Coordinator, Research

Coordinator, Research 

The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) seeks an exceptionally organized, detail-oriented, and enthusiastic Coordinator to support our Research team’s survey processes and operations. Reporting directly to the Vice President, Research, this full-time role will provide vital administrative support to the survey systems and infrastructure of the team. 

This is an opportunity to support CEP’s organizational mission of creating insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness. CEP’s Research team provides evidence-based reports on foundation effectiveness and the state of philanthropic practice across a wide range of topics, for example: 

• Emerging Impacts: The Effects of MacKenzie Scott’s Large, Unrestricted Gifts 
• Funding Nonprofit Endowments: Foundation Perspectives and Practices 
• How Foundations Are Responding to the U.S. Supreme Court Affirmative Action Rulings 

If you are seeking a mission driven and socially meaningful administrative opportunity to support a highly motivated and dynamic team in a fast-paced environment, we strongly encourage you to apply.  

This position is based in our San Francisco, CA office.  

The Ideal Candidate 

• You are extremely organized and detail-oriented. You consistently produce high-quality, error-free work, reflecting an ability to complete tasks on or ahead of time with quality and accuracy. 
• You are enthusiastic about serving as a key administrative resource and have a desire to go beyond standard expectations in exceptional situations.  
• You are proactive and have a strong orientation towards successful problem-solving. 
• You demonstrate good judgment and are able to independently manage multiple work streams and demands. 
• You work well within a close-knit team as well as across other departments at the organization.  
• You are flexible and adaptable in a fast-paced environment; you are gifted at managing up.  
• Your communication and interpersonal skills allow you to interact effectively with staff at all levels of the organization as well as external contacts and clients. 
• You have a background and/or demonstrated interest in survey administration, program administration, or research and seek to work in an organization focused on using data to help philanthropy be more effective.
• Your highly positive attitude, shared commitment to excellence, and thoughtfulness are an asset to CEP. 
• You are an excellent ambassador of CEP’s values, both internally and externally, and across multiple settings. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Lead the administrative and technical aspects of survey sample management and design processes. This includes aggregating and managing respondent contact lists for surveys, communicating with internal and external sources; ensuring high quality accurate lists and changes to lists during surveying; updating and maintaining foundation sample lists; and tracking sample attrition over time 
• Employ a customer-focused orientation, as the first line of contact for foundation leaders, nonprofit leaders, and donors calling for survey support, and guiding users through the surveying process 
• Provide and update internal documentation regarding the survey administration process and other research-related processes 
• Execute survey administration processes for all Research surveys 
• Coordinate and help execute the team’s survey programming, testing, and editing processes 
• Create surveys and ensure successful and error-free launch of surveys, monitoring survey progress and troubleshooting as needed 
• Manage qualitative interview administration processes 
• Ensure that confidential data and personal information is secure and lead processes to follow CEP GDPR compliant privacy policies 
• Oversee and train temporary staff to assist with foundation sample maintenance, survey processes, report mailings, and other tasks as needed 
• Update and maintain survey timeline tracking for team projects 
• Provide administrative support as needed (e.g., processing qualitative responses, assisting with presentation slide-decks, maintaining team tech licenses, etc.) 
• Schedule and coordinate Research meetings, including managing agendas, notes, and follow-up 
• Collaborate effectively with all members of the Research team and other internal and external stakeholders 
• Actively participate in team discussions, contributing ideas for consideration to help develop CEP’s internal knowledge base and operations 

Qualifications and Requirements 

• An Associate’s degree, or equivalent, is required 
• 3 to 5+ years of full-time work experience required; at least three years of full-time, directly relevant administrative experience is strongly preferred. 
• Strong computer/technical skills; demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook; familiarity with Qualtrics, Salesforce, and Zoom or similar programs required.
• Outstanding writing and communication skills with a keen attention to detail. 

Benefits 

We successfully compete for top talent across the public and private sectors and offer competitive compensation and benefits, including: 

• A commitment to pay parity and salary equity. The annual salary for this role is $83,779. 
• Performance based incentive compensation plan 
• Comprehensive health and dental insurance plans 
• Generous paid time off plan, including three weeks of annually accrued vacation, up to 15 holidays, plus an end-of-year break 
• Flexible working schedule options 
• 401(k) plan with a 1:1 Employer Match up to 5% of total compensation 
• Generous annual personal professional development allowance 
• Flexible spending and dependent care tax free savings plans 
• Life insurance covered 100% by the organization 

We strive to balance in-person time with flexibility and the needs of each person, their team, and the larger organization. We believe culture, collaboration, communication, trust- and relationship-building, training, and certain kinds of creative work benefit from in-office interactions – and we believe that the flexibility of remote work also has many advantages. We expect staff to be in the office at least two days per week, on average, and more frequently during new staff introduction periods to support a robust orientation. 

Our Process 

CEP seeks a Coordinator for an immediate start. Our rolling process includes three interview rounds: an initial phone conversation, a skills assessment, and an in-person team interview round. Our process also includes the checking of references in final stages. Check out CEP’s careers page to learn more about how we hire. 

Location 

This role will be based in our San Francisco, California office, where we enjoy sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay. 

We strive to balance in-person time with flexibility and the needs of each person, their team, and the larger  organization. We believe culture, collaboration, communication, trust- and relationship-building, training, and certain  kinds of creative work benefit from in-office interactions – and we believe that the flexibility of remote work also has  many advantages. We expect staff to be in the office at least two days per week, and more frequently during new  staff introduction periods to support a robust orientation. Everyone will enjoy the option to work fully remotely from  anywhere four weeks per year. 

About CEP 

For over 20 years, CEP has led the movement to improve philanthropy through a powerful combination of dispassionate analysis and a passionate commitment to improving lives. Today, over 350 foundations around the world have used CEP’s assessment tools to gather honest feedback from their stakeholders in an effort to learn how to be even more effective. CEOs and trustees have come to rely on our research for insights into foundation effectiveness on a wide range of topics, from assessing performance to developing strategy to managing stakeholder relationships. Our highly regarded programming—including our biennial conference—gives foundation leaders an exclusive and unprecedented opportunity to connect with their peers. Through custom workshops and peer learning cohorts, our new Learning Institute supports funders in driving changes in their philanthropic practice. CEP is based in Cambridge Massachusetts, with a second office in San Francisco, California. Strengths of CEP’s work culture are entrepreneurialism, accountability, teamwork, collegiality, diversity, and mutual respect. 

To Apply 

Please fill out our application for employment and attach a resume and thoughtful cover letter, outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position. If you have any questions, please contact Leaha Wynn, Senior Manager, People & Culture and D&I Strategist or Alyse d’Amico, Vice President, People & Culture and Advisor to the President at jobs [at] cep [dot] org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.  

We believe that a diversity of thoughts, experiences, backgrounds, personalities, and identities helps us think bigger and better, and enables us to reach our goals more effectively. We are committed to building a diverse staff and encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply. 

 Once a candidate begins our process, we discourage outreach to our staff for interviews or conversations that are outside our standard interview process. We have worked hard to design a process that is fair and rigorous and achieves a good match between candidates and CEP/YouthTruth.  

We evaluate candidates based on their merits. We strongly discourage unsolicited references. We will ask for references if and when a candidacy reaches a finalist stage.