Elijah Goldberg 

Credit: Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

I am the chief of staff to the chief economist of USAID: we are launching a new Independent Office to build the Agency's Macroeconomic Policy Program and increase the use of cost-effectiveness evidence in program design.

I have a deep interest in East Africa and the promise of the East African Federation. I am manic-depressive, which motivates a passion for universal access to quality mental healthcare.

In my spare time, I am treasurer of and chair the finance/audit/risk and governance committees for Walimu, a Ugandan NGO that scales science that saves lives. We conduct research to improve care in areas such as child survival, tuberculosis and sepsis. We also operate national programs, including the Uganda National Clubfoot Program. I co-founded Walimu and led it for years as founding executive director. Today, our team of staff of 170 are 100% Ugandan Nationals, a reflection of our community’s commitment to the human right to self-determination.

Before USAID, and after stepping down from leading Walimu, I co-founded and led ImpactMatters, a nonprofit rating agency that produced the largest public collection of nonprofit impact estimates in history — by an order of magnitude. After an acquisition, our work became Charity Navigator’s Impact & Results Rating.

After launching the new Charity Navigator rating, I joined a fintech startup, Spiral Financial, that raised $42 million to build a socially responsible banking service. As head of giving, I designed better giving experiences for clients and led the creation of a new banking product for nonprofits.

I am a humanitarian- I don’t mean that as a description of how I show up day to day, but as a label for the core belief that drives me: Every human has rights — and to that end, we should try our best to take up our work again tomorrow, if we can, until the day each right is realized for each soul.

Get in touch: goldberg.elijah@gmail.com


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