The Effective Institutions Project is a global working group that seeks out and incubates high-impact strategies to improve institutional decision-making around the world. We analyze how and in what ways powerful institutions influence people's lives, study how decisions are made within those institutions, identify interventions that might cause those institutions to take actions that will lead to better global outcomes, and mobilize funding and talent to execute on the most promising interventions. Alongside all of this, we are building an interdisciplinary network of reformers to share insights, coordinate efforts, and steadily increase the odds of success over time.
Since EIP’s soft launch in December 2020, our bootstrapped team has undertaken research to identify the world’s most important institutions, conducted a survey to refine the scope of our work and strategic positioning, facilitated a five-week mini-course and reading group, and grown the Improving Institutional Decision-Making Facebook and Slack groups. By the end of 2022, we intend to publish our first set of concrete funding and career recommendations for people looking to make a significant difference in this space.
EIP’s work is at an exciting inflection point. With leadership support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Survival and Flourishing Fund, we are building out the organization and exploring new frontiers for our work, and we’d love for you to be a part of it.
At the moment, we have the following opportunities open:
Summer Internships/Fellowships
We are hiring one full-time or up to three part-time interns/fellows to support our research, strategy, and field-building work this summer (precise dates negotiable).
Exact duties will be assigned from week to week based on current needs and candidate interests and skills. Some illustrative examples include:
- Coordinate volunteers researching the decision-making environments at top institutions
- Conduct outreach to key experts in the field
- Research best practices and promising innovations in institutional design
- Help organize meetups, reading groups, and other community events
- Help manage content and personnel for EIP's resource directory and knowledge management initiatives
- Manage relationships with colleague organizations
All internships and fellowships will be paid. Candidates with less than one year of full-time postgraduate work experience will be placed at the intern level and compensated at $15/hr; candidates with more experience will be eligible for placement as a fellow and compensated at $25/hr. Interns/fellows who work at least half-time will be eligible for pro-rated benefits including paid time off. Candidates may work remotely and our goal is not to let nationality/citizenship be a barrier to collaborating with us.
To be considered, please submit an application by May 15 (early submissions preferred).
Operations and Community Manager
The Operations and Community Manager will join EIP as a key early team member and will have an amazing opportunity to lay the groundwork for the organization and help shape its trajectory. This is a full-time, salaried role with strong potential for growth and for the successful candidate to take on more leadership responsibility over time. The full job description and instructions for applying are available here. Please note that we are already interviewing for this position, so if you’d like to be considered, you should get in your application as soon as possible.
Senior research collaborators
Building on our preliminary analysis of which institutions offer the biggest opportunities for philanthropists and professionals seeking to improve world outcomes over the next 10-100 years, we are assembling a panel of institutional scholars to help guide our work in the year ahead. We are looking for people who have a broad and practical understanding of the global institutional landscape (governments, corporations, NGOs, etc.) and how these entities' actions influence one another across a range of issues. In-depth knowledge of one or more of the top institutions on our list is a plus, but not required. Responsibilities include:
- Review profiles we develop on institutions in your domain of expertise, and connect us to other experts who can advise us further as needed
- Monitor important developments at top-ranked institutions throughout the year
- Help us develop quantitative estimates (with wide error bounds) for questions like how many people are impacted by a given institution's decisions in a typical year
The time commitment is expected to be roughly 20-30 hours spread out over 6-8 months, and an honorarium will be provided. If interested, please reach out directly to [email protected] with your CV. We also welcome nominations of other candidates.
Volunteer opportunities
For people who are interested in being involved but have limited bandwidth, we have a range of volunteer opportunities on projects including our key institutions research, knowledge management initiative, and resource directory. For more information and to sign up, please visit this link.
Fantastic to see such strong progress on the institutional decision making front. Hoping that all goes well, and that EA’s newfound riches might even enable better funding for your hiring plans.