Program Assistant, The Monuments Project at The Mellon Foundation

The Mellon Foundation 

Program Assistant, The Monuments Project (Office of the President) 

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (“Foundation”) believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and we believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. The Foundation makes grants in four core program areas—Higher Learning, Arts and Culture, Public Knowledge, and Humanities in Place—and through three signature Presidential Initiatives. The Foundation seeks a Program Assistant for one such Presidential Initiative—the Monuments Project—in the Office of the President. 

About The Monuments Project: 

Launched in 2020 with a $250 million commitment and expanded in late 2023 to be a $500 million initiative, The Monuments Project seeks to reshape the United States’ commemorative landscape by supporting public projects that more completely and accurately represent the multiplicity and complexity of American stories. Today, our public realm disproportionately celebrates a limited few and overlooks the multitudes who have made and shaped our society, limiting our understanding of our collective history. This failure to represent our multiplicity impacts how we perceive, distribute, and demonstrate power in the US. The Monuments Project builds on the Foundation’s efforts to express, elevate, and preserve the stories of those who have often been denied historical recognition, and explores how we might foster a more complete telling of who we are as a nation. Please visit the initiative page to learn more about the Monuments Project’s grants.   

Position Summary: 

Reporting to the Program Associate for the Monuments Project, the Program Assistant will provide programmatic, logistical, and research support to the work of the Monuments Project team. The successful candidate will be highly motivated, collaborative, and congenial, with well-developed written and oral communication and organizational skills. This position includes independent work on ongoing grantmaking activities; episodic research; collaborative work with colleagues across program areas and around the Foundation; periodic travel, and limited administrative work. The position requires continuous orientation to programmatic and budgetary detail, flexibility, cool-headedness, effective time-management, precision, patience, curiosity, efficiency, and discretion; the ability to find, digest, and clearly summarize large amounts of information; and capacity to conceptualize and strategize at the programmatic level. We expect the successful candidate will be a collegial, understanding, and generous person in internal and outward-facing communications.  

Position Details:

Responsibilities may include, but will not be limited to, the following: 

• Manage the inquiry review process by compiling inquiries submitted through Fluxx, performing initial research, moving inquiries through the workflow, and requesting concept notes  
• Review concept notes and conduct research to contextualize them, as assigned 
• Support the proposal development process by advising grantees in the preparation and revision of the narrative and—particularly–financial components of proposals 
• Monitor and carefully review all narrative and financial reports, correspond with grantees about deficiencies, alert program colleagues to unresolved difficulties, and take appropriate actions 
• Identify the need for grant modifications to project scope, timeline, and budget, and facilitate the modification approval process by providing instructions to the grantee, reviewing submitted materials, and advancing records through the Fluxx workflow 
• Work with other Foundation departments to ensure timely delivery and processing of grant-related information, and facilitate rapid response to internal questions as they arise 

• Participate in virtual and in-person meetings with current and potential grantees; take notes and maintain records in Fluxx on grant and potential grant activities. 
• Serve as a resource for grantees and support post-award management  
• Develop agendas for weekly team meetings, take detailed notes, and track action items  
• Pull and analyze data related to Monuments Project grantmaking from Fluxx and Power BI  
• Create and maintain Monday boards to track the status of Monuments Projects grantmaking and adherence to internal deadlines   
• Contribute to the development of special research projects, convenings, and events related to the Initiative  
• Monitor initiative budget and identify any discrepancies 
• Keep grant records in Fluxx up to date and complete 
• Identify and circulate news, conferences, and events that are of relevance to the initiative 

Qualifications: 

A bachelor’s degree, preferably in the arts, humanities, or architecture, is preferred but not required; candidates with equivalent experience will also be considered. Full-time experience in a fast-paced, high-volume office environment and experience with grants administration is helpful. 

Applicants should possess: 

• Rigorous attention to detail  
• Proven ability to take direction but also to work with minimal direct supervision 
• Experience successfully managing multiple projects on different timelines 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; excellent analytical, critical thinking, and 
• organizational skills with precise attention to detail 
• Ability to read and understand organizational budgets 

• An orientation toward self-starting, proactive anticipation of team needs, and creative problem solving 
• Willingness to learn from mistakes 
• Flexibility, adaptability, curiosity, integrity, and a good sense of humor 
• A high degree of competency in the MS Office suite, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, and the ability to learn new applications quickly. Familiarity with Monday.com or other project management tools is a plus.  
• Commitment to social justice and cultural equity. 
• Keen understanding of and interest in disciplines in the arts, humanities, and humanistic social sciences. 
• Spanish language proficiency preferred but not required. 

Mellon offers a generous total reward package that provides base salary as well as a comprehensive benefits program. Mellon is committed to providing compensation that is competitive and equitable within the philanthropic sector. The estimated salary range for this role is $78,000-$85,000. The amount of pay offered will be determined by several factors, including but not limited to qualifications, unique skills, credentials, or experience that is expected to impact the candidate’s contribution to the role. We will also consider market data as well as the Foundation’s internal pay equity framework. 

Please note that Mellon maintains a hybrid work schedule, with three days/week in person at the Foundation’s Manhattan offices.  

Candidates should apply by submitting a thoughtful cover letter describing fit for the position and a resume by March 14, 2024. 

The Foundation will consider each response carefully, but only contact those individuals it believes are most qualified for the position.

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