Program Officer, Great Apes & Gibbons Program

Founded in 2000 the Arcus Foundation is a private grantmaking institution dedicated to the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world. Arcus’ work is based on the belief that respect for diversity among people and in nature is essential to a positive future for our planet and all its inhabitants. For more than 20 years, the Social Justice Program at Arcus has been a driving force behind groundbreaking work to ensure equality for LGBTQ people, and the Great Apes & Gibbons Program has provided visionary conservation leadership to protect and enhance the lives of great apes and gibbons. The foundation works globally and has offices in New York City and Cambridge, UK.  At the Arcus Foundation, we aim to foster a work culture that is rooted in our values:

• Demonstrating organizational and individual authenticity rooted in integrity and honesty,
• Approaching our work with humility,
• Seeking and valuing opportunities for collaboration inside and outside of the foundation,
• Ensuring the foundation’s work is strategic and rational, and
• Remaining focused on advancing equity for those who are pushed to the margins.

The Program Officer is an experienced field leader and grantmaker who will form part of the
Great Apes & Gibbons Program (GGP) at the Arcus Foundation, with the overall responsibility
of managing a portfolio of grants, implementing the GGP strategy and associated monitoring,
evaluation and learning framework, and managing key relationships with partners. The Program
Officer will report to the Program Director but work in a fully integrated manner with the
entire GGP team to implement grantmaking that develops and supports the different strategies
toward conserving apes in the wild and ensuring the respect and wellbeing of apes in captivity. 

Implementation of the Great Apes & Gibbons Program strategy includes effectively executing
the foundation’s three key roles: strategic grantmaking, listening and learning, and leading in
a manner consistent with the Arcus values of humility and respect. The Program Officer will
also work collaboratively with other departments on projects of mutual concern. 

The Great Apes
& Gibbons Program has two overarching outcomes that it is working toward: 

1. Resilient
   populations of all ape species exist in Arcus priority landscapes that are governed in a
   sustainable, just, and holistic way
2. All captive apes from Arcus priority landscapes live in
   verified/accredited sanctuaries or zoos in range states or the United States

To achieve these
outcomes, the program has three goals: 

1. Conservation and human well-being are reconciled in
   all Arcus priority landscapes.
2. Long-term, holistic, and collaborative efforts that
   effectively monitor and manage current and emerging threats to apes.
3. Culturally appropriate
   respect for the intrinsic value of apes, as individuals, as species, and as part of their
   ecosystem, improving their conservation and diminishing their exploitation.

The Program Officer
will manage the program’s grantmaking and leadership initiatives in these areas. This work will
be consistent with the program’s geographic focus in Africa and Asia. 

The Program Officer will
engage in consultation, convening, research, and interaction with a wide range of activists,
scholars, funders, academics, policy experts, and institutions to maintain the relationships
and networks developed for the program. The Program Officer will work with grant seekers,
developing new grant prospects, managing and overseeing past grants made, engaging in site
visits, reviewing and summarizing grant applications to evaluate proposals for the Board, and
otherwise engaging in the full range of programmatic work in this area. The Program Officer
will strengthen the knowledge base and capacity of the Foundation, gather data (from grant
reports and diverse other sources), build the database and other resources at the Foundation,
and otherwise engage with participants in the field to advance the Foundation’s mission. The
Program Officer will also connect the Arcus Foundation with the broader field of conservation
and animal welfare funders and leaders to develop new funding partnerships and to leverage
funds for the Arcus-initiated strategy. The Program Officer will occasionally meet with and
make presentations to the Arcus Board of Directors and other bodies engaged in these fields.

Application closing date 20th September; interviews to be held in October.