Acre is proud to partner with Tilt Collective in their search for a National Director, USA. Tilt Collective is a fast-moving philanthropic initiative backed by $76M from leading climate philanthropies, on a mission to accelerate the transition to a plant-rich food system across five countries.
Do you believe the food system is one of the most powerful levers for change on climate, nature, and health? Do you have the knowledge and experience to move the needle at a systemic level?
We are looking for a bold, strategic thinker. Someone who can challenge the dominant narrative, forge a new path, and clearly articulate a vision for what needs to happen and why. If that sounds like you, we encourage you to read the job description below.
About Tilt Collective
Tilt Collective is a philanthropic initiative with a mission of advancing a balanced food system where the healthiest, most sustainable foods are the easiest and most affordable option for everyone. We believe that changing what food we produce – alongside how it is produced – can have one of the largest positive impacts on the climate, nature, and health crises. Our focus has been on accelerating the transition towards plant-rich diets, given the climate, nature, health, and resilience benefits this can provide.
Since its inception in late 2024, Tilt Collective has raised $76m from eight leading climate philanthropies and disbursed grants to upwards of 50 partners across five countries. We are targeting $500m over five years, alongside an expansion into several new countries. Our primary functions are: grantmaking to impactful organizations and initiatives, developing strong ecosystems in each of our countries of operation, and increasing the salience of the issue among climate, nature and health donors. We currently operate in five countries: the UK, Germany, Brazil, Thailand and the US. We take a localized approach, where each country program is led by an in-country Director.
Position Overview
Reporting to the Senior Director of Programs, you will lead and execute Tilt Collective’s US program. We would like you to create one of the most impactful US philanthropic programs advancing a plant-rich food system.
You will refine Tilt’s US strategy, oversee grantmaking, and manage a portfolio of grantees. You will work to strengthen the US NGO movement and also garner support for the issue and for Tilt among existing and new donors. You will do this working with significant autonomy, while drawing on the expertise of Tilt’s global team.
Responsibilities
Strategy Development
- Refine Tilt’s US strategy to identify the most critical levers of change, the most effective approaches Tilt should prioritize, and the ecosystem required to achieve it. The strategy should cover all three of Tilt’s pillars of work: policy change, private sector, and narrative change.
- Articulate Tilt’s US strategy clearly and concisely, in a way that can be understood by donors and other audiences.
- Proactive outreach to different parts of the food systems field – learning from the environment, health, consumer, farmer, and other constituencies to develop an effective strategy.
- Work with the Tilt Collective leadership team, other country/region leads, and thematic program leads to identify cross-learning and opportunities that span various markets.
Grantmaking and Grantee Management
- Scope a range of potential US grantees and initiatives across a range of fields (e.g. health, economy, food security, climate, animal advocacy, water). This may include helping to fund new initiatives or organizations.
- Prioritize grantmaking considering a range of factors. These include, but are not limited to: the potential impact of the grants over time, different budget scenarios, and the needs of the ecosystem.
- Manage the process to secure grant approvals. This will require engaging with Tilt’s Leadership Team and Grants function to ensure grant proposals meet organizational requirements.
- Provide ongoing support and strategic guidance to grantees during the grant execution period.
- Provide regular reporting on grant-making strategy and grantees – in collaboration with Tilt Collective Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation team.
Field Building
- Establish and ensure the execution of directed network/s, in which coordination mechanisms are in place to align grantee efforts towards common goals.
- Identify gaps in the ecosystem and seek to fill them, potentially through grantmaking.
- Learn from other leaders in the field (e.g. philanthropic initiatives, civil society groups, private sector, and policy groups) to inform the development of the ecosystem. This includes keeping abreast of relevant developments in the political economy, technology, science, trade, and other areas as relevant.
Fundraising and Partnership Development
- Engage with philanthropy and grant-making institutions to support Tilt’s fundraising, in coordination with Tilt’s fundraising team.
- Help to build the salience for Tilt’s US program and for Tilt as a delivery partner among donors.
- Collaborate with Tilt’s fundraising team to create donor-facing briefings and other materials about Tilt’s US program as required.
- Represent Tilt Collective externally as required.
Key Behaviors
- Curious – Tilt exists to address a dynamic, complex, multi-faceted problem. Success requires a hunger to continuously learn, including into areas that lie beyond one’s existing knowledge base and comfort zone.
- Decisive – We will often have to make decisions at speed with imperfect information. Success in the role requires an ability to do this, while being humble enough to recognize the assumptions we are making.
- Ambitious – We want to make a significant impact on a difficult issue. Success in the role requires belief that we can do this.
- Entrepreneurial – We exist to advance an issue further than it has gone before. Success in the role requires creativity, persistence and proactively identifying opportunities. It may involve challenging common assumptions.
- Empathetic – Everything we do relies on trust and partnership with a small group of individuals. Success in the role requires an ability to understand their diverse perspectives and needs. It also requires sometimes communicating difficult decisions (e.g. to potential grantees).
Qualifications
- Extensive and demonstrable professional experience in climate and health, with experience addressing food systems. This could be in a government, private sector, civil society, or philanthropic context, with a preference for relevant experience in philanthropy, advocacy, and/or civil society settings.
- Experience in designing high-level strategies and translating them to implementation, with an acute focus on impact.
- Strong networking and interpersonal skills to build connections with partners and grantees.
- Experience engaging donors, ideally in a philanthropic setting.
- Strong civil society, donor and business stakeholder network in a relevant national context, and a solid reputation in the field.
- Ability to work across different disciplines or fields of food system transition (environment, health, farming, animal rights, social development, food security, consumers).
- Adaptable and able to work effectively in a dynamic and changing landscape.
- Commitment to building an inclusive and collaborative working culture.
- Ability to work within a virtual, remote team, as well as in-person when required.
- Experience in budget management.
If you would like to learn more or be considered for this position, please apply directly through this link or reach out to Richard Kent at Richard.kent@acre.com.
