee partners, know whether our grantee partners are progressing in terms of their impact, know whether the Foundation is being helpful in that progress, and know how we can improve and communicate with our key stakeholders. 

Minimum Qualifications and Skills

• 10-15+ years of experience in social impact sector, whether at a foundation, corporation, government entity, or nonprofit, including at least 5+ years in a partnerships development and/or fundraising position with evidence of leading creation and management of 6- and 7-figure partnerships 
• 3-5+ years managing a team of 2-3+ direct reports 
• Previous multi-year experience managing multi-million-dollar portfolio of grantee partners or projects 
• Good working knowledge of social impact results management, with preference for previous experience designing and building results management framework, processes, and systems 
• Demonstrated multi-year relationship-building skills with social impact leaders representing nonprofits, foundations, corporations, high-net-worth individuals, and more 
• Excellent presentation skills, including use of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word to prepare and present presentations for meetings, convenings, and conferences 
• Excellent oral and written communication skills 
• Good working knowledge of CRM/donor and grantee management database systems, such as Salesforce and Cybergrants 
• Good working knowledge of issues relating to children facing adversity, with preference as regards the Foundation’s core programmatic areas if possible—nutritious food in schools, Indigenous food justice for youth, and/or joyful experiences for seriously ill children 
• Four-year degree required, with preference for Masters level and in business administration, international relations, social impact/philanthropy, marketing, or other related discipline 

Desired Knowledge and Abilities

• Working across the social impact community to drive multi-stakeholder partnerships in rapid timeframe despite existing lethargy/bureaucracy 
• Designing, overseeing, and managing advisory board, convening, and partnerships, building strategy to support grantees with co-funding and partnerships 
• Designing specifications for changes to CRM/donor and grant management databases, such as Salesforce or Cybergrants 

Travel

• Flexible hybrid, with preference to be within commuting distance of Westport, CT. Willingness to travel to Westport, CT, as needed to meet with Newman’s Own Foundation team members, Newman’s Own, Inc., employees, and other stakeholders. Minimum expectation would be for 3-4 days in first month for orientation and 4 times a year for staff retreats, with preference for 4-8 days+ per month in office 
• 15-25% to meet with grantee partners and potential co-funders/partners, participate in conferences and convenings with good flexibility to determine own schedule (% does not count travel to Westport, CT, if not within commuting distance)  

Values, Diversity and Equal Employment Opportunity

Newman’s Own Foundation’s values are shared with the food company, Newman’s Own, Inc., and encompass generosity, community, integrity, innovation, and excellence.  

The more diverse our team is, and representative of the communities we seek to serve, the better we can achieve our mission. We seek to build and cultivate a team of staff, vendors, and partners that represent a diversity of thought, background, and lived experiences, and strive for justice in our organizational processes and results. We are particularly interested in increasing access for those in underserved communities who may not traditionally have access to social impact job opportunities. 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, relation, disability, age, genetic information, veteran stats, ancestry, or national or ethnic origin, or any other protected characteristic as established under law.