Job Title: RESEARCH ASSOCIATE - Common Impact, Richmond, VA Deadline Date: May 1, 2009 Starting Date: Institution: Common Impact is a nonprofit organization that helps global companies and local nonprofits build stronger communities through employee engagement programs. Common Impact’s vision is to connect the wealth of professional skills in leading companies to community-based nonprofits to meet their resource and talent constraints. Through Common Impact, skilled employee volunteers from companies such as Cisco Systems, Fidelity Investments, and State Street Corporation have provided IT, Marketing and HR solutions high-potential nonprofits in Greater Boston, New York, and Richmond, VA. For more information, please visit our Web site. Job Duties: Since its founding in 2000, Common Impact has worked with over 170 nonprofit organizations and almost without exception these organizations have had no benchmarks against which to measure the health of their back-office infrastructure. Without a “yardstick” to measure current health in critical areas such as marketing, IT and HR, it is nearly impossible for nonprofits to allocate resources for longer-term organizational sustainability, let alone for funders to channel support to organizations with the greatest likelihood for sustainability.
Common Impact believes that in order to build the strongest communities, both nonprofits -- and their funders -- must have access to information that defines infrastructural health and the mission effectiveness gains generated from infrastructural investments. With this goal in mind, in 2008 Common Impact began a three-phase research study. In 2009, Capital One became the major sponsor of phases II and III, partnering with Common Impact to support this landmark research study of the following topics:
* Common capacity constraints in the nonprofit sector (completed)
* Understanding what marketing, IT and HR infrastructure is needed to sustain healthy operations (phase II), and
* The relationship between capacity building and impact (phase III) Qualifications: The Research Associate will assist in: conducting secondary research, generating research tools and methodologies, analyzing data, managing nonprofit projects that build greater infrastructural health, conducting qualitative and quantitative research and writing reports and case studies. The successful applicant for this position will have outstanding skills in the following areas:
* Designing a quantitative research methodology: includes experience determining sample size and composition, designing online surveys, analyzing existing datasets, creating new datasets, cleaning and scrubbing data, and expertise with analyzing data and identifying emerging themes.
* Designing a qualitative research methodology: includes experience designing focus group or site visit data collection tools, generating instruments to collect data, and expertise collating and analyzing qualitative data.
* Conducting secondary research: includes experience using online, print or other resources to uncover information; specific experience with or knowledge of nonprofit impact measurement a plus.
* Writing: includes experience generating short, compelling pieces such as case studies, or short reports on findings.
* Project Management: managing projects to ensure project timelines stay on-track while also maintaining a high-level of quality.
* Interpersonal relations: maintaining a high-degree of professionalism in client-facing situations, evidence of effective client relationships. Salary/Benefits: This position is located in Richmond, VA with compensation of $40,000, beginning in late May or early June 2009. The right candidate may opt for a Full-time or Part-time schedule; graduate students are strongly encouraged to apply. To Apply: To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, and 3 references by 5:00PM May 1, 2009 to:
Karen Horwitz
Vice President of Service Development
via e-mail. EEO/AA: |
