GiveWell is a research organization that identifies and funds cost-effective giving opportunities, focusing on global health and well-being. Our work is funded by tens of thousands of donors who rely on our research to inform their giving. We’ve grown from raising $1.5 million annually in 2010 to raising over $300 million in 2023.

The Role

We are hiring a Manager, Gift Processing to lead the team and function that processes gifts from over 30,000 donors per year, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The quality of our gift processing function directly impacts the donor experience and therefore GiveWell’s ability to save and improve lives around the world. The Manager, Gift Processing will own critical systems and processes at the intersection between fundraising, donor experience, and operations. They will report directly to our Head of Business Operations and manage a small team of individual contributors. 

Why we’re hiring this role right now: We have recently moved gift processing under operations so that the team can more closely collaborate with our tech and finance teams. We think a dedicated manager over the function will enable us to optimize our operations and reach our goals more quickly.

Specific duties will include: 

Managing your team. You’ll be responsible for leading our gift processing team and seasonal staff. You’ll coach them through challenging issues, mentor and provide feedback to help them grow, direct them on how to allocate their time, and inspire them to bring their best every day.

Oversee gift processing operations. You’ll have ownership over the full life cycle of gift processing: receipt, recording, acknowledgment, reconciliation, and compliance. You’ll ensure donor intent is honored and IRS regulations are met across all transactions.

Managing our donation systems and data. You’ll implement or upgrade giving systems for diverse donation types that decrease risk, reduce friction for donors, and increase efficiency. You’ll partner with tech to ensure there are thoughtful integrations and seamless, high-quality data flow between platforms. You’ll generate reports and insights that inform our fundraising strategy and operational decisions and help us become more data-driven.

Collaborating across GiveWell. You’ll partner closely with our leaders across finance, tech, and philanthropy to ensure our donors have a frictionless donation experience with GiveWell.

Project management. You will take on projects that optimize how we process gifts and evolve our approach at GiveWell. For example, that could include managing timelines, budgets, and stakeholder communication for system upgrades or implementing a new process that streamlines donor communications.

About You

We’re looking for at least five years of experience within gift processing, advancement, or revenue operations. Additionally, the strongest candidates will have a solid track record of:

• A minimum of two years as a people manager where you led your team to exceptional results
• Primary responsibility for an operations function
• Leading strategy and setting goals for continuous improvement
• Leading complex projects and process improvement initiatives
• Experience in a non-profit or mission-driven organization
• Impeccable communication skills, both written and verbal
• Working within a fast-paced startup environment
• Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, including building cross-functional relationships
• Utilizing data (specifically within Excel and Google Sheets) to generate reports, insights, and dashboards
• Ability to flex into administrative details and day-to-day operations 
• Implementing and navigating new technologies and systems

We also think these factors will help you do well in the role and at GiveWell:

• Alignment with our values and a passion for GiveWell’s mission
• Proficiency with Salesforce (we use NonProfit Success Pack)
• Experience hiring and onboarding staff, specifically temporary/seasonal employees
• Growth mindset and skill in delivering feedback, seeking feedback, and taking action in response to feedback
• Composure during stressful, intense spurts of work (e.g., giving season)
• Familiarity with Asana for project management

Key Questions & Information

What is giving season like at GiveWell?

Seventy percent of our donations occur during the giving season (October through January), which resulted in over 56,000 gifts during those four months last year. Throughout giving season, we narrowly focus on supporting the philanthropy team and ensuring that donors have a positive experience. In the off-season, we concentrate on enhancing our capacity, mitigating risks, engaging in strategic initiatives, and improving our skill sets.

What are some of the reasons this role is exciting?

This is an incredibly high-leverage position from an impact perspective. Improvements in GiveWell’s gift processing function have an outsized impact due to the scale of funding, the number of donations (over 30,000 donors per year), and the high-impact uses of the funding.

What are some of the reasons I might not like this role?

We’re seeking a hands-on leader who enjoys getting involved in the work. If you’re someone who prefers a role focused entirely on management, this might not be the best match for you.

What is the hiring process like?

Our basic plan for the hiring process is listed below. If you move to step 2, you’ll be in touch with a member of our recruiting team who will quickly answer any questions about logistics and timelines.

1. Submit your application below. You don’t need to write a cover letter (we deliberately turned off the cover letter upload field); we only need you to answer our application questions and submit your resume.
2. Thirty-minute conversation with our Manager of Talent Acquisition
3. Short multiple-choice assessment to evaluate your Excel skills.
4. Three virtual interviews with several folks across our operations and outreach teams, amounting to around four hours of synchronous interview time. One of the interviews will require preparing some materials in advance.
5. Reference checks.
6. Offer.

Please note that we could choose not to move forward at any stage of the process described above, and we do not share individualized evaluative feedback with applicants.

We plan to devote substantial time to reviewing applications, and we will respond to everyone who applies. We’ll review applications on a rolling basis, so it’s better to apply sooner. If we decide to close the application by a specific deadline, we’ll update this page at least one week in advance.

Details

• • Team: You’ll report to our Head of Operations and manage a team of three (and potentially additional seasonal staff).
  • Compensation:
    • New York City or the San Francisco Bay Area: $152,400
    • All other US locations: $138,200
    • International: Similar to the “all other US locations” salary, based on historical exchange rates and delivered in locally-denominated currency. We can share a precise figure upon request after the first work trial stage.
  • Location: GiveWell’s staff work primarily remotely within the US and abroad. This position is eligible to work fully remotely.
    • Offices: You are welcome but not required to work from our offices in Oakland, California; Brooklyn, NYC; or London, UK. We’ll cover relocation expenses for candidates who wish to move to any of our physical office locations.
    • International work: We are happy to employ staff internationally on a case-by-case basis. A successful candidate will need to commit to a work schedule that has some overlap with American working hours and the schedules of key coworkers.
  • Flexibility: We support and encourage flexible working, including flexible hours, working remotely, and working from the office when you choose. The majority of our staff, including senior management, work flexibly in one way or another.
  • Visa Sponsorship: If you want to work in the United States and need a work visa, we’ll do our best to sponsor it (and also cover up to 100% of relocation expenses on a case-by-case basis). Please note that government entities ultimately dictate our ability to sponsor visas.
  • Benefits: Our benefits include:
    • Fully funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance (we cover 100% of premiums within the US for you and any dependents)
    • Four weeks of paid time off per year
    • 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave
    • Ergonomic home workstations or coworking space memberships
    • 403(b) retirement plan
  • Travel: Every year, we host two Visit Week gatherings in our Oakland office with the entire GiveWell team. We also have an annual operations department retreat. We’ll expect you to attend each of those three gatherings, although we’ll offer some flexibility in the event of major conflicts or emergencies. 
  • Start date: We’d like a candidate to start as soon as possible after receiving an offer, but we’ll offer flexibility for candidates whose personal or professional circumstances require them to moderately delay their start date.

About GiveWell

GiveWell makes grants to support cost-effective programs that save and improve lives. We focus on global health and poverty alleviation in the lowest-income parts of the world because that is where we’ve found we can have the greatest impact.

Since 2007, we’ve directed over $2.4 billion to cost-effective programs and interventions. In the last two years, we’ve made more than $500 million in grants. GiveWell is one of the world’s largest private funders of global development efforts, and we estimate that the funding we’ve directed will save more than 270,000 lives.

GiveWell is most well-known for recommending a small number of Top Charities, which currently support seasonal malaria chemoprevention, antimalarial nets, vaccine incentivization, and vitamin A supplementation. However, most of our research capacity is devoted to finding cost-effective opportunities outside of those programs. 

Recent grants have:

• Helped governments to implement high-impact health programs, like in-line chlorination of drinking water in India and HIV/syphilis screening and treatment for pregnant people in Zambia and Cameroon.
• Funded program delivery alongside strengthened monitoring and evaluation, as in our recent grants to support treatment of clubfoot and to evaluate the program.   
• Sought to scope and scale promising interventions that don’t have clear existing implementers. We are supporting the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s Incubator and Evidence Action’s Accelerator to identify potentially cost-effective interventions and create programs that we would be excited to support in the future. For example, we recently funded a program to provide diarrhea treatment to children in Nigeria that we co-designed with CHAI through the Incubator program.
• Tested our assumptions through further research, including studies on the effect of water chlorination on mortality, the impact of a tree-planting program on farmers’ income, and the effects of combining the RTS,S malaria vaccine and perennial malaria chemoprevention.

We never take for granted that GiveWell’s work is good for the world. We make our reasoning public and transparent so others can challenge it (sometimes we even pay people to point out our errors). We go to unusual lengths to check our assumptions and assess our impact, including funding research and external analysis to address our uncertainties and insisting that our grantees conduct rigorous monitoring and evaluation. We change our minds when the evidence demands it.

Additional information

We don’t want to miss candidates that could do great things at GiveWell. Practically, that means a GiveWell staff member reads all components of every application carefully and considers the whole picture of your background and potential. If you’re on the fence about applying because you meet some but not 100% of our preferred qualifications (some studies suggest this hesitation is especially common for women and people of color), we encourage you to apply anyway.

GiveWell is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer by choice. At minimum, this means that we comply with all federal, state, and local EEO and employment laws. Beyond the requirements of those laws, we value our team’s diversity in all respects, and we desire to maintain a work environment free of harassment or discrimination—we want our team members to thrive at GiveWell. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, contact us at careers@givewell.org. We will consider employment for qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

By submitting an application, you acknowledge that you have read and consent to GiveWell's privacy statement for job applicants. By completing an application exercise, you acknowledge and assent to GiveWell's Work Trial Policy.