EA - Who Is a Good Fit for a Career in Nonprofit Entrepreneurship? (CCW2023) by CE

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Who Is a Good Fit for a Career in Nonprofit Entrepreneurship? (CCW2023), published by CE on September 8, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.TLDR: This post is part of a sequence we've prepared for the Career Conversations Week on the EA Forum. This article provides a concise overview of the traits that Charity Entrepreneurship deems most valuable for a career in nonprofit entrepreneurship. We intend to provide you with a deeper understanding of our criteria when evaluating applications for our Incubation Program. Additionally, we hope this post assists you in self-assessing whether this career path aligns with your aspirations and abilities.It's been five years since we started our Incubation Program. We've since incubated 27 charities, some of which are now GiveWell incubated or ACE recommended, with many others on a path to becoming leaders in their fields. This would be impossible without dedicated, smart, resilient, and ambitiously altruistic individuals like you. Of course, not everyone is suited to be a successful nonprofit entrepreneur, and so we've spent the last few years refining our vetting process to identify people for whom this career would be an especially good fit.There is no single blueprint for successful founders. Many of our alumni hadn't even considered this career path until someone encouraged them to explore it! What surprises many people is the incredible diversity among our successful charity founders in terms of age, educational background, and experience.So far, people from 28 different countries joined our program. We've had many participants come directly from bachelor's or master's programs, as well as welcomed individuals with PhDs from recognized institutions like Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard. They've specialized in fields as diverse as philosophy, geology, machine learning, and engineering. Some have chosen entrepreneurship over formal education, like our youngest participant, who, at the age of 19, left university to join our program!Our program has also attracted individuals who boldly chose to transition from lucrative, secure, or high-status careers such as consulting, real estate, engineering at NASA or medicine. We've seen passionate street activists and seasoned nonprofit professionals alike join the program, each bringing their unique perspectives and skills to the table.More than specific experience or expertise, they have each brought in an open mind and focused desire to launch a high-impact nonprofit. If it's not credentials, age, or specialized experience that make you a great fit for nonprofit entrepreneurship, what is it? Here is what we've learned in the last five years and who we are looking for to join our Incubation Programs.Competence:Previous Project Experience: People who have initiated their own projects or taken the lead in previous initiatives. Examples might be organizing impactful events or conferences, managing and expanding student groups, cultivating a newsletter or blog following, developing a mobile app with peers, serving as an editor for a university newspaper, or mobilizing an activist group. These instances serve as evidence of an entrepreneurial mindset and a proactive approach.Academic or Personal Achievement: People who have excelled academically or demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in their career, hobbies, or interests. A wide range of things fit into this category, from academic distinction to playing an instrument really well, taking part in debate competitions, or winning local RPG contests. High achievement indicates a strong work ethic and a drive for excellence.Scientific/Analytical/Empirical Mindset: Individuals with experience in empirical methods who value scientific evidence and are eager to test assumptions and change their minds. The skeptical, evidence-based mi...