Philanthropy & Social Impact Analyst

BDT & MSD Partners is a merchant bank with an advisory and investment platform built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors. The firm is distinguished by its decades of experience advising at the intersection of founders, families, and businesses, as well as by its differentiated capital base and culture of aligned investing.

The Philanthropy and Social Impact (PSI) team develops social and environmental impact initiatives designed alongside our firm’s client base in under-resourced areas of shared interest that drive meaningful global impact and advance key relationships with the firm’s existing clients and prospective clients. The PSI team also plays an essential role in developing action-oriented convenings for the firm’s clients around select impact themes, serves as an advisory resource for clients on various philanthropy and social impact topics, and actively engages and works alongside the firm’s broader employee base, leveraging the firm’s in-house expertise to advance the team’s objectives and enhancing firm culture.

The PSI Analyst will support end-to-end project management of the team’s key workstreams, provide critical communications and research support, and serve as a generalist partner to team members on initiative execution. This role is an opportunity to join a small, high-performing, and collaborative team dedicated to maximizing positive social impact across our firm and client base.

Location: Preference for NYC or Chicago; open to Denver

RESPONSIBILITIES

General PSI

• Support with creation of presentation and other materials for internal firm meetings that feature PSI
• Support with creation of presentation materials and complete relevant issue-specific research for philanthropic advisory projects for clients on ad hoc basis
• Conduct research on clients or prospective clients to support relationship development and track client interests and engagement
• Support with identifying opportunities to cultivate relationships with current and prospective clients
• Serve as primary or secondary relationship manager across internal partners, including junior investment professionals, communications, compliance, legal, and external contractors

Impact Investing Initiatives

• Help manage the existing impact investment portfolio — tracking financial and impact KPIs and engaging directly with the leadership team of each investment
• Source and screen new investment opportunities
• Support creation of external- and internal-facing collateral with input from PSI and other internal teams, including overview materials, investment spotlights, impact reports, and more

rootEd Alliance & Advocacy

• Advance federal and state advocacy workstreams, including direct coordination with our lobbying team
• Plan and coordinate internal employee engagement events
• Track and project manage outreach to partner companies and ongoing company career events

Communications

• Draft first versions of external emails, client-facing talking points, and stakeholder communications on behalf of senior PSI team members
• Prepare targeted briefing materials and agendas ahead of client meetings, events, and internal firm meetings featuring PSI
• Create internal and external firm materials, including one-pagers, client newsletters, impact portfolio updates, and other ad hoc marketing materials

Project Management

• Support end-to-end project management for PSI's events, including company events, client convenings, and philanthropy and social impact convenings
• Maintain project plans, timelines, and deliverable trackers across all workstreams; track progress against deadlines, surface risks and dependencies proactively, and support execution from planning through close
• Liaise across internal teams and external vendors to facilitate planning discussions, manage logistics, and support alignment

QUALIFICATIONS

• 1-2 years of experience in consulting, comms, nonprofit, corporate social responsibility, or a related field
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and written and verbal communication skills; demonstrated ability to distill complex concepts into clear and actionable insights and recommendations through PowerPoint and other written presentations
• Intellectually curious with strong pattern recognition skills; thrives managing diverse content across multiple impact themes, clients, and priorities simultaneously
• Highly self-motivated with a proactive, solutions-oriented approach; comfortable operating with autonomy and taking initiative in a fast-moving environment
• Demonstrates a “no job too small” mentality — eager to contribute to team strategy while rolling up sleeves for tactical execution
• Can pull up to see the bigger picture, while maintaining an eye towards detail and high-quality execution
• Appetite and aptitude to consistently up-level productivity by leveraging technology and improving processes; proficiency in PowerPoint, Excel, and Word