Head of Philanthropy

GiveWell is a research organization that identifies and funds
cost-effective giving opportunities, focusing on global health and
well-being. We’ve grown from raising $1.5 million annually in 2010
to over $600
million in 2022.

We’ve achieved these fundraising results by building deep,
trusted relationships with our donors over time. Our lean team of
seven front-line fundraisers pairs industry best practices with a
dedication to transparency in order to provide honest advisory
services to our highest-value donors, prioritizing long-term trust
over quick financial wins. We’d like to hire someone to take our
front-line fundraising team to the next level. We are looking for
an exceptional leader to report to and partner with our Director of
Development to build and grow a world-class team of fundraisers and
take GiveWell’s impact to new heights.

This opportunity is unique:

• We’re a crowdsourced foundation moving hundreds of
  millions of dollars each year. We’ve found exceptional
  product-market fit and have a history of major donors committing
  between six and nine figures annually. We have no endowment; we
  raise hundreds of millions of dollars each year based on the
  strength of our research product and the relationships we’ve built
  with donors over the years. Our donors are interested in the rigor
  and complexity of our research, and we mostly raise money for other
  organizations, which makes this work look and feel different than
  most nonprofit fundraising.
• Moving more money is an organizational
  priority. Our primary goal is to move as much money as
  possible to the most cost-effective giving opportunities that we
  can find. We can only do that with a strong fundraising strategy
  that deepens our relationships with key donors all around the
  world. We are committed to ensuring the fundraising team has the
  resources it needs to succeed.
• Unique donor pyramid. Our donor base ranges
  from billionaires giving tens and even hundreds of millions of
  dollars each year to a “long tail” of individuals giving <$100.
  You’ll be responsible for appropriately staffing outreach for the
  full portfolio of donors, with specific focus on donors giving over
  $10,000.
• Impact pathway. GiveWell’s work saves and
  improves lives around the world. This role can be the difference
  between reaching and not reaching our ambitious fundraising goals,
  which, according to our research estimates, translate to around
  20,000 additional lives saved.
• We have a strong brand that donors want to engage
  with. We have built a trusted research product that many
  people write
  about and engage with. Donors have a high
  level of trust in us, and many are eager for deeper engagement and
  relationships.
• High pay, high expectations, high performance.
  We’re a small team because we’re able to attract the best. We
  maintain a high-performing, collegial culture and pay
  accordingly.

Core responsibilities

• Managing the fundraising team. Your primary
  responsibility will be hiring, growing, and leading the team of
  front-line fundraisers, acting like the manager of a
  high-performing sales team. You’ll coach them through challenging
  issues, direct them on how to allocate their time, and inspire them
  to bring their best to their job every day.
• Developing our donor engagement strategy.
  You’ll work with the Director of Development to develop and execute
  a strategy for engaging with all types of donors, from the largest
  and most invested to the smallest “mass” donors.
• Owning relationships with major donors. You
  and your team will own relationships with major donors, some of
  whom are giving millions of dollars via GiveWell each year.
• Owning engagement with our donors. You will
  oversee the team in charge of the program for donors giving between
  $10,000 and $1 million. The goal is to maintain donor retention
  while spotting the opportunities for donors who can grow their
  giving capacity over time.
• Partner with other outreach team leads. You’ll
  work collaboratively with the leaders of the communications and
  development operations teams.
• Special projects as needed. For example, we’re
  thinking about whether we should offer any bespoke research
  services. We’ll ask you to take point on developing a point of view
  on this and similar decisions.
• Anything else that helps us achieve our
  mission. We hope you’ll come with ideas.

Who might be a good fit

You might be a good fit for this work if you:

• Have experience fundraising from ultra-high-net-worth
  individuals (or equivalent relationship management experience in
  other settings, such as B2B sales or business development). You
  understand the challenges and opportunities specific to this group
  of donors, and how to work with them most effectively.
• Are an experienced manager with a talent for developing and
  motivating high performers.
• Have a solid understanding of GiveWell’s work. You feel able to
  represent GiveWell positively and persuasively to donors with a
  wide range of backgrounds and levels of familiarity with our
  work.
• Are sufficiently comfortable with economic principles and
  quantitative reasoning to translate technical content for a
  non-technical donor audience (with support from other staff—you
  don’t need to be an expert on our research yourself).
• Have great interpersonal skills and the ability to interface
  effectively with people in all program areas at GiveWell and
  externally.
• Have experience developing team strategy and identifying and
  executing opportunities to grow revenue streams.

The ideal candidate for this position will possess many of the
skills and experiences described above. However, there is no such
thing as a “perfect” candidate. If you are on the fence about
applying because you are unsure whether you are qualified, we would
strongly encourage you to apply. We hope you’ll also tell us which
elements of the role you’re most and least excited about.

Role details and benefits

• Compensation:
  • Tier 1 (NYC or the San Francisco Bay Area): $229,000
  • Tier 2 (all other U.S. locations): $208,000
  • International: Determined on a case-by-case basis.
• Location: GiveWell’s staff work primarily
  remotely within the U.S. and abroad.
  • Offices: You are welcome but not required to work from our
    offices in Oakland, California, or Brooklyn, NYC.
  • International work: We are happy to employ staff
    internationally on a case-by-case basis. Given the managerial
    nature of this role, a successful candidate will need to work hours
    that have a certain minimum overlap with American working hours and
    the schedules of key coworkers.
• Flexibility: We support and encourage flexible
  working, including flexible hours, working remotely, and working
  from the office when you choose. The majority of our staff,
  including senior management, work flexibly in one way or
  another.
• Visa Sponsorship: We will attempt to sponsor
  work visas for hired staff members who wish to move to the US.
  However, please be aware that processing times are country specific
  and are much longer than usual right now. We are also unable to
  control visa eligibility and cannot guarantee visa approval.
• Benefits: Our benefits include:
  • Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (we
    cover 100% of premiums within the US for you and any
    dependents)
  • Four weeks of paid time off per year
  • Four months of fully paid parental leave
  • Ergonomic home workstations or coworking space memberships
  • 403(b) retirement plan
  • You can see our full list of benefits here
• Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as
  soon as possible after receiving an offer.

To apply

Apply here. We only accept
applications through our website. We also encourage you to review
our FAQ document.

About GiveWell

GiveWell is
motivated by the simple question: How can we do as much
good as possible?

Our staff researches and makes grants to support the most
cost-effective global health programs that save and improve lives.
We focus on global health and poverty alleviation in the
lowest-income parts of the world because that is where
we’ve found we can have the greatest impact.

Since 2007, we’ve directed over $2 billion to cost-effective
programs and interventions. In 2022, we directed over $400
million. GiveWell is one of the world’s largest private funders
of global development efforts, and we estimate that the funding
we’ve directed has saved more than 200,000 lives.
Recent grants have supported programs that:

• Are evidence-backed, cost-effective, transparent, and in need
  of more funding. Many of our largest grants have
  supported malaria
  chemoprevention, antimalarial
  nets, vaccine
  incentivization, vitamin
  A supplementation, and deworming
  medication.
• Seek to scope and scale promising interventions that don’t have
  clear existing implementers. We are supporting the Clinton
  Health Access Initiative’s Incubator and Evidence
  Action’s Accelerator to identify potentially
  cost-effective interventions and create programs that we would be
  excited to support in the future. For example, we
  recently funded
  a program to provide diarrhea treatment to children in
  Nigeria that we co-designed with CHAI through the Incubator
  program.
• Test our assumptions through further research, including
  studies on the
  effect of water chlorination on mortality, the
  impact of a tree-planting program on farmers’ income,
  and the
  effects of combining the RTS,S malaria vaccine and perennial
  malaria chemoprevention.

Additional information

If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability,
you may contact us at [email protected].

As part of our dedication to the diversity of our staff,
GiveWell is committed to the principles of Equal Employment
Opportunity and to making employment decisions based on merit and
value. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and
local laws providing Equal Employment Opportunities, as well as all
laws related to terms and conditions of employment. We desire to
maintain a work environment free of harassment or discrimination
due to sex, race, religion, color, creed, national origin, sexual
orientation, gender identity or gender expression, citizenship,
physical or mental disability, marital status, familial status,
ethnicity, ancestry, status as a victim of domestic violence or
sexual assault, age, or any other status protected by federal,
state, or local laws.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest
and conviction records.

Note: Confidence can sometimes hold you back from applying
for a job, so we want to assure you that there’s no such thing as a
“perfect” candidate. We’re looking for exceptional people who are
deeply motivated by maximizing global well-being. Regardless of
your identity and background, we hope you’ll apply if this role
would make you excited to come to work every day.