Carolinas Asset Funders Network Program Officer

Asset Funders Network (AFN) is a growing national membership organization with a strong point of view actively engaging philanthropy to advance equitable economic justice, opportunity, and security.

AFN is seeking an experienced, highly motivated and entrepreneurial individual to be our Carolinas AFN Program Officer. This individual will engage, develop, and facilitate funders and financial institutions in the area to invest in and increase appropriate wealth building strategies in service of advancing economic mobility in the region. The goals include facilitating shared learning, developing data as needed, identifying programmatic and systemic needs, and acting to achieve change in the local regional context.

The Program Officer will advance AFN’s mission and work within the issue areas identified by AFN that impact economic mobility and equitable wealth building. In their first year, the Program Officer’s deliverables will include building the AFN chapter in the Carolinas, cultivating and facilitating funders and financial institutions in the region to join the funder table that is the Carolinas AFN Steering Committee.

The Program Officer is responsible for building relationships with regional funders and stakeholders. In addition to the day-to-day interactions, the Program Officer has the executive independence, with a local Steering Committee, to design strategy and coordinate and deliver programming that furthers the regional chapter’s goals. The Program Officer is part of AFN’s team and will be strategically and tactically supported by AFN leadership, other program officers, finance, communications, and membership/development staff.

The Program Officer will be expected to participate in local membership engagement and to manage the budget in the region. Related deliverables will reflect goals tied to shared strategy progress, funding development for the region, and locally responsive programming aligned with the goals and strategies established by the Carolinas AFN Steering Committee. The Program Officer will be expected to work with Carolinas AFN Chapter members to refine and address issues of common interest and facilitate aligned strategic investments and programming to support progress on key focus areas, foster system change, and create greater economic mobility.

Deliverables and Services

The employee serving as AFN’s Carolinas Program Officer is specifically responsible for defined deliverables reflecting the Carolinas AFN chapter priorities, including the following projects/activities:

Connect and Build

• Leading, with the support of the membership team, the ongoing development of a sustainable chapter supported by funders and financial institutions, with transparent fundraising.
• Working to identify and actively recruit new chapter members, including cultivating and engaging funders as members and asset building investors in the region.
• Exploring the data, regional efforts and needs, and funder interest in the AFN chapter including coordinating follow up efforts, hosting events, and setting goals and plans for the year.
• Organizing and supporting the Carolinas AFN Steering Committee by developing meeting agendas, content for webinars and convenings, and, where appropriate, helping to prepare or deliver aligned or shared actions.
• Providing information and fiscal feedback via the AFN fiscal team to the Steering Committee for them to transparently understand chapter membership and fiscal capacity.
• Engaging grantmakers and financial institutions with AFN’s value proposition and potential of peer technical support to develop regionally informed collaborative efforts including shared metrics and aligned funding efforts.
• Building relationships with allied funders, professional or civic affinity groups in the region.
• Understanding and helping the chapter navigate key regional issues and existing stakeholder or funder tables for maximum impact and collaboration.
• Identifying and nurturing relationships with at least 3-4 regional grantmakers as champions to support the stability and growth of the regional chapter advancing economic justice.
• Actively engage and work with the relevant staff of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Inform and Elevate

• Implementing the national AFN Strategic Work Plan to achieve deliverables by the region.
• Creating a regional work plan including goals and planned activities, outputs, and implementation timetable – revised annually.
• Informing the grant proposals and reports (via the Membership Director) to support Carolinas AFN fundraising for planned activities.
• Identify members and their grantees for case studies, membership spotlights, examples for issue briefs or projects as they relate to effective regional member actions.
• Coordinating and supporting regional programming and convenings including with area stakeholders.

Influence

• Representing AFN at conferences and funder groups as a thought leader in the region.
• Providing support and content expertise to AFN webinars, conference sessions and meetings (as requested or as developed through a planning process).
• Elevating asset building efforts from the area to other regions and funders to elevate the influence of the area funders.
• Engaging in narrative change efforts as relevant to regional and AFN priorities.

Special Projects

• Engaging in the internal AFN Hub meetings to align strategy and work with the South/Mid-South Hub: Arkansas AFN, Carolinas AFN, Kansas City AFN, Louisiana AFN, and Memphis AFN.
• Assigned supporting work related to webinars or the biennial conference.
• Working on special projects developed and funded by the region.

Requirements

• Full COVID-19 vaccination required.
• Minimum of seven years’ experience in philanthropy or a related non-profit field.
• Experience and comfort working independently, with remote colleagues.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills.
• Experience and comfort actively facilitating groups toward developing strategic and tactical plans.
• Experience planning and managing events, and leading meetings of stakeholders
• History working with philanthropy and/or nonprofits to advance social, economic, and/or asset building strategies

Location for Work

The program officer would ideally be based in North Carolina working remotely from their home or leveraged office space with the ability to travel to meetings as needed throughout the region.

Compensation

There is future potential for this position to grow in hours and compensation over time, particularly as new members and funded initiatives are undertaken.

Salary Range

This position starts at 50% of full-time employment as an exempt employee, equivalent to $60,000 - $68,500 per year plus benefits, calculated on the full-time base salary of $120,000 - $137,000. The salary range reflects experience relative to others in the salary band. The number of hours and commensurate increased salary will occur as projects and related funding grows.

Benefits

Benefits include a 401K contribution (5% of salary), health expenses reimbursement (QSEHRA) up to $6,350 per self-only employee and up to $12,800 per employee with a family, home office expense reimbursement (up to $2500 per year), unlimited PTO, and more.

Employment within AFN is dependent on identified funding and will require continued fundraising.

AFN recognizes that staff can exercise their flexibility to engage as contractors or volunteers with other organizations (funders, non-profits, or public entities). AFN policy explicitly does not restrict outside employment or contracting as long as there is no conflict of interest.

Term

May 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025. Initial Trial Term. Renewable annually upon performance and dependent on continued funding.

Maximum hours of work

This employment contract for services is estimated to average 60 hours per month (or as appropriate commensurate with the agenda of activities) anticipating that some months will have greater or lesser hourly requirements to meet deadlines or perform the required work. Depending on the work planned and fundraising for Carolinas AFN, the contract has the potential for growth in the hours.

About AFN

The Asset Funders Network (AFN) is:

• the leading national non-profit membership organization engaging philanthropy (public, private, financial institutions, non-profit and corporate) to advance equitable wealth building and economic mobility.
• a membership organization for funders and financial institutions. To achieve its mission, AFN informs, fosters connections across networks, influences grant giving strategy, and builds momentum for system change.
• committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion internally and externally.
• committed to achieving the vision of economic justice and prosperity for all, recognizing it is a long term multi-generational effort.
• staffed by committed, collaborative and experienced professionals located across the country to advance the AFN mission.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit their resume and a statement of interest via our application portal. If you face any issues in submitting your application, feel free to reach out to us via email at employment@assetfunders.org making sure to reference the position title in the subject line of email. Candidates will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.