Job  Board

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) is a national philanthropic organization with a century-long commitment to the well-being of children. In 2025, FCD's Board of Directors approved a bold new strategic framework grounded in social justice that positions the Foundation as a connector and bridge-builder across research, policy, and social movements. FCD operates with intention and agility, funding coalitions, advocates, researchers, and community-rooted organizations working to advance social justice for young children marginalized by racism, xenophobia, and economic inequality. With approximately $130 million in assets, FCD uses grantmaking, thought leadership, organizing, convening, and strategic communications to support ambitious change.

In this urgent moment of attacks on children of immigrants and children of color, the Foundation is leveraging its 125-year history of championing the children most marginalized in society to meet the moment and engage other funders to do the same. This includes a Board decision to double FCD’s grantmaking budget to $7 million per year for the next three years, as well as ongoing leadership in the “1 in 4 Funder Coalition” on behalf of children of immigrants and the creation of a new initiative to organize research-movement partnerships. 

The new strategic framework reimagines FCD’s role as a social justice funder for young children and identifies three clear priorities:

1. Bridging research with social movements to ensure researchers’ work is more often and more powerfully driven by communities’ self-determined priorities for child policy;
2. Bridging organizing with state and federal policy toward child policy agendas that are more often and more powerfully driven by communities’ self-determined priorities; and
3. Organizing philanthropy to support social justice for young children.

FCD’s vision of child policy goes beyond traditional areas like childcare, education, and infant and maternal health to include policies with deep impacts on children, such as immigration, public benefits, tax and budget, and healthcare.

THE OPPORTUNITY

At a time of urgency for the nation’s children and the organizations that advocate for them and their families, FCD’s new Vice President of Programs (VPP) will partner with the President to deepen an ambitious, emergent strategy at a small organization with national reach. While grantmaking is an important tool by which FCD advances its mission, FCD achieves outsized impact relative to its budget by leveraging other critical tools, including thought leadership, relationship- and field-building, convening, and communications.

This is a pivotal leadership role with broad internal and external authority and influence. The ideal candidate will be a senior leader deeply respected in a relevant field who will bring a complementary set of experiences, skills, and perspectives to the President. The President and the VPP will work together to divide up their roles in a way that fits their complementary expertise, with the VPP serving as a strategic partner and having their own areas of responsibility for grantmaking and external leadership. Among the key roles are: a strategic partner to the President; a valued participant and thought partner in external coalitions; a highly effective implementer who can translate a dynamic vision into disciplined, accountable execution that benefits young children and their families; and an external spokesperson in their areas of expertise. The VPP will be a strategic and trusted collaborator, a keen analyst of new ideas and opportunities, and a leader who can build systems, relationships, and workplans that move ideas to reality.

As the grantmaking lead for a small Foundation, the VPP will be hands-on in the grantmaking process, serving as a steward for grantees, shepherding them from concept to application to post-award support in addition to managing the work of a Program Officer and Program Consultants and guiding the broader Program Team (which includes the President). The VPP will be seen as a trusted thought partner by grantees and the Foundation’s partners, approaching our shared work with humility and a strong sense of ethics. An established leader in their own right, the VPP will bring rich, relevant networks and relationships that expand FCD’s work as a convener and voice in the field, and be active in values- and mission-aligned spaces that build bridges to social movements, organize funders, and contribute to FCD’s field-building priorities.

The Foundation is based in New York City, with a staff of seven currently working in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, most of whom work in the Foundation's Upper Manhattan office two days per week. While the Foundation is open to the VPP role being fully remote, the successful candidate will be expected to make frequent trips to New York during their first year for onboarding and relationship building. 

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The Foundation is committed to providing compensation that is competitive within the philanthropic sector. FCD offers a generous total compensation package that emphasizes both base salary and comprehensive benefits. Benefits include a 15% retirement contribution after one year, health and dental insurance, and paid time off.

The salary range for this role is $220,000-$240,000.

TO APPLY

To learn more about Foundation for Child Development, please visit: www.fcd-us.org.

This search is led by Allison Kupfer Poteet and Alejandra Villa of NPAG. Candidates may submit an application via NPAG’s website, including a resume and cover letter that speaks to what draws you to FCD and the opportunity to guide the strategic framework and lead the grants function.

Foundation for Child Development is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a staff that reflects the full diversity of the communities it serves. Candidates from communities with lived experience of the issues FCD funds are strongly encouraged to apply.