An Inside View of Professional Practice

This book represents a first attempt to examine, from a base of experience, the full range of the duties of a program officer. It is not a comprehensive manual, nor is it a checklist. It offers, instead, an introductory discussion about the essential skills needed to be an effective and ethical program officer. Although it was written specifically for newcomers to the field to help them understand the basic principles of good practice, it will also be useful to veteran grantmakers as a means of reflecting on their performance. It should also be of interest to grantseekers for the “inside view” of foundations that it provides.

Although the text was written by a single author, the manuscript was critiqued and improved by a panel of more than twenty program officers and CEOs from foundations, large and small, located all over the United States. The focus of the book is entirely on U.S. institutions, and it is written primarily from the perspective of a grantmaking private foundation (although many, if not most, of the practices described are also applicable to community and corporate foundations). It is important to note that this is a first effort and as such is bound to contain errors and gaps. I hope, however, that the book will begin a dialogue on sound practices in the field, one that will, over time, lead to generally accepted standards of best practice.