About The J.B. & M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation
The J.B. & M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation (“Pritzker Family Foundation” or “the Foundation”) was founded in 2001 by J.B. and M.K. Pritzker with a commitment to and a focus on social and economic justice and equity. Each area of focus for the Foundation was chosen because of enormous inequities in those systems and a deep desire to create more just and equitable outcomes. The Foundation focuses its grantmaking in three areas: early childhood, community health, and civil and human rights.
- The Pritzker Children’s Initiative seeks to equitably expand participation in high-quality services for low-income families with infants and toddlers and reduce racial disparities.
- The Pritzker Community Health Initiative is working to reduce health disparities for Illinois residents by addressing the conditions that lead to poor health outcomes.
- The Pritzker Civil and Human Rights Initiative seeks to address disparities in the criminal justice system and promote justice, tolerance, and dignity for all.
The Foundation has a range of Illinois-focused strategies across portfolios related to these three core grantmaking areas.
The Pritzker Community Health Initiative consists of the following portfolios:
Health and Housing
The Foundation is focused on creating systems of care that are responsive to the needs of the population of high utilizers of the homelessness, healthcare, and justice systems. The Foundation will employ strategies to catalyze the creation of new units of housing, support the deployment of clinical and behavioral services, actively engage those with lived experience to shape solutions and support movement building efforts to expand investments in the homeless system infrastructure.
HIV/AIDS
The Foundation has focused its HIV/AIDS investments in the creation and refinement of the Getting To Zero Illinois plan and aligned strategies, including expanded access to health care and housing services. The Foundation’s goal is to eliminate the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Illinois and improve access to care by those living with the virus. By expanding access to care, our work will help bring the incidence of new HIV infections to a functional zero (under 100 cases per year) by 2030 with a particular focus on those populations at highest risk of infection including transgender people and LGBTQ+ youth.
Public Benefit Access
A strategy has recently been developed to pursue new efforts to expand public benefit access in order to improve household economic security and reduce levels of poverty in historically marginalized communities. The strategy is designed to cut the gap between eligibility and enrollment in key benefit programs and enhance impact by facilitating enrollment in multiple benefit programs.
Reproductive Health
The foundation has worked over the last five years to support work to equitably expand reproductive health access in the state. A strategy is currently in development to make intentional connections between maternal/child health and reproductive health efforts. This strategy will encompass investments in a broad range of approaches to improve outcomes throughout the perinatal period. One of the core partner programs includes Illinois Contraceptive Access Now (ICAN!), which works to de-silo, de-stigmatize, and normalize birth control as basic health care.
The Pritzker Civil and Human Rights Initiative consists of the following portfolios:
Women’s Justice
The Foundation invests in strategies (like that of The Women’s Justice Institute) to provide legal, case management, housing and supportive services to reduce incarceration and ease the transition back to life outside of incarceration decreasing the recidivism rate. The goal is to reduce cut in half the number of incarcerated women in Illinois by 2025.
Immigration
The Foundation’s immigration investments focus on universal representation of unrepresented individuals detained and facing removal proceedings in the Chicago Immigration Court. The goal is to reduce family separations and increase access to due process which will reduce deportations out of the Chicago Immigration Court by 50% by 2025.
The Pritzker Children’s Initiative consists of the following portfolios within Illinois:
Prenatal-to-Three Homelessness
A plan is currently in development to end homelessness and housing insecurity among expectant parents and families with infants and toddlers. This plan, which will be completed early in 2025 will inform the foundation’s emerging work on the issue and guide future foundation investments.
Universal Newborn Supports
The foundation has made investments in the expansion of the Family Connects program in the city of Chicago which offers a nurse home visit to all birthing parents matching them to needed services and supports during this critical time for parents and babies. Early discovery work is underway to expand the model to other regions of the state anticipating eventual statewide expansion.
For more information on the Pritzker Family Foundation, please visit their website.
The Opportunity
The Pritzker Family Foundation seeks a mission-focused, strategic, bold, experienced, and action-oriented Director, Illinois Initiatives (“Director”). The Director will be the key leader in bringing together the Foundation’s work in early childhood, community health, and civil rights into one portfolio for the Illinois region.
Reporting to President Adolfo Hernandez, the Director will work closely with the Director, Pritzker Children’s Initiative, the Director, Communications and Community Initiatives, and the Programs team. The Director will interact with a variety of constituent groups to build and maintain strong personal relationships. The Director will also play a pivotal role in advancing the Foundation’s strategic priorities by leveraging their expertise and relationships to significantly advance initiatives and goals.
As the Foundation continues to create greater impact, the Director will be an influential leader and an integral part of the team of Directors. Internally, the Director will be responsible for enhancing the intraorganizational understanding of the Foundation’s initiatives and align them to create much greater results together under the Illinois umbrella.
Key responsibilities include:
- Bringing strategic insight and expertise that focus foundation tools and resources to create and craft catalytic strategies to achieve large, bold goals.
- Ensuring effective execution of initiative strategies, providing support to the team as they execute, fostering accountability & learning, and partnering in adapting the strategies based on learnings.
- Playing the key strategic role in developing the Foundation’s key initiatives for Illinois, creating bold, large goals, identifying catalytic levers to achieve the goals, building partnerships with key stakeholders, driving superb execution, and promoting synergy across the Foundation’s program work.
- Providing senior leadership aligned with the Foundation’s vision, mission, priorities, and values, promoting cohesiveness throughout the organization.
- Providing clear leadership for and performance expectations to the Programs team, coaching to align expertise for success as well as individual and team growth, and ensuring day-to-day work, resources, and decision-making are optimally tied to achieving initiative strategic goals.
- Cultivating a dynamic team and organization culture, modeling a leadership style that encourages collaboration, reflection, learning, and accountability.
- Staying at the forefront of community impact by exploring practices, lessons, and emerging trends from the philanthropic sector and beyond, identifying issues of importance to the Foundation’s work.
- Serving as a senior representative of the Foundation, raising visibility and amplifying the Foundation’s impact across the Illinois region.
Candidate Profile
The Director, Illinois Initiatives of the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation will have the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics, among others:
A Strategic and Entrepreneurial Leader
The Director will be highly strategic and thoughtful, having the ability and courage to set bold yet achievable goals, create catalytic strategies to achieve those goals, and set priorities decisively and collaboratively driven by those strategies. The leader will also partner with their team on those strategies and execute by delegating responsibilities, holding the team accountable, and supporting the team as they strive to execute. Comfortable developing and managing relationships, this leader will also embrace the 'hands-on' nature of the mission and this leadership opportunity within varied settings. The Director will develop a strong and transparent working relationship with the President and successfully leverage the skills and talents of the team and local partners to create and execute on strategic goals, while working closely with the organization’s various constituents on implementation and evaluation. The Director has the drive and passion to position the Foundation at the forefront of the sector by staying ahead of trends, anticipating new challenges, and positioning the Foundation to proactively respond to them.
An Expert in Leading Change
As an established tactician and leader, the Director will be able to develop and articulate a vision for creating cohesion between the Pritzker Family Foundation’s core initiatives in Illinois while simultaneously executing on its current strategic priorities. This leader’s professional demeanor will enable them to translate bold concepts and big ideas into actionable and measurable plans.
A Humble and Passionate Leader
Above all, the Director must be passionate about improving the quality of Illinois communities and the overall mission of the Pritzker Family Foundation. This leader must appreciate the importance of driving social change through catalytic strategies and investing resources creatively in those strategies. The Director will embody the values of the Foundation and, as a result, will inspire and motivate others. An approachable leader, the Director will lead by example, demonstrating humility, kindness, empathy, respect, and a sense of humor. Furthermore, this culturally competent leader will demonstrate a deep understanding of the issues of justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. They will be energized by the prospect of providing leadership for staff and partners in developing awareness, comfort, and confidence to champion equity in all aspects of the organization and the communities they serve. The Director will be an individual of unquestioned integrity, ethics, and values—someone who can be trusted without reservation.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $180,000 – $210,000 with a generous benefits package.
Contact
Marissa Delgado and George Theotokatos of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express interest, please submit your materials by filling out our Talent Profile or email the team directly at [email protected]. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
Koya Partners is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
The J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.