Head of West Coast Philanthropy - US
Educate! · West
Who We Are!
🌍 Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more young people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined.
At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent.
Educate! prepares youth in Africa to learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by:
- Introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary and
- Delivering livelihood boot camps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.
To date, more than 850,000+ young people have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, driving positive outcomes on income, employment, gender equity, family planning and sexual and reproductive health, and educational attainment.
Educate! is already East Africa’s largest employment and youth skills provider, and we’re on an exciting journey to impact millions more in the years ahead.
Educate! is a team of over 300 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations, and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows.
We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Livelihood Impact Fund, Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.
Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year.
Good to note: To Our Awesome Applicants! 🚀💫
We know that incredible candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don’t meet every requirement. If this role excites you, we encourage you to apply!
We’re looking for passionate individuals who believe in our mission and can bring unique perspectives to our team—not just those who check every box. We value diversity and strongly encourage women and individuals from all backgrounds to apply.
Position Overview
Over the past four years, Educate! has grown 3x — and we’re just getting started. With an ambitious goal of reaching $100M in revenue by 2035, we are building the team and infrastructure to match the scale of our vision. This is a rare opportunity to join a high-performing organization at a key inflection point.
The Head of West Coast Philanthropy is a new and entrepreneurial role on Educate!’s revenue team — purpose-built to open a new channel of high-net-worth and technology-sector philanthropy across the West Coast of the United States. This is not a traditional fundraising role. Success here comes from understanding how influential communities form, building authentic trust with exceptional people, and creating pathways that connect founders, investors, operators, and next-generation philanthropists to Educate!’s mission and vision.
We are looking for someone who is hungry and eager to build — not a board-level ambassador or established senior networker. The ideal candidate brings a commercial mindset, strong communication skills, and the credibility to operate independently within founder and tech ecosystems, including managing a ~10–11 hour time difference from our East Africa-based team. Over time, as this channel grows, so will your portfolio, revenue responsibility, and leadership opportunity within the organization.
As Head, you will own the West Coast philanthropy channel end-to-end — setting segment strategy in consultation with the Director of Philanthropy and Global Director of Development and building the systems, and revenue base that let it scale.
What You’ll Do🌟
Relationship Management & Portfolio Development (30%)
- Serve as Educate!’s primary point of contact for a new portfolio of high-net-worth individual donors, family offices, and tech-sector philanthropists on the US West Coast.
- Build trusted, long-term partnerships with founders, operators, AI and technology leaders, and next-generation philanthropists interested in global development and economic opportunity.
- Identify and develop new relationships with prospective supporters in founder, investor, effective altruism, and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
- Represent Educate! with professionalism, credibility, and warmth in external engagements, tailoring your approach to the audiences and communities you are building within.
- Accountable for the West Coast channel's revenue targets and growth trajectory.
- Manages the organization's highest-stakes West Coast funder relationships, escalating to the Director only when genuinely necessary.
- Maintain a deep understanding of partner priorities and proactively identify opportunities to align Educate!’s work with their interests and giving strategies.
Network Development & Sourcing (25%)
- Map and engage relevant communities across the West Coast — including tech company ecosystems, AI labs, startup networks, EA communities, venture firms, and family offices.
- Proactively identify and pursue opportunities to introduce Educate! to new networks, communities, and potential champions.
- Build and maintain a robust pipeline of prospective partners, with clear strategies for progression and conversion.
- Collaborate with Educate!’s executive team and board members to leverage their networks and create warm introductions.
- Develop a repeatable sourcing process that can scale as the portfolio and channel grow.
Convenings & Community Building (25%)
- Design and host intimate gatherings, dinners, learning sessions, and other experiences that bring exceptional people together around Educate!’s mission and vision.
- Create meaningful opportunities for prospective supporters to engage with Educate!’s work, evidence, and impact — connecting vision to action.
- Partner with Educate!’s program and communications teams to bring authentic stories and evidence to the communities you are building within.
- Build Educate!’s brand and credibility within West Coast philanthropic, tech, and founder communities.
- Identify and assess comparable organizations’ networks and pipelines as a source of potential candidates and champions.
Strategic Execution & Communications (20%)
- Develop compelling pitches, one-pagers, and communications tailored to tech-sector and high-net-worth audiences, translating Educate!’s evidence and ambition into clear opportunities for partnership.
- Maintain organized pipeline tracking and provide regular reporting on relationship development, revenue progress, and network activity.
- Work closely with the broader development team to coordinate proposals, reporting, and stewardship for West Coast funders.
- Set 1–2 year strategy and goals for the channel in consultation with leadership — meaningful ownership of segment strategy, not just execution against a plan set by others.
- Proactively keep the Director/Global Director informed on key developments; bring fully-formed recommendations, not open problems, when escalation is needed.
Who You Are 🦸♀️🦸♂️
This role is well-suited for a driven, commercially-minded professional with a track record of owning a portfolio, business line, or major relationship book independently — not just contributing to one. Typically 8–10+ years of relevant experience, though we care more about demonstrated ownership and scope than tenure.
We are less interested in a specific career path than in your ability to build trust with influential people and turn relationships into meaningful partnerships. The ideal candidate brings:
- A strong ability to build and sustain relationships with influential people — you move comfortably in founder, investor, or operator circles and can engage credibly with people who build companies, back ideas, and make decisions quickly.
- A commercial mindset and pipeline orientation — whether from fundraising, partnerships, business development, venture, sales, or startup experience, you know how to build momentum and move opportunities forward.
- Strong communication skills — you can distill complex ideas clearly, tailor messages for different audiences, and inspire action through compelling storytelling and conversation.
- Data-driven thinking and intellectual credibility — you can engage substantively with Educate!’s evidence base, interpret impact data, and communicate it convincingly to analytically-minded audiences.
- An entrepreneurial approach — you are energized by operating with ownership and building a process where one does not yet exist.
- A self-directed working style, with the ability to operate independently across a significant time zone difference from the core team.
- Strong existing networks within West Coast technology, founder, or philanthropic communities is a significant advantage.
Backgrounds that could be a strong fit include:
- Venture capital, startup ecosystems, or founder communities
- Strategic partnerships, business development, or enterprise sales
- Investor relations or capital raising
- Community building or ecosystem development
- Executive networking and relationship management, or chief-of-staff roles at tech companies
- Major gifts fundraising or philanthropy advisory
- Building or scaling organizations as a founder or early operator
What We Offer 
- Educate! is committed to paying market-based compensation for this role. This is our first hire in San Francisco and first hire specializing in High Net Worth giving, so we don't have a set salary band for this role or this location; we will be learning about the market through this hiring process. We will begin conversations about salary expectations early in the process, with the goal of respecting your time.
- If you are hesitant to apply without further information about salary, please reach out to alessandro@experienceeducate.org and share your LinkedIn profile; if you are a strong candidate based on your LinkedIn profile then someone will reach out to you for a quick conversation before you apply.
- This is a full-time position. A minimum two-year commitment is requested to best meet potential professional growth at Educate! and team needs.
- This role is based on the US West Coast (San Francisco Bay Area strongly preferred).
- You will operate with a high degree of independence, working remotely with strong support from Educate!’s global team. The primary team is based in East Africa (~10–11 hour time difference), and we are looking for someone who is self-directed, proactive, and comfortable managing their own workstreams across time zones.
Our Culture & Tenets(Values) 🌱
We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey of their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey.
- We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We are purpose-driven, focused on impact, and prioritize what truly matters. We listen to youth, design our efforts around their needs, and ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences they value.
- We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results—proactively identifying problems and seeking solutions without waiting or stopping at what's requested.
- We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded and continuously try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
- We are One Team, Many Views - We value all individuals, believe diverse ideas and open dialogue drive excellence, foster a supportive and respectful environment where everyone can freely express themselves. We work as one team and prioritize the organization's mission over personal or team interests.
- We have the Startup Mindset - We innovate relentlessly to grow our impact, we never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.”We constantly challenge the status quo, embrace change, and move quickly toward our vision. Unafraid of failure, we question anything that hinders progress.
Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do. Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community. In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team.
We’re committed to ensuring all candidates are screened for child and youth safety. As part of the process, candidates must successfully complete our standard background verification and safeguarding review in accordance with local legal standards. Educate! reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment if any screening results indicate potential risks to youth.