A renowned entrepreneur and co-founder of The Home Depot, Arthur M. Blank is now recognized for his values-based Blank Family of Businesses and as one of America’s leading philanthropists through the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. All of his industry-leading businesses and the Blank Family Foundation operate on six core values: Put People First, Listen and Respond, Include Everyone, Innovate Continuously, Lead by Example, Give Back to Others.The foundation works across several different programmatic areas, including Atlanta’s Westside, Democracy, Environment, Mental Health and Well Being, and Youth Development. The foundation also manages a large portfolio of founder-led initiatives, supporting the causes, institutions and relationships our founder holds dear. Geographically, much of the foundation’s work prioritizes Georgia and Montana, while also considering the potential for greater national impact and influence. To complement and amplify the impact of these giving areas, the foundation has two central functions whose teams partner with programmatic colleagues. These functions include Communications and Effective Philanthropy.Effective Philanthropy supports the foundation to achieve a positive impact. As a central function, the team supports grantmaking colleagues in developing and implementing evidence-based strategies, understanding, and measuring progress, and learning from grantees and others’ experiences how best to achieve meaningful results. Effective Philanthropy is an internal resource, thought partner, and source of pragmatic, timely, and responsive analytic support to the foundation’s teams and leadership.The Foundation seeks an agile strategic thinker with superb analytic skills to join the Effective Philanthropy team as a Senior Strategy Officer. The Senior Strategy Officer will work with grantmaking teams to develop, review, and refine foundation strategies. Relevant 2024 examples include developing the foundation’s Youth Development and Mental Health strategies, annual reviews of the foundation’s Democracy and Land strategies, and opportunities to use landscaping, facilitation, critical thinking and research skills to support programmatic leaders to grow and innovate in their strategy execution.This position will be based on-site in Atlanta and report directly to the Managing Director of Effective Philanthropy.Key Responsibilities:Lead the development, use and continuous improvement of foundation guidelines, tools and organizational routines for strategy development, refresh, and review.Act as a lead, thought partner and facilitator in the foundation’s strategy processes – including strategy development, review, and refresh.Independently develop and author strategy memos, issue briefs, and relevant updates for leadership.Conduct relevant research and analyses to inform strategy development and review.Act as a thought partner to program teams exploring refinements to their strategy execution, providing critical thinking, mapping, and landscaping frameworks and producing research to support their planning.Work with the Communications team to develop for grantees and partners relevant materials and content on program strategies.Promote a strong sense of teamwork by working effectively, respectfully, and efficiently with Foundation associates.Support and model excellent service by exhibiting a positive attitude and enthusiasm toward the job and the company to internal and external customers in all forms of communication.Embrace and embody the Blank Core Values and be a culture leader.Qualifications and Education Requirements:Bachelor’s degree required. A graduate degree in business or social sciences is preferred.7-10 years of relevant work experience in philanthropy, consulting, government, or nonprofit organization.Direct experience in strategy development and relevant analytic processes.Superb critical thinking skills and a commitment to rigor and excellence.Excellent research and analytic skills, with the ability to conduct secondary research quickly, recognize the most relevant sources and synthesize key themes in writing and verbally.Excellent facilitation skills, with the ability to effectively support ongoing dialogue among multiple stakeholders to support learning and decision-making.Familiarity with the characteristics of quality research and/or evaluation evidence.Able to create high-quality presentations and documents for busy professionals and leaders.Self-starter with the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously.A hands-on and can-do attitude with the ability to creatively navigate challenges and adapt to a changing environment.Passion for learning and the ability to seek input and support as needed.Mastery of Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and SharePoint.Excellent written communication and presentation skills.Impeccable organizational, project- and time-management abilities.
