Where to Look for Impact Jobs in 2020

Impact Engine
4 min readJun 30, 2020

--

By Elise O’Malley

In 2017, we shared “Looking for Jobs with Impact?” as a response to the growing interest in impact investing and social impact careers. Since then, the impact investing industry has continued to expand, even in the face of COVID-19. Impact investing now takes place through fund managers, family offices, NGOs, foundations, banks, religious organizations, and more. Outside of investing, impact-oriented jobs are available at impact investors’ portfolio companies and other for-profit businesses, particularly as leaders are motivated by COVID-19 to strengthen their corporate sustainability programs.

Below is an updated list of resources that our team has collected over the years, and that we feel are helpful for anyone looking to pursue a career in impact investing or within the larger impact sector.

Impact Investing:

  • The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has an online Career Center that houses international job postings from members of the GIIN Investors’ Council and other industry leaders.
  • Impact Engine is a member of Impact Capital Managers (ICM), a network of 52 private fund managers representing over $11B in capital. ICM’s job board features roles posted by its members, located in the US and Canada.
  • ImpactAlpha is our team’s go-to publication for all impact investing-related news. While the platform requires a paid subscription, its curation of job postings alongside its exclusive content is a cost worth considering.
  • Opportunity Finance, the national association of community development financial institutions (CDFIs), offers an Industry Job Bank showcasing roles in the opportunity finance field.

Social Entrepreneurship:

  • Impact Engine’s job board features current openings across our portfolio companies. All positions entail having a positive impact within at least one of our impact sectors: economic empowerment, education, environmental sustainability, and health.
  • The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), an organization focused on moving forward entrepreneurship in emerging markets, shares job postings from ANDE members and their portfolio companies.
  • NextBillion, which is supported by the University of Michigan’s William Davidson Institute, is a forum for discussions about the ways in which for-profit businesses can address poverty. Its job board includes positions related to supporting social entrepreneurs.

Corporate Social Responsibility:

  • Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a sustainability consulting nonprofit, has a job board that showcases postings from its 250 member companies.
  • B Corps are for-profit businesses that have completed a rigorous certification process to verify their social and environmental performance, among many other metrics. The B Work page houses open positions available at the 2,500+ certified B Corps across the world.
  • Net Impact’s global network of 400+ chapters brings together the social impact community through its many programs and events. Its extensive job board includes postings from a variety of for-profit and nonprofit impact organizations.
  • Reconsidered offers a curated job board and newsletter highlighting social impact, sustainability and CSR-related roles, both domestic and abroad.

You may also want to consider subscribing to the following newsletters, as they offer the latest trends and initiatives within impact investing and social impact:

  • Impact Engine’s monthly newsletter features original content pieces about impact investing and social entrepreneurship.
  • Mission Throttle, an advisory firm for mission-driven organizations, publishes a newsletter showcasing impact investing and general social impact news.
  • SOCAP’s newsletter shares opportunities and developments within the social capital community.
  • Breaking Good by the Case Foundation is a weekly update on impact investing and social entrepreneurship.
  • We tune into EdSurge (Education), Startup Health (Health), Financial Health Network (Economic Empowerment), and ReFed (Food/Ag) to stay abreast of sector-specific updates.

To broaden your network and connect with like-minded professionals within the impact investing space, we suggest joining the following LinkedIn groups:

For insight into a “day in the life” and more specific steps to take for securing an impact investing role, you can check out “How to Get A Job in the Impact Investing Sector,” crafted by our very own Principal Elizabeth Coston McCluskey. We’d also like to especially thank Elizabeth for vetting and compiling many of the above resources.

Finally, while looking for roles in the impact investing and social impact sector is not easy, we strongly encourage passionate, talented jobseekers to pursue this work. And with more and more companies adding ESG or CSR-related initiatives, don’t forget to look inside your current company for opportunities and/or don’t be afraid to raise your hand to start programs at your firm. Addressing society’s biggest challenges on a daily basis is both rewarding and necessary. Good luck!

--

--

Impact Engine
Impact Engine

Written by Impact Engine

We are a venture capital and private equity firm investing in companies that drive positive social and environmental impacts.

Responses (1)