Jenna O'Brien Email & Phone Number

Chicago, IL, US

Riverwoods, IL, US

Portland, Oregon, US

Chicago, IL, US

• The Investment Team is responsible for growing innovative ideas and organizations to create positive, transformative change for young people in Chicago and beyond. Everything is anchored in justice, not charity, and.
• Conduct in-depth research on newly established nonprofit organizations and determine a value for funding and supporting their mission in the community; connect with them personally to build a relationship and discuss.
• Perform a 12-week due diligence cycle for potential new investments with early-stage and small overlooked nonprofit organizations focused on social justice, including sourcing, interviews, writing proposals, and.
• Manage a $17M portfolio of 6 investment partners focused on the mutual execution of investment goals, long term research outcomes, organizational capacity building, and scaling of community impact
• Lead the design and promote the newly established Chicago Beyond Partnership Philosophy to better communicate the unique approach to investment partnerships externally with funders and prospective partners
• Spearhead control trials targeting a younger demographic of partners and engage new ideas

Oakland, CA, US

• Developed a comprehensive and sustainable partnerships strategy for the organization that included sourcing, conference and coalition building, contractual standards, internal team alignment, and an onboarding process.
• Spearheaded the design, implementation, and execution of the $600K Transforming Lives Awards in a sponsored partnership with Alquity Investments; supported small, international, and civil society organizations to have.
• Conceptualized, planned, and incubated global experimental programs and initiatives in coordination with partners and the internal Philanthropy University team to support clients in achieving organizational goals
• Secured a $500K dual research pilot with FHI360 in Washington, DC for testing blended learning models using the Philanthropy University platform in both Botswana and Kenya; tracked success rates to ensure the platform.
• Tracked institutional spending on $3M in grants; delivered quarterly reporting and project updates to the funders
• Managed the project procedures, scope, and timelines, and built clear deliverables for each partnership design to ensure alignment with organizational goals and financials

Boulder, Colorado, US

• Served as lead strategist to and advance Watson Institute’s desire to become the strongest social entrepreneurship program for 18-24-year-olds; focused efforts on refining the curriculum, designing and implementing.
• Recruited and hired six faculty members to lead the Watson curriculum throughout the year and continually built pipelines for master course teachers to lead workshops aligned with specific topics in the curriculum
• Influenced leadership to rewrite the learning curriculum; highlighted culturally relevant topics, and boosted the sense of inclusion and belonging at the organization
• Enhanced and formalized the mentor network program detailing expectations, recruitment strategies, pathways for growth, and triaging student issues; each student received at least two mentors within the program
• Managed a budget of $175K for yearly student programming, special events, faculty salaries, and learning opportunities

Chicago, IL, US

• Developed and led the implementation of a solutions strategy for IDP’s new vertical focused on gap-funding for social enterprises, aimed to build a stronger ecosystem for social entrepreneurs in Africa. Spearheaded the.
• Led the first externally-commissioned impact and needs assessment for the IDP Rising Schools Program by guiding senior leadership in firm selection, overseeing project implementation in Ghana, and managing a $250K budget
• Refined IDP’s results-based framework and theory of change with senior management to incorporate new foundational verticals and around international education; resulted in significant funding for social enterprise work
• Spearheaded a multi-year geographic information system (GIS) project using ESRI ArcGIS software to obtain updated school data and geospatial coordinates of over 350 trained schools in the IDP Rising Schools Program.
• Interviewed 2,000 households to remain current on the affordable private school sector and details on education spending
• Managed the foundation’s first Program Related Investment (PRI) in a Kenyan mobile-based learning platform, Eneza Education, to support scaling initiatives that would enable expansion to Ghana and greater West Africa

La Crosse, WI - Wisconsin, US

Chicago, IL, US

Chicago, IL, US

Chicago, IL, US

Master’S Degree, Organizational And Multicultural Communication

Master’S Degree, Higher Education/Higher Education Administration

Bachelors Of Arts, Communication And Media Studies