[Career review] “Foundation grantmaker” by Roman Duda

Foundation grantmakers help foundations decide where to make donations. They influence large amounts of money ($10M/year at large foundations), though they are often highly constrained in where they can allocate grants. They can also influence the direction of non-profits, build expertise and connections in a cause and make use of generous donation matching schemes for their personal giving. If you’re able to get a position at a foundation working on a promising cause, especially at program-officer level, it’s a promising option.

Narrated by AI.

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Outline:

(00:09) Summary

(00:44) Pros

(01:20) Cons

(01:41) Key facts on fit

(01:54) Next steps

(02:09) Recommended

(02:19) Review status

(02:24) Research process

(02:52) What is this career path?

(03:30) What are the major stages of this career?

(04:32) Who controls where money is donated?

(05:13) What is it like day to day?

(05:18) Program associates

(05:59) Program officers

(06:32) Why should you become a foundations grantmaker?

(06:37) Influence grant allocations

(07:56) Influence the direction of existing nonprofits

(08:22) Assist nonprofits so they run more effectively

(09:06) Create new organisations, collaborations or projects

(09:34) Influence other grantmakers

(09:52) Decent salaries and donation matching for earning to give

(10:53) Strong career capital in the cause you work on

(12:35) Socially motivated culture

(12:51) Good job satisfaction

(13:45) Reasons not to become a foundations grantmaker

(13:50) Narrow experience in a single cause may lead to inflexible career capital

(14:22) Entry requirements

(16:16) Who should consider this option?

(17:20) Global Health

(17:35) Global Catastrophic Risks

(18:03) Meta-research

(18:22) U.S. policy

(18:51) Further reading

The original text contained 18 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
July 30th, 2015

Source:
https://80000hours.org/career-reviews/foundation-program-manager

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.