Program Officer, Climate

The Barr Foundation’s mission is to invest in human, natural, and creative potential, serving as thoughtful stewards and catalysts. As stewards, Barr nurtures vital community assets. As catalysts, the Foundation advances breakthrough ideas to shape our collective future. We work in partnership with nonprofits, foundations, the public sector, and civic and business leaders to elevate the arts and creative expression, advance equitable solutions for climate change, and enable all students to discover and actualize their unbounded potential. Based in Boston, Barr focuses regionally and selectively engages nationally. 

Founded in 1997, Barr has grown to become one of the largest charitable foundations in New England and has contributed over $1.7 billion to communities throughout the region. With assets over $3 billion, Barr’s 2026 grantmaking budget is $130 million. We focus our grantmaking on arts and creativity, climate, and education – complemented by grants to strengthen New England’s social sector and for targeted special initiatives. 

A set of core values defined by our founding trustees express our beliefs about what constitutes effective philanthropy and guide how the Barr Foundation carries out its mission. Barr is committed to strive for impact, act with humility, invest in leaders, take the long view, center racial equity, embrace risk, and demonstrate curiosity. These values also guide our hiring process and the workplace culture that we shape together. We aim to make Barr an inclusive workplace where all team members can bring their full and authentic selves and be supported to learn and grow. For more information about Barr, visit barrfoundation.org.

Since its inception, the Barr Foundation has prioritized the environment as a principal area of funding, and in 2010 focused its efforts on the monumental problem of climate change, through work on both mitigation and resilience. The Climate Program’s mitigation strategies focus on the two areas that produce the most greenhouse gas emissions: 1) how we generate and use energy across the Northeast (Clean Energy); and 2) how we move around in Massachusetts (Mobility). In addition, we acknowledge that even with concerted efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, some of these impacts are inevitable. Our Climate Resilience strategy aims to increase the capacity of Massachusetts communities to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change. We believe that while climate change is a global challenge, cities and states have become vital agents of change, and by focusing on these three areas, we can play an important role in helping to catalyze and advance equitable solutions. 

Across this work we seek to center racial equity. We do this by prioritizing communities that have suffered the most from the fossil fuel economy and focus on elevating the leadership of equity-centered climate organizations to grow their power and shape the climate field.

The Climate team is comprised of a Program Director, three Senior Program Officers, and one Program Manager. We are hiring for a Program Associate and this Program Officer position. This position reports to the Senior Program Officer, Mobility.

The Barr Foundation is seeking a Program Officer to work with all three strategies of its Climate Program on shared work in Massachusetts to support the Climate grantee portfolio.

• Collaborate with the Climate team members in developing climate grantmaking strategies that will have a strong impact in areas important to the Foundation.
• Contribute to assessment and modifications of strategy in response to new knowledge, changes in context, and new perspectives, and serve as a thought partner on the Climate team. 
• Maintain a wide breadth and depth of knowledge about the current trends, professional practices, and policies pertinent to the program. This work could include managing research projects to support the climate field on behalf of the Senior Program Officers. 
• Assist with developing and tracking program and project budgets. 

• Work with the Senior Program Officers to manage and collaborate with climate grantees in Massachusetts related to Clean Energy, Climate Resilience, and Mobility. Evaluate new proposals, conduct site visits, actively assist organizations in improving the quality of proposals and activities, manage active grants, assess their progress, and analyze and act on financial and programmatic reports. 
• Manage consultants and special projects related to Climate, including cohorts and grantee convenings.
• Support grantees by being available to support logistics, troubleshooting and questions throughout the grantmaking process.
• Draft internal documents and analyses for Foundation leadership and trustee consideration of grant proposals.
• Collaborate with the Climate and Learning and Evaluation teams on the evaluation of grants or grant clusters in support of program strategy reviews.
• Collaborate with the Communications team to share learnings, shape public narratives on climate issues, and generate positive attention for the work, ideas, and voices of our partners to contribute to the fields of climate, nonprofits, and philanthropy. 
• Coordinate and collaborate with other Barr program teams. 

• Develop and cultivate strong working relationships with grantees, outside advisors, experts in the field, public sector partners, and colleagues in philanthropy. 
• Contribute to the team’s knowledge by keeping abreast of current trends, emerging issues, policies, political landscape, and emerging practices.
• Learn and provide leadership in the professional field through speaking engagements, writing, and use of social media.
• As appropriate, be comfortable representing the Foundation through speaking opportunities, at public events, and through participation and engagement in climate philanthropy serving organizations.  

• Collaborate with the Climate team to provide ‘beyond the grant’ support, including communications capacity building, training programs, organizational development opportunities, and more.
• Manage grantee and partner communications to clearly articulate and share information and opportunities from Barr, and invite, listen, and react to feedback from the grantee, partner, and prospective partner community.

While no single candidate may embody all the qualifications below, an ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences. 

• A commitment to and subject matter expertise in climate change or a related field, as demonstrated through a strong record of achievement with minimum of five years of relevant professional experience working in the nonprofit, public, or private sector. 
• Commitment to, knowledge of, and experience with diversity, equity, and inclusion, including lived experience.
• Ability to listen to and empathize with community challenges and a commitment to supporting the expertise of grantees, partners, and community-based leaders.
• The ability to analyze complex organizational and community conditions; understand policy, political and community dynamics; knowledge of organizational development and systems change work. 
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and execute strategies as part of a team, including the ability to define program objectives, evaluate progress, and independently manage projects through a complete lifecycle.
• Quantitative and qualitative analytical skills necessary for designing initiatives, identifying investment opportunities, and evaluating grant proposals.
• Experience using both objective data and informed opinions to evaluate the impact of an organization’s work. Experience in assessing nonprofits’ health and effectiveness through analyzing financial statements, evaluating the feasibility and strategic value of proposed programs and activities, and assessing management, leadership, and organizational capacity.
• Strong project, time, and budget management skills to meet deadlines; ability to identify, plan, and execute on multiple active projects without sacrificing attention to detail. 
• Experience in communicating with diverse constituencies in a variety of settings. Comfort with meeting design and facilitation is a plus. 
• Independent initiative and a collegial spirit in sharing ideas and receiving feedback.
• Experience with project management tools (e.g., Asana); and database systems (e.g., Access, Salesforce).

The Barr Foundation embraces a hybrid workplace with the current expectation that staff in-office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and working remotely on Mondays and Fridays, with the understanding that some weeks may require an additional in-office day(s) for specific needs.  

Located along the waterfront in Boston’s North End, Barr’s offices are in the historic Pilot House and adjacent Two Atlantic Avenue building. Our walls and halls feature the work of contemporary artists, and the office space is designed to provide bright, open, flexible spaces for collaboration and independent work, and to host meetings and events. With expansive views of Boston Harbor, Barr is steps away from Boston’s “Freedom Trail” and bike share and near to restaurants, shops, museums, and parks.   

The Barr Foundation is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and fostering an inclusive workplace where all employees feel their experiences, perspectives, and ideas are valued. The Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, or other protected characteristics in its hiring, compensation, promotion, or other employment activities.