Note: the deadline for applications has been extended to June 29th. 

The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) is seeking an experienced leader to join our senior leadership team as the Director of  EA Funds. EA Funds is an established grantmaking organization that currently operates as an independent project but is merging into CEA.

We wrote about the merger of CEA and EA Funds here, and now we’re looking for an ambitious leader to scale EA Funds and move (at least) hundreds of millions of dollars.

About EA Funds and CEA

Effective Altruism Funds (EA Funds) is an existing foundation that directs financial resources to particularly cost-effective and altruistically impactful projects. The platform makes funding accessible for high-impact projects and maintains specialized funds in key focus areas, managed by subject-matter experts who identify the highest-impact opportunities. EA Funds is composed of four separate funds: the EA Infrastructure Fund, the Long-term Future Fund, the Animal Welfare Fund, and the Global Health and Development Fund.

The Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA, that’s us!) is an organization dedicated to building and stewarding a global community of people who are thinking carefully about the world’s most pressing problems and taking action to solve them. Our current strategic priorities include growing the effective altruism community, improving the EA brand, and diversifying EA funding sources. 

Our organizations currently operate independently under our mutual parent company Effective Ventures, and will integrate operations under CEA as we spin out from our parent company.

We believe this merger is the best way to achieve our common goal of contributing to a radically better world. EA Funds is a natural fit for CEA’s strategy to steward the EA community and our focus on building sustainable momentum for effective altruism. EA Funds currently directs $10-$20M in funding on an annual basis, and we want to hire an ambitious leader who can scale up our giving by over 10x. Moreover, beyond the direct impact of directing more money to impactful causes, we believe that EA Funds can contribute to CEA’s core strategy on multiple dimensions:

• Growing the EA community, by raising more money, making more grants to object-level and community- or field-building projects, and providing an engagement pathway for people looking to use EA principles to guide their donation decisions.
• Improving the EA brand, by serving as a legible example of how EA principles can contribute to the success of the organizations and causes we support, and making grants to projects engaged in communications efforts.
• Diversifying EA funding, by reaching more donors directly, and making grants to projects engaged in fundraising and donor diversification efforts.

These goals will be supported by other teams at CEA, and CEA’s leadership is committed to continuing to build organizational capacity to reach these ambitions. For example, CEA’s Communications Team will partner with EA Funds to highlight the work of grantees, and we plan to hire fundraising staff that can facilitate donations to EA Funds.

As the Director of EA Funds, you will play a pivotal role in setting the strategy and vision to create a roadmap for success in EA Funds’ next phase. You will be responsible for excellent grantmaking, fundraising, and leadership. The transition will be supported by EA Funds’ current leadership who will continue to lead EA Funds while we recruit for this position.

This role reports to our CEO, Zach Robinson, and will be responsible for managing a team of individual fund managers.

Key Responsibilities

Transition Leadership 

• Create a strategy for EA Funds’ next chapter in close collaboration with fund managers and CEA’s CEO
• Finish leading the integration of EA Funds into CEA's organizational structure, ensuring operational continuity and minimal disruption to grantmaking activities (responsibilities may vary based upon start date)
• Develop new systems and processes within CEA to support EA Funds operations in collaboration with the CEO and COO
  • Note that we have a separate grants management team that handles grant logistics. The grants management team reports up to our COO and will support EA Funds.
• Communicate transparently with stakeholders about changes and improvements resulting from the integration

Team Leadership

• Lead the portfolio of EA Funds grant programs, increasing effectiveness and impact by designing and enforcing effective grantmaking strategies
• Hire and manage fund managers with subject-matter expertise who oversee and make granting decisions within the individual fund areas
• Coach EA Funds staff on their responsibilities, including strategy, grantmaking, and fundraising

Grantmaking

• Directly evaluate projects on various funds while we build out the team. This is partially to address bandwidth gaps while we are hiring, and can also serve as professional development experience for a hire who does not have direct grantmaking experience.
• Communicate your thinking to key stakeholders (e.g., funders, staff, the EA community) in writing, including grant reports, feedback to grantees, and EA Forum posts

Stakeholder Relations 

• Develop relationships with new and existing fund donors
• Represent EA Funds within the broader effective altruism community
• Develop strategic partnerships with other funders and organizations in aligned fields
• Collaborate with grantees to understand how to build sustainable momentum for EA

Strategic Alignment

• Align EA Funds' grantmaking strategies with CEA's mission and strategic priorities
• Contribute to CEA's overall strategic planning and organizational development
• Develop a long-term strategic plan for EA Funds that maximizes its impact and reach

What we’re looking for

Below is a list of characteristics we’re looking for; however, we also recognize we may be unlikely to find someone who fits all of these criteria. We encourage you to apply even if you aren’t sure that you’re fully qualified. 

At a minimum, we want a candidate who meets at least one of the following:

• Have experience in grantmaking, philanthropic leadership, or related fields (e.g. investing experience could potentially be a strong foundation)
• Have experience leading and developing a senior team with ownership over that team’s strategy and execution

You might also be a good fit if you:

• Have a demonstrated track record in successful change management and managing teams through organizational transitions
• Have strong strategic thinking and planning abilities
• Can effectively manage budgets of $10 million+
• Are committed to effective altruism principles and approaches to high-impact giving. You’ve been actively involved in EA and have broad interest in principles-first EA, EA cause areas, and effective giving.
  • This role will be managing fund leaders across global health and development, animal welfare, global catastrophic risks, and EA infrastructure. You do not need expertise in all of these areas, but you should be excited to work on this breadth of causes.
• Have excellent project management skills and can manage complex processes across teams.
• Have outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal. You should be able to build relationships with diverse stakeholders and thrive in a role involving frequent back-and-forth with donors, colleagues, and external stakeholders.

Find the salary, job details, and application form here. The deadline to apply is June 29th.