Analyst - Assessment and Advisory Services

Analyst

Cambridge, MA

As an Analyst, you will work closely with CEP’s energetic and diverse staff to provide philanthropic foundation executives, boards, and staff with data-driven insights to enhance the effectiveness of their work. The core function of the role is to create reports and share recommendations based on the results of standardized surveys of grantees, staff, and donors that CEP conducts on behalf of philanthropic foundations. Analysts also work with individual foundations or groups of foundations on customized engagements focused on approaches to philanthropy, performance assessment, and organizational effectiveness. If you want to help grant-making organizations to understand how they’re doing in creating social impact, this is the role for you. The analyst will be a member of CEP’s Cambridge, MA 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 confident in your work, but are humble in the knowledge that you are always learning and improving
• You are detail-oriented, organized, and adaptable, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
• You are excited to build trust with key stakeholders and senior leaders, and you exhibit good judgment when engaging with others in professional settings
• 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

Key Responsibilities:

• Analyzing quantitative and qualitative datasets, often using basic inferential statistics and qualitative coding techniques
• Creating clear and compelling written memos that identify and highlight synthesized findings and recommendations drawn from analysis
• Co-managing survey processes, question design, and innovation in CEP’s assessment tools
• Creating and presenting the results of assessment and advisory engagements to foundation executives and staff alongside client managers
• Actively participating in team discussions and helping develop CEP’s internal knowledge base and operations

About CEP:

For 21 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.

Requirements:

• College degree (B.S., B.A.), or equivalent, and some work experience required
• Demonstrated ability to conduct high quality quantitative analysis and synthesize findings into persuasive recommendations. Comfort with running and interpreting basic statistical analyses such as T-Tests, ANOVA, and Chi Squares is required.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Excel required
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience with computer programming languages, such as SQL and Python, a plus: these languages form the basis of CEP’s Online Reporting System and all Analysts will receive some training on these systems

We believe diversity and inclusion are key drivers of creativity and innovation, and we actively seek out candidates with diversity of backgrounds, skills, experiences, and perspectives for this exciting role.

We believe diversity and inclusion are key drivers of creativity and innovation, and we actively seek out candidates with diversity of backgrounds, skills, experiences, and perspectives 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 2023 annual base salary for this position is $80,475 (Cambridge). 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 two personal days per year.
• 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.

Our Process:

CEP seeks an Analyst for an immediate start. 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.

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; Diversity and Inclusion Strategist or Alyse d’Amico, Vice President, People & Culture; 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.

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