Wanting to work on something that matters is the easy part. Getting there is the part nobody explains.
Find Your Path collects the routes people in the Bay Area actually take into impact work: the courses and certificates worth the time, the communities where introductions happen, and the boards and programs that turn a conversation into a role. Each resource comes with what it's good for, where it falls short, and a first step.
Learn
Most people who move into impact work don't go back to school for it. They fill one gap, and it's usually a smaller gap than they thought.
For short courses, the programs people in this ecosystem tend to start with are Terra.do for climate, NonprofitReady for the nonprofit sector, Trellis for sustainable business, Voiz Academy for corporate sustainability roles, and SDG Academy for development and policy.
For the graduate route, the Bay Area has four programs with active Net Impact chapters: Presidio Graduate School, UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University. A guide to which programs employers here recognize is coming to Where to Look.
Connect
In an ecosystem this small, most hiring runs through people. Showing up is a search strategy.
Find Your People compares the region's impact communities and says who each is for. If you're a student, the Net Impact student chapters at Presidio, Berkeley, USF and SFSU are the shortest route from campus into the professional network.
Paths people took
Every month we ask someone in the Net Impact SF Bay network how they got from where they started to the work they do now, detours included.
Read the stories so far under Find Your Path.
FYP hosts this chapter's regional hub. We're describing a community we're involved with, and we've tried to be as straight about it as we are about everyone else.
Move
When you're ready to apply, the boards are organized by sector far more than by geography, and knowing which corner you're searching is most of the work.
The impact jobs guide covers the boards for climate, nonprofits, philanthropy, food systems and social enterprise, and the part no job board can do. If you'd rather give time than change jobs, the volunteer guides cover the whole region.
The FYP Volunteer Guide covers where to volunteer in San Francisco, the East Bay, the Peninsula and the South Bay, with what each organization asks of you.
This is a starting point
Paths change. Programs pause, chapters turn over every spring, and the boards that were best last year aren't always best this year. We verify what's here when we publish it and update it when we learn something has changed.
Took a route we haven't covered? We'd like to hear how.