Trent Stamp
CEO
The Eisner Foundation
Beverly Hills, CA USA
“When you’re young, you have an obligation to yourself and to your family and to your teachers and to your friends to dream big. Go get it.”
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
I grew up in Oakland, California.
After high school, I went to UC Santa Barbara and earned my bachelor’s degree in law and society.
After graduating from college, I took the opportunity to join Teach for America to work as a teacher and coach in rural North Carolina.
I decided to go to graduate school and earn a master’s degree in public policy.
After grad school, I worked for a series of nonprofit organizations, including rejoining Teach for America, where I worked as the vice president of communications.
In 2001, I started Charity Navigator, a charity evaluation service through which I interacted with charities around the country to decide which were doing the best work and getting the most done.
I gained a lot of experience and expertise in the nonprofit sector over the years, which made me an appealing candidate when the Eisner family was looking for a CEO for their foundation.
I’ve been leading The Eisner Foundation as CEO for 13 years now!
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Bachelor
Law and Society
University of California, Santa Barbara
Law and Society
University of California, Santa Barbara
Graduate
Public Policy
Duke University
Public Policy
Duke University
Career
CEO
I help a charity foundation decide which nonprofit organizations are the best fit for our grants.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Non-Profit Organizations
Government
Helping People
Day to Day
At the simplest level, I'm a grant-maker. The foundation gives grants to nonprofit organizations to put towards their various causes. We focus on intergenerational programs, which bring older and younger people together for the enrichment of their communities. My role is primarily about deciding which organizations will be the best vehicles for our investments to make that enrichment happen. Day to day, I do a lot of writing and speaking. I also spend time helping to manage our funds.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
If you want to work in the nonprofit sector, you'll need to accept that you may not make as much money as you might in the for-profit world and that your life will be public if you intend to lead in this space. If you can accept that, nonprofit work is an amazing path. The psychic payout is unmatched—you get to make the world a better place by job definition! The best advice I can give for any industry is to network. Meet as many people as you can and try to learn whatever you can from them.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Bachelor
Law and Society
Law and Society
Graduate
Public Policy
Public Policy
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Teachers:
"You're obviously not a serious student. If you're going to flunk out of a college, you might as well flunk out of a higher rated one."
