Analyst

Organization
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
Location
This role would be based out of either our Menlo Park, CA or Boston, MA offices with strong preference for candidates interested in Menlo Park, CA.
Job Type
Full-time
Deadline for Applications
05/15/2026
Tags
Full-time

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is looking for an analyst to help us support active DRK portfolio organizations’ top strategic and funding priorities, develop our perspective on specific issue areas, and to source and evaluate potential grant/ investment opportunities.

**Please note: We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, DRK is not able to sponsor visas.

Organization
The 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 blocks 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.

How our Analysts fit into DRK’s work
Our Analysts work across the full span of DRK’s mission in collaboration with our team from supporting active DRK portfolio organizations’ top priorities in fundraising, strategy, finance, communications, to helping us develop our perspective on specific issue areas, to sourcing and evaluating potential grant/ investment opportunities.

The Analyst role is designed to help our entire team bring a rigorous analytical lens to our work. Analysts have a unique level of access to both our Diligence & Investment team and our Portfolio Support team, and to the inspiring entrepreneurs we all support together, and as such we aim for this role to be one of best options in the sector to launch and boost your social impact career.

What you’ll help our team do
(Time allocations are intended to give a sense of the role; they will vary over time and by individual.)

Support our portfolio entrepreneurs to build strong enterprises (~50-75% of your time)
Work closely with our Managing Directors, Portfolio Support team, and entrepreneurs on a project basis, leading projects that support decision making within our portfolio organizations, such as go-to-market strategy, pricing, cost analysis and financial modeling

Potential to work closely with our Senior Director of Portfolio Fundraising Strategies to lead follow-on funding relationship management, acting as a navigator to connect the DRK portfolio with aligned funders across our network

Create standout materials that showcase our organizations’ inspiring work, such as pitch decks and communication materials

Find some of the world’s most incredible social entrepreneurs with big ambitions to make the world better (~10-25% of your time)

Build our knowledge and spot potential deals in specific areas by leading research on issues that are of particular interest to our team – and to you

Stay on top of trends in social/environmental issues and keep a pulse on new organizations, social impact innovations, and peer organizations

Work closely with our deal team to assess the 2000+ applications DRK receives each year for fit with our funding focus (e.g., scalability, significant potential for impact, strong leadership)

Support our outbound sourcing efforts by representing DRK at events

Engage in a rigorous diligence process with a mission-oriented team (~25% of your time)

Bring critical analysis to our venture capital-inspired “diligence” process by leading our research on active deals including grants for nonprofits and investments in for-profit social enterprises. This typically involves leading targeted research such as:

How large is this market?

What is the scope of this social/environmental issue?

What are the root causes of this social/environmental issue?

Is this deal differentiated from existing solutions?

How does this industry work?

How strong are the financials of the organization?

Support our efforts to track and analyze the strength of our deal pipeline, and the efficiency of our process

Use the DRK platform to build your social impact career

Take the opportunity to lean into your strengths while adding value to DRK. There will be opportunities to take on projects that build on your individual strengths and interests. We are committed to supporting your career path.

Get exposed to an unparalleled range of organizations and issues, while also building expertise in fields where you have or want to gain perspective.

Who You Are:

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. For example, you like thinking about how new technologies will uniquely enable social solutions in the times. Your strong judgment will enable you to distill keen insights out of complexity. Our team values well-informed opinions and respects good listeners. You do as well.

A great communicator. You can capture the heart of an issue, why it matters, and what to do next, both in written and verbal communications.

Flexible, self-directed, and ego-free. Your flexibility, levelness, and sense of humor will help you to get things done in our entrepreneurial environment, to keep multiple (very different) balls in the air at the same time, and to respond with openness to our analytical priorities. You see no task as too large or too small.

Collaborative. While you are self-directed in your own work, you value working with a team. You are energized by working with many different types of people and you bring empathy and professionalism to both internal and external interactions.

Organized and highly mature. You have superb project management skills and exceptional attention to detail. You are comfortable collaborating with senior stakeholders. You have a good sense of what input you might need from others to further your work, and you aren’t afraid to ask for guidance.

Relatively early in your career, but curious and passionate about social impact. You are ideally already in the workforce in your first or second job (~2-4 years of working experience), bringing rigorous analytical and/or presentation building experience. You are poised to work effectively and efficiently with a busy team. You might not have prior experience in social impact, but you are open to seeking guidance when an issue or methodology is new to you.

Application Logistics:

To apply for the role, please apply using our Lever form. We will consider applications on a rolling basis, with an initial deadline of May 15, 2026. We believe deeply in transparency, and wanted to share our current plan for the hiring process. It is fairly extensive since we want to make sure we make the right hire.

The hiring committee will review applications on a rolling basis

We typically have 3-4 interview rounds (30-45 minutes, all virtual), where senior team members will assess professional and skill alignments

Applicants will complete a case study exercise at the 2nd interview round

Approximate interviewing process will take around 1-1.5 months

Our Hiring Lens:
We are deeply committed to an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcomed, valued and supported. We actively recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a broad candidate pool. DRK is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At DRK, we are dedicated to building an inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Location:

We are a global organization with staff in Africa, Europe and across the U.S. This role would be based out of either our Menlo Park, CA or Boston, MA offices with strong preference for candidates interested in Menlo Park, CA. This posting is planned as a 2/3 model, with required 2 days a week in office (we are in the office on Tuesday and Thursday as a full team) and three flexible days where staff are able to work from home if desired.

Expected Start Date: We are looking for candidates ready to jump right in with an expected start date in Summer 2026 (July/August). Exact date to be determined with the candidate.

Salary Range:

Base salary will be $70,000 – $77,500 in total for this role depending on years of experience. In addition, there will be an annual bonus target of $2,500 and DRK will make 5% base salary + bonus contribution to your 401K. DRK also offers medical, dental, disability and vision insurance and currently pays 100% of premiums for certain plans and may make a contribution to your health savings account up to the IRS maximum should you choose the High Deductible Health Plan. Full-time employees accrue 15 days annually of paid time off. DRK also observes 13 paid holidays each year, 2 floating holidays, 3 Summer Friday office closures, and a holiday office closure in December.