POSITION TITLE: Policy Strategist 

LOCATION: Remote, work from home 

REPORTS TO:  Deputy Director  

STATUS: Full-time, Exempt  

 

PROJECT SUMMARY:  Funders for Housing and Opportunity (FHO) brings the nation’s leading funders together from across sectors and perspectives to ensure access to a safe, stable rental housing in communities that supports better health, economic mobility, and educational achievement, free from the barriers and harms of systemic racism. This is accomplished primarily through grant making and learning exchanges in FHO’s three priority areas:  policy, advocacy, and organizing; narrative change; and elevating what works. FHO has prioritized racial equity in its work, and seeks to change housing policies, practices, and institutions that have perpetuated a system of discrimination in housing and harm to communities of color. More information can be found on our website, www.housingisopportunity.org.   

 

POSITION SUMMARY:  Funders for Housing and Opportunity (FHO) seeks a self-motivated, detail-oriented team-player with experience in housing policy, plus a strong commitment to housing justice and the mission of FHO to fill its Policy Strategist position. The Policy Strategist is a new position and has three primary responsibilities: 1) managing two grant portfolios (policy, advocacy, and organizing and elevating what works), including relationship management, grant process management, and facilitating learning; 2) leading FHO’s strategic (non-lobbying) policy work; and 3) knowledge and relationship management. 

 

FHO has a small but mighty team (5 FTEs when fully staffed) and is looking for a self-motivated, highly collaborative quick learner to fill this critical role.   

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

Because this is a new role, the responsibilities and percentages below are estimates and subject to change as the work evolves. 

 

Grant Management (50%) 

• Leads FHO’s Policy, Advocacy and Organizing (PAO) and Elevating What Works (EWW) grantmaking strategies and annual grant plans 

• Leads and staffs FHO’s PAO and EWW member sub-committees 

• Identifies possible grantees and is primary point of contact for organizations seeking information about FHO’s PAO and EWW grantmaking and priorities 

• Partners with Deputy Director to shift grantmaking processes to be more trust-based and restorative 

• Manages the full grantmaking cycle for the PAO and EWW portfolios, including improving and implementing processes for: 

• Inviting applications for funding 

• Developing requests for proposals and coordinating internal review 

• Composing grant request, recommendation, and report summaries  

• Presenting recommendations to senior staff and FHO members, and documenting decisions 

• Facilitating grant agreement and fund disbursement processes 

• Monitoring and tracking grants to ensure compliance with all financial, legal and other fiscal sponsor requirements 

• Working with Deputy Director and FHO’s evaluation consultants to aggregate and input data, determine and communicate impact, and contribute to FHO’s annual impact report 

• Facilitates and plans workshops and grantee convenings in support of FHO’s PAO and EWW strategies and the needs and interests of grantee partners 

• Facilitates FHO member learning related to these two grant portfolios 

• Contributes to FHO’s efforts to design and implement equitable approaches to learning and evaluation. This includes the development of program related documents (strategy papers, portfolio reviews, and impact reports), and sharing impactful work by FHO and its grantee partners 

 

Policy Strategy (25%) 

• Leads FHO’s strategic (non-lobbying) policy work, including developing and implementing an annual policy engagement workplan 

• Tracks federal policies and trending state policies related to housing and homelessness 

• Develops FHO’s point of view on legislative and regulatory opportunities, prioritizing and propagating a housing justice analysis 

• Drafts statements, blog posts, etc. to communicate FHO’s policy analysis and priorities 

• Develops and implements plan to engage with decision makers about these priorities; organizes FHO members to share FHO’s point of view with decision makers 

• Represents FHO externally and with key stakeholders on policy and housing justice matters 

 

Knowledge and Relationship Management (25%) 

• Keeps current on what national and local organizations and funders are prioritizing related to housing justice policy and opportunities for collaboration 

• Contributes to FHO’s efforts to develop deep knowledge of housing justice and of the philanthropic landscape  

• Represents FHO on housing policy-related affinity groups; establishes and maintains relationships with individuals and organizations that can provide information and insight to enhance FHO’s effectiveness 

• Builds and cultivates strong, collaborative, mutually accountable relationships with grantee partners and movement leaders  

• Promotes trust-based engagement among grantee partners by engaging in active listening in the field and incorporating insights from partners and stakeholders into FHO’s grantmaking and program work 

• Designs responsive programmatic activities that build capacity, learning, knowledge, engagement, and collaboration among funder and grantee partners 

• Participates in projects to evolve FHO’s processes, offerings, and technologies 

 

REQUIRED AND PREFERRED EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES 

The ideal candidate will have many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:  

• A minimum of 5-7 years of experience in the nonprofit, government, and/or philanthropic field is preferred.  

• An understanding of the federal legislative, regulatory, grant making, and administrative processes is required.  

• A strong understanding of current U.S. housing policy is required. 

• Experience working in any level of government or with policy makers is preferred. 

• A network of contacts and positive relationships that can bring value to FHO’s efforts to engage decision makers is preferred. 

• Experience with grants administration and understanding of the philanthropic grantmaking process is preferred.  

• Understanding of and/or experience with the affordable housing and homelessness systems, and/or related fields is preferred. 

• A deep commitment to racial and housing justice and the mission of FHO. 

• Attention to detail and the ability to manage a fast-paced heavy workload, including a tolerance for the pace of government policy making and management of last-minute requests. 

• Ability to work independently and on a team. 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills with ability to summarize and present to various audiences.  

• Excellent project management skills with proven organization and planning/time management skills. 

• Highly cooperative team-player with the ability to also be effective independently and meet deadlines. 

• Maintains professional demeanor in all situations and proven ability to handle confidential information with discretion. 

• Ability to work in a mission/results-driven environment. 

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (including Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point) and Zoom, Ability to learn to use Slack, Box, Salesforce, and other software as the work evolves. 

 

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS 

• Candidate must have the ability to travel up to 20% of the time. 

• Candidate must be able to provide a home environment conducive to remote working, including a quiet and distraction-free working space, an internet connection that’s adequate for the job and capable of videoconferencing, and full attention to their job duties during working hours. 

• We seek to recruit the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool 

 

SALARY AND BENEFITS 

• Salary range is $90,000 to $105,000 with a comprehensive benefits package. Currently, that package includes 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for employees (and their families). Employees are able to enroll in a 401k retirement plan and are eligible for a 3% automatic contribution and up to a 3% employer match on 401k contributions. Employees are also eligible for pre-tax transportation benefits. Employees will receive 120 hours of vacation time, 80 hours of health leave, up to 2 days of casual leave, and 20 hours of volunteer leave annually. Employees will also receive 13 paid holidays throughout the calendar year. Employees are eligible for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave after 90 days of employment. 

 

TO APPLY 

• Please email a pdf version of a resume and cover letter describing recent relevant experience and/or skills and how you heard about this opportunity to info@housingisopportunity.org. Priority consideration will be given to applications received on or before 5pm Eastern on February 24, 2023.  The subject line should read:  Policy Strategist, INSERT YOUR FIRST NAME & LAST NAME.  For example:  Policy Strategist, Jeanne Fekade-Sellassie 

• Due to high volume, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please. 

 

Funders for Housing and Opportunity is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. NVF is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. NVF’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working. 

 

COVID-19 POLICY  

To center the safety and well-being of its employees, New Venture Fund requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date.  This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.  Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law by contacting human resources at HR@newventurefund.org.