Analyst – Research

Analyst, Research

San Francisco, CA

The Research team at the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) seeks a highly motivated Analyst with a desire to utilize their abilities to create positive social impact by improving the performance of charitable funders and, through them, the nonprofit sector as a whole. We are seeking candidates who express a defined interest in contributing to research by helping to design methodologically sound studies and conducting rigorous quantitative and qualitative analyses.

This is an opportunity to contribute to 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:

• Voices That Matter: How Nonprofits and Foundations Engage with the Communities They Support
• Challenging Times: How U.S. Nonprofit Leaders are Experiencing the Political Context
• State of Nonprofits 2025: What Funders Need to Know

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

This position is based in CEP’s San Francisco, CA office.

The Ideal Candidate:

• You understand that CEP’s work depends on the high quality of our analysis and, likewise, have high standards for quality control, task management, and attention to detail.
• You are proactive and have a strong orientation towards successful problem-solving.
• You are flexible and adaptable in a fast-paced environment; you are gifted at managing up.
• You are confident in your work but are humble in the knowledge that you are always learning and improving.
• 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 enjoy a mix of working independently as well as on teams, and you bring a hard-working, empathetic, and reliable approach to both situations.
• You take initiative, when appropriate, and you are tolerant of ambiguity.
• You are curious and ask questions; you thrive in an environment that encourages diversity of opinion.
• You have the highest level of personal integrity and commitment to excellence.
• You work well within a close-knit team as well as across other departments at the organization.
• 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:

The Analyst will work closely with CEP’s energetic and diverse staff to provide foundation executives, boards, and staff with data-driven insights to enhance the effectiveness of their work.

More specifically, the Analyst can expect to be involved in the following:

• Contributing seminal research to the philanthropic sector
• Performing rigorous quantitative and qualitative analyses using data collected from foundations, grantee organizations, beneficiaries, and/or other stakeholders in the nonprofit sector
• Synthesizing findings, shaping the ideas communicated in final materials, and developing clear and compelling reports
• Designing survey questions and managing processes associated with fielding surveys, as well as collecting information for survey samples
• Independently managing delegated project tasks, and associated timelines, with support from senior team members
• Actively contributing to team discussions, collaborating on cross-team projects, and helping develop CEP’s internal knowledge base and operations

Qualifications/Requirements:

• College degree (B.S., B.A., or equivalent experience) and some work experience or master’s degree required.
• Demonstrated proficiency in statistical analyses such as T-Tests, ANOVA, and Chi Squares is required.
• Demonstrated experience performing regressions will receive preferred consideration.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct quantitative analysis and synthesize findings into persuasive recommendations.
• Proficient with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint and experience with R or Python statistical package required.
• Experience with survey design a plus.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.

We believe diversity and inclusion are key drivers of creativity and innovation and we actively seek out candidates from many types of diverse backgrounds to apply for this exciting role.

Benefits:

Our nonprofit model is central to our identity: our bottom line is impact, not profit. Yet even as a nonprofit, we successfully compete for top talent across both the public and private sectors and offer competitive compensation and benefits, including:

• A commitment to pay parity and salary equity. The annual base salary for this position is $93,479. In addition, this role is eligible for a competitive Performance Based Incentive Compensation.
• Comprehensive health and dental insurance plans.
• Generous paid time off plan, including up to 15 holidays, three weeks of accrued vacation, and four personal days/ floating holidays per year.
• 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, communication, trust, 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 an average of one to two days per week, and everyone will enjoy the option to work fully remotely from anywhere four weeks per year.

Our Process:

CEP seeks an Analyst for a start in January 2026. Our rolling process includes three interview rounds: an initial phone conversation, a skills assessment, and a 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.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

About CEP:

For almost 25 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 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. Strengths of CEP’s work culture are entrepreneurialism, accountability, teamwork, collegiality, diversity, and mutual respect. CEP is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a second office in San Francisco, California.

To Apply:

Please fill out our application for employment and attach a resume, writing sample, 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; Diversity and Inclusion Strategist or Alyse d’Amico, Vice President of People & Culture 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.