AIM EFFECTIVE GIVING

Dates: April 15 to June 7, 2024. Location: Primarily online, with two in-person weeks in London in May (transportation costs will be covered).

Preparation begins about 4 weeks before the program with weekly 1-hour virtual meetups and reading assignments. Expect to spend about 6-8 hours a week in the month before the program starts.

Most participants can travel to London on a Standard Visitor visa. We will assist successful candidates in exploring their visa options if needed.

By March 15, 2024.

All costs are covered. This includes travel, accommodation (when in person), tuition, materials, and a modest living stipend (i.e., cash to cover living costs) if you need it. We provide stipends for those who need financial assistance because the program requires a full-time commitment for two months.

Absolutely! If you have dependents you need to care for, you can definitely still attend the program and start an EGI. CE will provide financial assistance in the form of stipends for the duration of the program where required. We are all about supporting you to make it work.

Credentials are less important in entrepreneurship than in other fields. When selecting candidates, we're far more interested in what skills and knowledge you can demonstrate than in your academic history. For example, completing a self-directed project is an excellent indicator that you are a good fit for charity entrepreneurship, as the ability to take initiative and work independently is absolutely necessary for the career. ​ Generally, some useful skills and educational background knowledge include management (particularly nonprofit management), statistics, monitoring and evaluation, ethics, accounting, writing for public audiences, and marketing. However, we’re mostly looking for potential.

Most importantly, you don’t need to have prior experience in starting a nonprofit or fundraising. That’s what the program is for. Of course, project and professional experience is helpful, but it’s not necessary. Many of the leading initiatives in the effective giving ecosystem were started by people with little or no prior experience in the field Entrepreneurial and organizational experience can be useful. However, working in large organizations often gives you a limited range of experience as you work within a single department, whereas starting a EGI requires a broad range of activities. Experience in managing individual or team projects will serve you well. While broad experience is not mandatory, we often receive and accept applications from seasoned experts and managers.

Entrepreneurship of any kind is a big leap. Especially when you factor in the uncertainty of success, the focus on impact over making money, and the prospect of charting new waters. But, nonprofit entrepreneurship as a career is uniquely rewarding. You set your own schedule, make the most important decisions yourself, and can directly measure the impact that you have on the world. No other career path offers this benefits package. If you’re ambitiously altruistic, want to work in the charity sector, and are interested in building a skillset and network that you can use for the rest of your life, nonprofit entrepreneurship might be more attainable than you think.

It depends. If your job is incredibly flexible, allows you to take time off, or go on a hiatus, maybe not. However, the EGI Program requires a full-time commitment in terms of hours you will need to spend on assessments, partner projects, and learning. That’s two months, five days a week, 8 hours a day. CE provides modest stipends for those in need of financial support (i.e., to cover rent) in this period. Kindly be transparent about any other engagements so that we can find a tailored solution. In general, we highly recommend not underestimating the time you will need to work on a new EGI.

Self-doubt is common, but if you pass our application process, you can be confident that you are in the tier of people we are confident in and are willing to invest substantially in. We focus on potential rather than track record and train individuals with diverse experiences. The challenge often lies in finding the right people willing to embrace the uncertainty of starting new nonprofits.

The program includes partner projects in the first 5 weeks, allowing you to test your fit working with different participants. These projects, evaluated by CE team members, help you assess potential co-founders. At the end of this period, you'll submit your preferences for co-founder and project location.

No, the vast majority of participants join without a pre-existing co-founder. The program is designed to help you find a suitable match from the cohort through collaborative projects and interactions.

Existing EGIs have largely come into being organically, primarily just as a result of there being people in these locations up for taking on the challenge. This means that there is a real opportunity for a more holistic approach to identify which other target locations new EGIs could have significant impact. We’ve done our best to identify these promising locations.

We welcome applications from all nationalities. Only one co-founder needs to speak the language or have relevant cultural experience per region/initiative.

Only one co-founder needs to be located in a target country. Remote collaboration is possible, though regular travel may be required.

Yes, but you'll need to demonstrate the potential for higher impact in your chosen location / target group compared to our suggested regions.

No, you don’t need to decide on a location before the program starts. You’ll gain more insights into the options and what suits you best during the program. The choice of location can also be influenced by your co-founder. Keeping an open mind about locations is beneficial.

Participants will be guided on creating compelling funding proposals during the program. We expect at least half of the participants to receive seed funding from CE.

Alternative options include approaching other donors inside or outside our network. CE offers career guidance and connects unsuccessful applicants to relevant opportunities. Joining another CE-incubated EGI team is also a possibility.

No. We'll teach you various fundraising tactics and how to evaluate their effectiveness in different contexts.

No. You'll learn about cost-effectiveness and charity evaluators. Being open-minded about the most cost-effective charities and following evidence-based fundraising strategies is key. Conducting your own charity assessment is possible but not required. The program includes training on understanding the potential and limitations of existing charity evaluators (like GiveWell).

No, moving to a target country is not mandatory. We encourage diverse applications. Ideally, each founder team should have one founder with strong ties to the target country and live there, complemented by a generalist from a different background. Regular travel to the target country might be necessary, depending on your project and team dynamics.

If you found an organization, you will determine your own salary. During the program, stipends are provided for those needing financial assistance, as full-time commitment is required.