DonorsChoose makes it easy for anyone to help a teacher in need, moving us closer to a nation where students in every community have the tools and experiences they need for a great education.

Since 2000, more than 5 million people and partners have contributed $1 billion to support 2 million teacher requests for classroom resources and experiences. Projects range from art supplies to build the set for a school musical, to books and puzzles that affirm students’ identities, to bird seed for an at-home science project. We proudly serve all US public schools, public charter schools, and Head Start centers, and we combat systemic inequity by driving a majority of donations to schools that have been historically underfunded due to economic and racial inequity.

DonorsChoose has been recognized as a best place to work by GOOD Magazine and the Nonprofit Times, while Fast Company named DonorsChoose one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World—the first time a charity has made this list. Our dedicated team works from across the United States bring classroom dreams to life.

Team Overview

As a critical member of the Trust & Safety team, you are an experienced individual contributor who will combine your proven analytical, problem-solving, investigative, and communication skills with a deep knowledge of our customers and our product to enable a safe, secure experience for more than 500,000 teachers and donors who visit our website each year.

In this role you will:

• Own and develop our investigations process. You’ll own, develop, and manage our investigations process to create a best-in-class process to investigate reports of misuse and ensure outcomes are fair and align with our policies.
• Solve novel and nuanced problems. You will use data to critically analyze situations, identify underlying issues, and generate a range of possible solutions. You will evaluate the potential impacts of each solution.
• Respond to reports of misuse. You will use email, phone, Looker, and other tools to quickly investigate and thoughtfully resolve allegations of misuse. You will create and manage an investigation plan. You will project manage the investigation plan and ensure cross-functional stakeholders know their roles and responsibilities and receive timely updates along the way.
• Use data to identify patterns and trends. You will use data to understand the true scope, scale and severity of an incident. You will use descriptive analysis to help understand trends, patterns, and relationships in the data, then develop integrity building measures based on your findings.
• Document comprehensive investigations reports. You will write high-quality comprehensive investigation reports that are backed by data. These reports will detail the investigation process, the findings and their implications. You can draw logical conclusions based on data-based evidence and can highlight key points effectively.
• Influence policies and processes. You’ll develop innovative solutions and evolve team processes and policies to implement preventative measures to uphold the integrity of our mission.
• Communicate impact and outcome of investigations. You will present your findings, recommendations and preventative measures to various teams and departments including org-wide presentations.

Your typical week might look like:

• Investigate an escalated, urgent or highly visible allegation reported by our community and use your superior investigations and user-focused communications skills to thoughtfully resolve the allegation. (30%)
• Investigate a complex risky incident reported by a Trust & Safety Specialist and develop an investigation plan to resolve the issue. Assign duties and responsibilities to teammates and manage the quick resolution of the issue. (10%)
• Build a Looker report to identify risky behavior and create a streamlined process for Trust & Safety Specialists to respond to future incidents. Track and report impact of the process change over time. (30%)
• Create and deliver a presentation at a cross-team meeting to inform stakeholders about an incident, what we did to handle it, how we are evolving our policy and processes because of the event and the impact of that change. (30%)

Qualifications

This role may be right for you if you:

• Have 4+ years working in investigations, Trust & Safety and/or Fraud & Risk Management.
• Have demonstrated experience influencing decision makers of varying levels and creating recommendations backed by data.
• Are eager to drive racial equity in education and have comfort speaking about race personally and/or professionally.
• Have the proven ability to conduct investigations from report through to resolution in a fast-paced environment.
• Have a passion for solving new or complex incidents and identifying the root cause of problems.
• Are proficient in one or multiple BI tools such as Looker.
• Are a user-focused communicator and enjoy delivering delicate information in a thoughtful, empathetic manner.
• Are organized and agile, balancing multiple deliverables in a fast-paced environment and game to take on new challenges as they come your way.
• Are a self starter. You own your areas of expertise and advocate for the best results for your stakeholders, all while being a team player.

Compensation and Benefits

Our compensation philosophy ensures that we are both externally competitive with tech-forward nonprofits of a similar size and internally fair in our pay practices. The following ranges represent the target offer range given the scope and experience expectations for this role.

• The hiring salary range for this role is $66,000-$77,000
• We have a hiring salary range of $73,000-$85,000 for specific higher cost of labor locations, which include New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Once employees are hired, the salary range for their role increases to ensure that employees are able to receive performance-based raises and grow in their role. We are open to a variety of experiences, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced or more senior than this job description as posted. If that’s the case, an updated salary range will be shared with candidates if they move forward in our hiring process.

In addition, we offer full-time staff 25 paid vacation days per year and 11 paid holidays, a rich employer-paid individual and family health plan, a matching 401(k) plan (up to 5% of base salary), annual professional development stipend, and casual and flexible work environment. To learn more about what it is like to work for DonorsChoose, visit our careers page.

Hybrid Workplace and Other Details

In this role, you’ll have the option to work a flexible hybrid schedule in our NYC office, or to work fully remotely from CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, ME, MA, MD, MI, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI, TX, VA, WA, or WI.

Candidates who are not in the NYC area should expect to travel to our NYC office on an as-needed basis, about 4-6 times per year. All work-related travel expenses will be covered by the organization and proper safety precautions will be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

DonorsChoose is a fully vaccinated workplace and all new employees, regardless of their work location, will be asked to share proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 within two weeks of their hire date or request an exemption from this policy due to a disability or sincerely held religious belief or practice.

To Apply

Apply online by submitting your resume and answering the application questions. A cover letter is optional and may be addressed to Shannon Scott, Director, Trust & Safety.

A Final Note

The DonorsChoose team works toward a nation where students in every community have the resources needed for an excellent education. To do this we hire and support a diverse team of the best and the brightest talent available.

We are an organization increasingly representative of the varied races and ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations, religious and political beliefs, and abilities that comprise our nation. DonorsChoose focuses on attracting, retaining, and advancing diverse talent because it makes us more effective, high-performing, creative, and resilient.

If you are passionate about our mission, highly skilled in your field, and looking for a place where you can bring all of yourself to work, we want you.