I first joined ZeroDivide (then the Community Technology Foundation of California—whew, what a mouthful!) as a program officer over eight years ago.

I have no formal education or training in program officiating. (But I should ask: who does? Those of us in the field, we’re all accidental philanthropists for the most part.) There’s no certification per se, no accreditation, no good housekeeping seal of approval for the philanthropy sector.

Being a good program officer is as much an art as a science. I was thinking recently about different ways that you could view the role of program officers (POs) within foundations:

• Loan Officer: Much like at a bank, POs receive and review applications, apply underwriting criteria, assess risk, and, ultimately, help service a grant that is made. But we expect a social return, rather than financial repayment.

• Venture Capitalist: A little bit different than underwriting, this is more about investment. This role is more hands-on once an investment decision is made—venture philanthropists will sometimes sit on the board as a case in point. Either way, the goal is about driving change and increasing performance. Often, venture philanthropists, such as REDF or Full Circle Fund will bring to bear resources in addition to the financial capital.

• College Admissions: Not only are POs responsible for making sound grant decisions at an individual level, they are often asked to ensure that appropriate levels of diversity and balance are represented portfolio wide. It reminds of me of how colleges work to ensure that their student body is more heterogenous than homogeneous.

• Talent Scout: Have you ever fallen in love with a nonprofit and their mission and their program model? If our work is about solving large scale problems, we can’t and don’t do it directly. Therefore, we need to invest in the right people that can execute and be game changers for us. Isn’t that what talent scouts do? Imagine being that program officer that can spot talented nonprofit leadership potential and not just the au currant executive director.

• Baseball Coach: I thought about the right term to use here and “baseball coach” comes the closest. Program officers need to support nonprofits through a foundation’s grantmaking process—which can be complex and convoluted. But, just like a coach, she should give you tough love, especially if you don’t have your fundamentals down and hold you accountable even as she strives to improve your performance.

At any given point, I’ve probably played one or more of these roles. What do you think? Are there other ways that program officers could view how they do their job?