The world of non-profits revolves around money. I know it’s counterintuitive, but only the leanest organizations can operate without significant funds. When you’re a business and you’re using money to make money, you typically have some margin for error. But when you’re trying to use money to do good, every bit of effectiveness makes a difference. That’s why The Center for Effective Philanthropy exists. They are a Cambridge, MA and San Francisco, CA based non-profit that works “to provide data and create insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness – and, as a result, their intended impact.” They are what I like to call a meta-non-profit; an organization that serves other charitable organizations.
Be Effective
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s tagline is “Better Data. Better Decisions. Better Philanthropy.” Their goal is to help the people and foundations that fund good work to make the best “investments.” They help with performance assessment, strategy development, governance optimization, and operations management. By collecting lots of data and doing lots of research, The Center for Effective Philanthropy has been able to create “assessment tools, publications, and programming” that are invaluable to the leaders at major foundations. I think one of the best ways to better understand how The Center works is to read about how they assess their own performance. Right now their Careers page shows that they’re looking for a Research Analyst in their Cambridge office, and the positions looks like a perfect fit for a new grad. There is also a Program Coordinator position that is still active on Idealist, but I think they may have filled it.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
EffectivePhilanthropy.org
Jobs at The Center for Effective Philanthropy
About The Center for Effective Philanthropy
People at The Center for Effective Philanthropy
The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Annual Reports
What do you think of The Center for Effective Philanthropy?