Request for Proposals: Effective Careers

By Melanie Basnak🔸, Kearney Capuano 🔸 @ 2026-03-16T19:37 (+40)

This is a linkpost to https://coefficientgiving.org/funds/effective-giving-and-careers/request-for-proposals-effective-careers/

We are excited to announce a new Request for Proposals (RFP) for effective career organizations, defined as initiatives devoted to providing mentorship, advice, and opportunities to help people pursue highly impactful careers. Through this RFP, we aim to identify and support additional efforts in the effective careers space and streamline the application process for potential grantees.

Motivation

The Effective Giving & Careers program supports a variety of effective career organizations across multiple countries and demographics. Examples of current grantees include High Impact Professionals, Impactful Policy Careers, and Probably Good. 

Effective careers currently comprises around ~20% of our portfolio. We are excited about increasing this percentage and have been positively surprised by the growth potential of the effective careers ecosystem. We believe that there are more organizations, projects, and individuals doing work that would fit our portfolio. Through this RFP, we hope to: 

1. Invite and encourage new and existing effective career organizations to apply for funding
2. Pitch potential organizations and programs we would be excited to see in the space
3. Simplify and standardize the application process for both applicants and our internal review team
4. Better understand the current funding needs and gaps within the effective careers space  

Eligibility

Any organization or project contributing to effective career development is eligible to apply. This includes, but is not limited to: 

• Talent incubation or career fellowship programs
• Career counseling/advising/coaching services
• High-impact career networks
• Talent matching and/or headhunting services
• Media pushes to promote effective careers

Additional Considerations: 

Your organization should be able to justify how it can use (additional) funding in a cost-effective way. 

Existing grantees on renewable grants will continue to be assessed for general support on their regular schedule. However, they are welcome to apply for top-up funding if they believe they can utilize additional funds cost-effectively.

Potential ideas we’d be excited about: 

(This is not an exhaustive list, but we hope it helps spark ideas and generate interest.)

• High-impact career accelerator/entrepreneurship programs
• Career coaching programs for experienced/senior professionals
• Volunteer or internship placement programs at a network of impactful orgs
• Country or demographic specific talent efforts, especially in certain LMICs where many impactful charities operate/could operate (e.g. 1:1 career advising and support in India)
• Career counseling partnerships with universities (e.g. partnering with career centers to promote high-impact pathways and/or recruit top talent)
• Programs targeting policy students, or people aspiring to work or already working in government (e.g. government or think tank placement programs for global health and wellbeing policy areas, fellowship programs for early-career policy professionals)
• A talent discovery program using prizes/grants to surface and empower high-potential individuals across diverse backgrounds
• Headhunting/talent matching services (e.g. proactive sourcing of senior professionals for hard-to-fill roles at high-impact organizations)
• Action-oriented networks for professionals in high-leverage positions (e.g. a network for professionals in finance, tech, or policy with structured giving or career pledges)
• Media pushes to promote effective careers (e.g. a podcast about effective careers, with each episode featuring a case study)
• Infrastructure/shared services for effective career organizations (e.g. recruitment support, marketing/growth expertise)

Funding amount and grant structure

In general, we think unrestricted funding for general operating support is often the most valuable kind of funding, so we aim to provide that by default where possible. That being said, we are open to funding specific projects or needs. Additionally, other factors such as the grantee’s corporate structure may influence how we structure our grant.

We expect most grants to be for one or two years, and to be non-renewable by default.

Selection criteria and evaluation process

We expect to consider the following key factors in our assessment:

• Our forecasts of impact and cost-effectiveness
• Strength of the theory of change and plans moving forward
• Track record (if applicable)
• Scalability and growth potential
• Strategic fit with our current portfolio

The application form is designed to be comprehensive and provide all of the information we think we will need to assess the candidates. That being said, we may reach out to certain applicants for additional information. 

Application logistics

You can apply using this link.

Applications are due by Apr 20, 2026.

We expect to make decisions by the beginning of June. Due to the anticipated high number of applications, we won’t be able to provide individualized feedback to organizations we decide not to fund.

If you have any questions regarding eligibility, application requirements, or anything else related to this RFP, please feel free to contact Kearney Capuano (kearney.capuano@coefficientgiving.org) and Melanie Basnak (melanie.basnak@coefficientgiving.org).