2026 Associate Position

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation • Boston or SF/Menlo Park, MA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high-impact non-profit and for-profit social enterprises. The world urgently needs transformational entrepreneurs and their organizations to take on society’s most complex challenges with innovative pathways to improve the lives of the most vulnerable. We know that these early-stage unrestricted investments, dedicated to exceptional entrepreneurs who see the possible, are the building block for profound, lasting positive change. Our model is borrowed from our venture capital legacy. We find, fund, and support exceptional entrepreneurs and partner with them to help their organizations scale and reach their fullest potential. We fund mission-driven, non-profit and for-profit organizations with three-year of flexible funding as we believe: 1) flexible capital fuels essential capacity building and innovation in growing organizations, and 2) multi-year funding, as opposed to a one-time grant / investment, is critical to enabling early-stage organizations to achieve scale. We target organizations that are well positioned to reach 10,000 lives or more within five years of operation and with the probability of impacting 1,000,000 lives or more over ten years and clear visibility towards systems change thereafter. For 20+ years, we have helped our portfolio organizations scale promising social ventures. As board members and close partners, we are capacity builders, strategic partners, and scaling enablers. We are a support team working to strengthen fundraising, build strong and generative governance boards, develop strong leaders, reinforce strategies, cultivate strong and diverse teams, improve organizational effectiveness, and more. We have worked side-by-side as investors and board members for Kiva, Room To Read, One Acre Fund, Last Mile Health, SIRUM, Kinvolved, Phool, Dollar For, Education Super Highway and over 250 other organizations working around the globe and across a wide range of social and environmental issues. We are a high-energy, super curious, low-ego, and inclusive team motivated by a shared commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable or marginalized populations and leveraging our individual and collective skills to advance compelling organizations and committed leaders. With a deep appreciation for one another and the diversity of perspectives and expertise that each member of the team brings to DRK, we work in close partnership to find, fund and support some of the world’s most high-impact, early-stage social ventures. The Foundation is chaired by legendary venture capitalists William H. Draper III and Robin Richards Donohoe and Vice-Chair of Goldman Sachs and former CEO of Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, Robert Kaplan, and funded by legendary investors and foundations committed to making a difference in the lives of others.

Requirements

• Around 5-7 years of work experience in a rigorous strategic role.
• May have a graduate degree or equivalent work experience in fields related to social impact, strategy, and/or impact investing.
• Understand what it takes to get a non-profit and/or a for-profit venture off the ground, and have some familiarity with start-ups or fast-growing social mission organizations.
• Eligible to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

• Curious and smart. Your open and creative intellect will enable you to identify new analytical approaches, to learn on the job, and to spot opportunities to support our work.
• Strong judgment will enable you to distill keen insights out of complexity.
• Flexible and self-directed, with an ownership mindset.
• High EQ.
• A great communicator.
• Organized. You have superb project management skills and exceptional attention to detail.
• Fun. You enjoy learning, collaborating, and working smart and hard to effect change.
• Open to new projects and professional opportunities and get excited by the discovery process that comes with new venture diligence.

Responsibilities

• Support our portfolio entrepreneurs to build strong enterprises (up to 50% of your time; up to 75% in your first year)
• Lead projects that support decision making within our portfolio organizations by working closely with our Managing Directors, Portfolio Support team, and entrepreneurs on a project basis
• Projects include go-to-market strategy, expansion, pricing, cost analysis, financial modeling and impact analysis
• Potential to work closely with our Senior Director of Portfolio Fundraising Strategies to lead follow-on funding relationship management, acting as a navigator to help connect the DRK portfolio with aligned funders across our network.
• Participate in check-ins with portfolio organizations
• Find some of the world’s most incredible social entrepreneurs with big ambitions to make the world better (~10-25% of your time)
• Help us keep a wide-open lens with our open application process, reviewing online applications and identifying high potential opportunities.
• Build your own network and use ours to keep a pulse on where great leaders are entering the field of social change.
• Use your insight, curiosity and analytical skills to help us learn about social entrepreneurs and their ventures, and to help us determine their fit for our portfolio.
• Stay on top of social movements, social issues and opportunities for high impact change on a broad range of issues including education, criminal justice, climate change, economic opportunity, and health.
• Drive a world-class diligence process with a world-class team (~25% of your time)
• Drive a diligence process that is rigorous, welcoming, fair, insightful and inclusive; includes both grantmaking for nonprofits and investments in for-profit social enterprises
• Set goals with the team that make us better each year at finding, funding and supporting a diverse and extraordinary group of entrepreneurs.
• Iterate on systems that keep us running smoothly as a team.
• Use the DRK platform to build a social impact career (ongoing)
• Take the opportunity to lean into your strengths while adding value to DRK.
• There will be opportunities to take on projects and initiatives that build on your individual strengths and interests.
• We are committed to supporting your individual career path.
• Get exposed to an unparalleled range of organizations and issues, particularly around how to design and build organizations for impact at scale.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, disability and vision insurance
• 10% base salary + bonus contribution to your 401K
• Contribution to your health savings account up to the IRS maximum should you choose the High Deductible Health Plan
• 15 days annually of paid time off
• 13 paid holidays each year
• 2 floating holidays
• 3 Summer Friday office closures
• A holiday office closure in December

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree