Professional Learning

Program Officer Competency Model

Program Officer Competency Model^©

Understand and apply the behaviors of high-impact philanthropy in your work.

Foundation program officers play a critical, nuanced role at the intersection of resources, strategies, and stakeholders. Our Program Officer Competency Model captures this complexity.

Competency models delineate the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that are required to be successful in a particular job or profession. We built our competency model by analyzing more than 100 job descriptions, engaging with expert reviewers, and holding nine focus groups with grantmakers and nonprofit leaders.

We encourage you to use, adapt, and share this model to map your professional journey, structure position descriptions, design training programs, and so much more. The model is especially useful for:

Current and prospective program officers: Use the model to check in on and advance your own learning and proficiency.
Hiring managers: Adopt competency-based hiring practices by utilizing the model in position descriptions, interviews, and hiring.
Leadership: Amp up your grantmaking strategies by ensuring your team has the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

Cross-Cutting

From inclusive practice to strategic thinking, these five cross-cutting competencies represent the professional skills and knowledge program officers need to be successful across all aspects of their work.

Relationships & Field Building

Sector knowledge and capacity building are examples of the types of skills program officers rely on to engage with the broader philanthropic sector and recognize opportunities.

Proposals & Due Diligence

Once opportunities are identified, program officers shift to proposal solicitation and analysis, applying skills like financial analysis while honoring the foundation’s values and equitable processes.

Strategy, Evaluation, and Learning

Program officers rely on strategy development, implementation, and evaluation design and management to implement the grants process and engage in continuous improvement.

Key Definitions

Competencies: The knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) required for effective performance in a particular job or profession.
Competency Model: A collection of competencies that are relevant to performance in a particular job, job family, or functional area.
Competency Dimension: One of a cluster of closely related competencies.
Behaviors: The observable activities demonstrated by individuals proficient in a particular competency.

Sources: Campion et al., 2011; Shippmann et al., 2000

Reuse and Licensing Information

Program Officer Competency Model by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.

Professional Learning

Program Officer Competency Model

Understand what effective performance looks like.

Move beyond knowledge. Take action.

Support equitable and inclusive hiring and staff retention.