Program Analyst, U.S. Racial Justice Initiative

About Berkeley

The employer is the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, we are committed to creating a community that fosters equity of experience and opportunity, and ensures that students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds feel safe, welcome and included. Our culture of openness, freedom and belonging make it a special place for students, faculty and staff. The University of California, Berkeley, is one of the world’s leading institutions of higher education, distinguished by its combination of internationally recognized academic and research excellence; the transformative opportunity it provides to a large and diverse student body; its public mission and commitment to equity and social justice; and its roots in the California experience, animated by such values as innovation, questioning the status quo, and respect for the environment and nature. Since its founding in 1868, Berkeley has fueled a perpetual renaissance, generating unparalleled intellectual, economic and social value in California, the United States and the world. 

About the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is where the Program Analyst will work. The Packard Foundation was established in 1964. David and Lucile Packard believed that along with universities, national institutions, community groups, youth agencies, family planning centers, and hospitals, foundations constitute a great American tradition that complements government efforts to focus on society’s needs. The foundation’s mission is to work with people and communities to create enduring solutions for just societies and a healthy, resilient natural world. Through a recent strategic planning process, the foundation identified three overarching, interdependent goals to guide the Foundation’s work: Protect and Restore Our Natural World, Invest in Families and Communities, and Build Just Societies. 

About the U.S. Racial Justice Initiative

In the wake of the 2020 social movement uprisings against structural racism, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation established a new $100 million justice and equity fund and subsequently began an internal process to examine and more deeply integrate equity into our strategies, and in alignment with our mission and values. The U.S. Racial Justice Initiative was established to develop and lead the strategy that would guide the Foundation’s grant-making of the $100M justice and equity fund. Over the next several months, The Initiative will articulate a strategic framework to support the critical work of combatting anti-Black racism. Our work takes a “race and” approach recognizing that structural racism intensifies every other form of discrimination and intersects with and influences all the social conditions that affect people of color’s ability thrive.  

In addition to building on approaches that have guided our philanthropy for decades — working in partnership, committing to issues over the long-term, and grounding our work in science, knowledge, and data – we seek to focus on understanding the systems that either accelerate or impede progress, and engage creatively across a range of ideas and perspectives to bring fresh thinking to these complex and long-standing challenges.  

The U.S. Racial Justice Initiative sits within the Packard Foundation’s goal to “Build Just Societies,” which are key to supporting families and communities and protecting our natural world. When the institutions, structures, policies, and practices that form societies are inclusive and fair, they create conditions for more sustained progress on issues such as racial equity, reproductive rights, and a strong civil society and thriving civic space. 

About the Partnership

The UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business (through the Center for Social Sector Leadership) offers this unique fellowship in philanthropy at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to provide next generation leaders the opportunity to engage with philanthropic and nonprofit leaders and work with a grantmaking team serving diverse issues and populations in the Just Societies program. 

The vision for this partnership is to strengthen the future of philanthropy and civil society by providing recent graduates from diverse disciplines and backgrounds a professional-level introduction to philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. The goals of the fellowship are to 1) introduce recent graduates to philanthropy and the role of nonprofits to strengthen their impact in a future career and 2) introduce the Foundation to fresh ideas, new skills, and diverse perspectives. The fellow will join a cohort of six other fellows at the Foundation working on environment and science, families and communities, reproductive health, civil society and leadership, and democracy and governance. There will be quarterly activities for the cohort of fellows. 

The position will support the U.S. Racial Justice initiative’s strategic planning, grantmaking, research, and monitoring, evaluation and learning. This position will take day-to-day direction from the U.S. Racial Justice Director. 

While placed at the Packard Foundation and receiving day-to-day supervision from the U.S. Racial Justice Director, the fellow will also enjoy full support from UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business’ Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Social Sector Leadership. The Berkeley supervisor will provide context for the foundation world, access to resources for fellowship success, and personal coaching and supervision for the fellow. Since the purpose of the fellowship is to develop leaders, the fellowship also includes a professional development budget for the fellow to attend racial justice and philanthropy conferences, take relevant workshops and seminars, receive professional career coaching, and develop specific skills and knowledge particular to the fellow’s next career goal. More information about present Research Analysts placed at the Packard Foundation is available here: https://haas.berkeley.edu/cssl/programs-events/philanthropy-fellows/. 

Primary job responsibilities

• Work with the Foundation’s U.S. Racial Justice Initiative team on a range of activities – supporting the grant making process, including conducting research and analysis on topics that can inform grant making and strategy development, and contributing to assessments of grantee organizations 
• Provide support to the director and program officer, including preparation of materials and agendas for program meetings, grantee meetings, and field convenings; participation in grantee meetings and site visits, preparation of meeting summaries, and management of follow-up actions stemming from those meetings 
• Contribute to grant portfolio reviews on a quarterly basis, compiling information across grantees to create consumable documents. 
• Assist with the monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities associated with the U.S. Racial Justice Initiative’s strategies, such as theory of change development, compilation of grantee outcomes and indicators, and creating program dashboards 
• Interact with the Foundation’s program and evaluation staff, grantees, funding partners, government agencies, and content experts as needed to complete assigned projects and gain exposure to strategic philanthropy in practice; travel to meet with new and existing partners, and attend relevant conferences 
• Engage in both university and foundation communities and professional development opportunities related to the Program Analyst’s work. 

Qualifications

• Extensive experience and/or graduate level education in political science, , public or international policy, social science, law, business or a related social justice field, ideally with experience taking a -systems approach to addressing the structural barriers that have created unequal conditions for communities of color. These inequities include segregation, concentrated poverty, and structural racism.  
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience working in a full-time professional position   
• Interest and dedication to work aimed at achieving a healthier, pluralistic, liberal democracy and inclusive multi-racial society  
• Deeply capable as a strategic thinker and creative problem solver; ability to analyze, conduct research, and understand scientific studies 
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills, including the ability to structure analysis, synthesize, and deliver reports that clearly explain complex topics in accessible ways 
• demonstrated persuasive and respectful presentation skills for communications to be used with internal leadership, external partners, and people from the communities we are working to reach 
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and an ability to work effectively in a team setting 
• Demonstrated strong initiative, self-motivation, and ability to efficiently manage multiple tasks and projects in diverse areas 
• Demonstrated ability to apply judgment in ambiguous situations and make sound decisions with limited information 
• Willingness to travel 
• Have a history of fostering inclusive environments, engaging diverse voices, and are able to consider underlying inequities, structural drivers, privilege, and power dynamics in your work  
• Able to identify leverage points and assess how new ideas have the potential to influence or change a system and are able to find and refine the transformative “nugget” in an idea—even if others don’t see it yet 
• Knowledge and understanding of Black-led movement-building, power building strategies, and/or organizing work  
• Ability to think and work intersectionally, particularly with regard to race, class, gender 
• Experience supporting work in predominantly Black communities in the US south in particular, is appreciated but not required 

Education/Training

• Bachelor’s degree in related area and/or equivalent experience/training

Salary & Benefits

This is a 3 year, 100% full-time (40 hrs a week) exempt position, which is paid monthly and eligible for full UC Benefits. Annual salary is commensurate with experience up to $90,000.00. For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html