Logo
Council of Michigan Foundations

Learning Director

Council of Michigan Foundations, Birmingham, Michigan, us, 48012


Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation Position Location:

Birmingham, MI (Hybrid) Application Deadline:

01/24/2025 About the Organization:

The Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation has made more than $180 million in grants to improve the quality of life for residents in Southeast Michigan and the Great Lakes region since launching its grantmaking in 2008. Funding has been focused on improving water quality in the Great Lakes basin; promoting environmental health and justice; advancing Alzheimer’s research; strengthening sustainable business; and supporting the arts. In May 2022, the Erb Family Foundation announced it will shift from a perpetual foundation to a spenddown model and conclude its grantmaking by 2034-35. That work is being guided by the Foundation’s new mission and vision: The Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation envisions a flourishing, healthy, and resilient Great Lakes ecosystem and a culturally vibrant, sustainable southeast Michigan. Toward this end, we strengthen the cultural and environmental organizations that share our vision to make this a reality for generations to come. The Foundation’s grantmaking and way of working will be guided by its values, which are: to make a lasting transformative difference; embrace possibility; work and learn in partnership; and pursue fairness and respect. The new grantmaking strategy was announced in October 2024. It includes six areas of focus: Great Lakes, Arts and Culture, Sustainable Business, Democracy, Alzheimer’s Research, and Legacy Giving. In addition to its grantmaking, the Foundation will also be working closely with grant partners to learn how to better invest in their organizational health and long-term durability. Position Description:

The Fred and Barbara Erb Family Foundation seeks nominations and applications for the position of Learning Director to lead the foundation’s learning journey and support the impact strategy of its grantmaking in the next 10 years of its spenddown. We are seeking a Learning Director to work across the Foundation’s grantmaking areas and operations to support staff in using data to drive decision-making. This position will help the Foundation communicate what it learns with its partners. The Learning Director will co-create and implement a comprehensive learning plan to ensure staff and leadership have the right information at the right time to lean into a strategy or change course. This role will be a co-developer and interpreter of monitoring and evaluation activities to facilitate forward-facing decision-making and learning across the Foundation. To ensure strong collaboration between the Learning Director, leadership, other staff, and the trustees, this is a hybrid position. The Learning Director will report to the Foundation’s President and will be supported by other staff, and when needed, external consultants. The Foundation’s communications team will also be managed by this position. Responsibilities: Develop a learning plan to guide Foundation-wide decisions. Ensure current grantee application and reporting questions summarize successes and lessons learned. Identify key learning questions and measurable outcomes across the Foundation. Develop systems and structures to continually answer learning questions, including data collection and analysis plans. Identify key capacity needs related to learning. Facilitate engagement processes for trustees, leadership, and staff with the Learning Director. Ongoing activities will likely include: Embracing and elevating the culture of learning across the Foundation. Contributing to the hiring, supervision, coaching, and mentoring of team members. Facilitating program officers in developing or refining portfolio or cohort-level successes. Collaborating with program staff and grants management to refine application questions and reporting requirements. Supporting program staff in managing programmatic evaluation contracts. Facilitating landscape scans, gap analyses, asset mapping, or needs assessments. Co-developing communications about learning and evaluation with staff. Qualifications: Experience leading Learning & Evaluation teams in the nonprofit sector. Ability to guide pragmatic approaches to organizational decision-making. Demonstrated ability to focus on high-level strategy while managing data. Experience in quickly understanding multiple subject areas. Evidence of translating evaluation and learning concepts to non-evaluators. Strong organizational, analytical, and writing skills. Resilience in the face of challenges and conflict management abilities. Personal passion for issues related to the arts, environment, and sustainable business. Ability to build collaborative relationships and maintain integrity. Proficient with Microsoft 365 and online grants management systems. Education & Experience: The Learning Director will have a Master’s Degree in a social science or related field and at least ten years of work history using evaluation and learning with nonprofit organizations, foundations, or family offices. At least three years of that experience should be in leadership and supporting the development of organizational systems for learning. Salary & Benefits: The Foundation’s offices are in Birmingham, Michigan. Full-time staff work a hybrid schedule (3 days in-person and 2 days remote). Attendance at grant partners’ evening and weekend events and occasional regional travel is anticipated. The salary for this position begins at $130,000 and may be adjusted according to qualifications and experience. The Foundation offers a comprehensive benefits package including employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance and a generous 401K plan. How to Apply: More information about the Erb Family Foundation may be found at: www.erbff.org. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible by submitting their cover letter and resume via NPAG’s website. The position will be filled as soon as the right candidate is identified. For more information, please email ashley@npag.com. All communications will remain confidential. Erb Family Foundation is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, citizenship status, and genetic information.

#J-18808-Ljbffr