Top global development employers in San Francisco: A primer

Are you a development professional considering relocating to San Francisco? Or an implementing nongovernmental organization seeking grants for development projects in Asia or in the women empowerment sector? San Francisco’s development community is busy, dynamic and diverse — reflecting the city’s vibrant cultural landscape and rich civil rights history. Offices of different grant-making foundations, nonprofits, consultancies and research firms dot the iconic rolling hills, with many situated within only a few miles of each other. The organizations operate across a range of sectors, including education, youth empowerment, health, poverty reduction and economic empowerment, regional cooperation, women’s rights, governance and law, strategic philanthropy, sustainable energy, and clean technology. Located not far from the world’s leading tech hub, Silicon Valley, San Francisco will be playing host to the 2016 World Agri-Tech Investment Summit, which aims to accelerate the adoption of sustainable, resource-efficient agricultural technologies through partnership formation and knowledge sharing. The city also served as the venue for last June’s Growing the Impact Economy Summit, which focused on leveraging for-benefit enterprise and cross-sector leadership and cooperation to tackle complex social, economic and environmental challenges. San Francisco is home to satellite and regional offices of many leading global development organizations, agencies and firms, such as the UNICEF, PATH, RTI San Francisco, CARE, Dalberg Global Development Advisers, ICF International and Greenpeace. The city is, however, also the center of operations for a number of prominent international development foundations and organizations. Below are some of the main development groups and top development employers that are headquartered in San Francisco. Check out the Devex jobs board for a comprehensive listing of opportunities in these organizations. American Himalayan Foundation Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1981 President and CEO: Jane Wales Sectors: Development and relief, philanthropy The American Himalayan Foundation focuses on the education, health care and cultural preservation of Tibetans, Sherpas and Nepalese living throughout the Himalayas. The organization builds schools, supports hospitals and clinics, trains teachers and doctors, and helps restore the ancient monasteries in the district of Mustang, a time capsule of Tibetan heritage. AHF is also working to stop the trafficking of Nepalese girls by providing education, mentorship and college scholarships. Asia Foundation Type: Grant-maker Founded: 1954 President: David D. Arnold Sectors: Poverty reduction, social and economic development, women empowerment, governance and law, regional cooperation, development and aid effectiveness The Asia Foundation seeks to address the critical issues facing 21st century Asia, making grants in the areas of governance, law and civil society, women empowerment, economic development, environment, and regional cooperation to Asia-based organizations. Through its offices in 18 Asian countries, as well as in Washington D.C., the San Francisco-based organization provided more than $108 million in direct program support in 2014. The foundation receives funding from a diverse group of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, corporations and individuals. Business for Social Responsibility Type: Membership organization and consultancy Founded: 1992 President and CEO: Aron Cramer Sectors: Consulting services, collaborative initiatives, partnership development Business for Social Responsibility believes in cross-sector collaboration between business, civil society and government as a means to achieve a just and sustainable world. It redefines the role of business and catalyzes change by integrating sustainability and corporate responsibility into the strategy and operations of its nearly 300 member companies. The association’s services include consulting, industry focus, working groups, collaborative initiatives, partnership development and publications. Equal Access Type: Nonprofit Founded: 2000 President and CEO: Ronni Goldfarb Sectors: Civil society, gender, health, social development, youth empowerment, human rights, communications Equal Access combines the power of media with grass-roots community mobilization to provide millions of people in the developing world with the information they need to improve their lives. With programs in 13 countries, the organization develops culturally appropriate, local language multimedia content — including television and radio dramas, print materials, chat radio shows and documentaries — which incorporates feedback directly from the audiences. The programs are designed to transform attitudes and behaviors among local populations and ultimately advocate for women’s and girl’s rights and empowerment, youth empowerment, education, health, human rights and civic participation. Global Fund for Women Type: Grant-maker Founded: 1987 President and CEO: Musimbi Kanyoro Sectors: Women empowerment, social and economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health rights, technology, education The Global Fund for Women is a grant-making foundation that invests in women-led organizations all over the world. The majority of the fund’s grants range from $500 to $20,000, and back initiatives that address reproductive health, access to education, economic independence, political participation, the rights of sexual minorities and the prevention of violence against women and children. The foundation is also dedicated to linking women’s rights groups outside the U.S., providing a limited number of small grants for conferences that bring together and build the capacity of women’s rights activists all over the world. Kickstart International Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 1991 Co-founder and CEO: Martin Fisher Sectors: Enterprise development, social enterprise, agriculture, irrigation and water, poverty reduction, health, relief Kickstart develops and mass-markets technologies that can be used by poor rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to jump-start profitable small enterprises of their own. With a mission to quickly, cost-effectively and sustainably lift millions of people in the developing world out of poverty through sustainable economic growth and job creation, Kickstart helps entrepreneurs identify business opportunities, design tools, establish a supply chain and develop their market. Since its founding, Kickstart’s tools and services have helped launch 170,000 successful new businesses — with more than 800 being created each month now. Kiva Microfunds Type: Nonprofit Founded: 2005 Co-founder and CEO: Matt Flannery Sector: Microfinance Kiva leverages the Internet and a global network of microfinance institutions or field partners to alleviate poverty through interest-free social lending. Through its online platform, Kiva has facilitated almost $743 million in loans from over a million lenders. It recently provided capital of $100,000 to Kreyol Essence, a social business aiming to create 300 more jobs for Haitian castor farmers. All Kiva loans go directly to field partners, who in turn administer the funds to borrowers in developing countries. The organization’s operations are supported by a diverse set of corporations and foundations. Nexant Type: Consultancy Founded: 2000 Founder and CEO: Basem Sarandah Sectors: Power and electricity, clean technology, renewable energy, oil and gas, chemicals Nexant provides innovative solutions to the global energy sector, offering technical and management consulting services, as well as intelligent grid software and alternative energy technologies. Having worked in over 100 countries, Nexant has a solid grasp of the different complex issues facing the energy industry. The company plays an influential role in energy policy and planning, as well as in developing energy markets and facilitating innovative approaches to the financing of energy infrastructure and technologies. Room to Read Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 2000 Co-founder and CEO: Erin Ganju Sector: Education Room to Read collaborates with local communities, partner organizations and governments to promote literacy and gender equality in education in low-income countries. By focusing on deep, systemic transformation within schools and ensuring the measurement of outcomes, the organization has created an education model that can be replicated, localized and sustained by governments. To date, 9.7 million children have already benefited from Room to Read’s programs, but the organization plans to reach at least 15 million children by the end of 2020. Tetra Tech DPK Type: Consultancy Founded: 1993 Co-founder and Director: Robert W. Page, Jr. Sector: Rule of law, government integrity and performance, program design, monitoring and evaluation Tetra Tech DPK provides developing countries and transitioning societies with technical, management and advisory services to further good governance and strengthen the rule of law. All its approaches and solutions are sustainable and tailored to fit specific country contexts. The company has also served as a subcontractor for several of U.S. Agency for International Development’s multimillion-dollar, joint venture contracts. Tetra Tech DPK is an operating division of Tetra Tech ARD, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tetra Tech, Inc. Tides Foundation Type: Grant-maker Founded: 1976 CEO: Kriss Deiglmeier Sector: Economic development, civic participation, HIV/AIDS, environment, women empowerment Tides extends financial support to organizations advocating for the environment, health care, labor issues, immigrant rights and human rights both in the United States and all over the world. In 2014, the foundation awarded 3,381 grants worth $128.8 million. Aside from grant-making, Tides offers nonprofit management services, consulting for strategic philanthropy and public policy advocacy. Wikimedia Foundation Type: Implementing NGO Founded: 2001 Executive director: Lila Tretikov Sector: Technology, education The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the free collaborative online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is dedicated to bringing free educational content to the world. With the help of private sector partners in the tech sector, Wikimedia seeks to bridge both the digital divide between developed and developing countries and the gender gap in computer-related occupations. Wikipedia Zero, a program that encourages mobile service providers all over the world to allow free access to Wikipedia on mobile phones, seeks to expand the knowledge base of people throughout the “global south.” Other noteworthy development employers in San Francisco: ● Agland Investment Services Inc. ● BlueSkye ● Camfed USA ● Center of Justice and Accountability ● Child Family Health International ● Foundation for Sustainable Development ● Fritz Institute ● Futures without Violence ● Gender Resources, Inc. ● Grantmakers without Borders ● Harder+Company Community Research ● Hope Consulting ● International Development Exchange ● International Rescue Committee ● Living Goods ● MicroCredit Enterprises ● Natural Logic ● Pachamama Alliance ● Rotaplast International Inc. ● Rutherford & Chekene Consulting Engineers ● Skoll Global Threats Fund ● Social Venture Network ● Sustainable Sciences Institute ● T.Y. Lin International ● Women’s Funding Network ● Worldreader Did we miss any major development organization based in San Francisco? Let us know in the comments section below. See our 2011 list of top global development employers in San Francisco. Also check our lists of top aid groups in other global development hubs such as London, New York, Paris and Washington.