- Key Insight: A nonprofit called Greater NY is pairing private sector analysts with public sector organizations that need their help.
- Supporting Data: Eighty-six percent of Gen Zers and 89% of millennials say a sense of purpose is important to their level of job satisfaction.
- Expert Quote: "They're giving back in a way that is using the skills they have, but they're actually acquiring more skills as part of it," said Tony Kim, co-president of investment banking at Centerview Partners.
Young bank professionals are often looking for ways to do meaningful work, and nonprofits often lack the resources to thoroughly analyze their finances. Greater NY is working to solve both problems.
The organization, founded in 2009, matches early-career professionals from the private sector with charities and other groups working for the public good. It includes an Analyst Corps, which specifically connects junior analysts with nonprofits in need of their skills.
"It's not that [nonprofits] don't have sharp business models," Alice Naude, executive director of
The program has paired financial firms including Centerview Partners, Lazard, General Atlantic and Evercore with civic organizations including the Doe Fund, the Red Hook Initiative and the New York City Housing Authority. The analysts work on a pro bono basis, typically for a few hours per week, on projects involving data analysis, financial modeling, strategic communications and other areas where they have expertise from their day jobs.
"We make it easy and efficient for private-sector leaders, both experienced and emerging, to share talents and expertise with nonprofits," Kristina Berger, director of the Analyst Corps, said in an interview. "And conversely, we make it easy for nonprofit organizations and leaders to meaningfully engage with private-sector leaders."
On both sides, participants say it's a win-win: The nonprofits receive free help, and the banks' employees gain both valuable experience and an opportunity to give back to their communities. That second benefit is more significant than it may sound: 86% of Gen Zers and 89% of millennials say a sense of purpose is important to their job satisfaction, according to the consulting firm
"There are so many benefits all around," Tony Kim, co-president of investment banking at Centerview, told American Banker. "They're giving back in a way that is using the skills they have, but they're actually acquiring more skills as part of it."
One of those new skills is leadership. At a firm like Centerview, where the clients are typically large corporations working on huge M&A deals, early-career analysts don't often get the chance to be front and center. But their work with Greater NY is different.
"If I go take them to a big company, they're part of a team, but they're not really leading that engagement," Kim said. "But in these situations with Greater NY, they are leading it. They're the primary client contact."
One recent example involves the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA. The nation's largest public housing authority — and New York City's biggest landowner — has been looking for new ways to generate revenue. One idea, floated by NYCHA's sustainability advisors, was to put electric vehicle chargers in its parking lots. The electricity would be available to local EV drivers for a fee, and the money would go toward serving NYCHA's residents.
"That's a great idea," NYCHA's chairman, James Rubin, recalled thinking. "The problem is, how do we even begin to think about what a project like that might look like? And I said, 'Okay, I think I know where we could find some free help.'"
Rubin, who is on Greater NY's board, reached out to his contacts there, and Greater NY reached out to Centerview. Chris Rota, an investment banking associate at Centerview who's been at the bank for five years, volunteered to work on the project.
"It was really interesting," Rota told American Banker. "We did everything from looking at all of the properties they own, speaking with some other organizations that deal with the infrastructure and the power lines, making sure that certain sites that NYCHA owned were in high-density regions for commuters that have electric vehicles."
At the end of this research, Rota helped build a model for the EV project and presented it to Rubin, who was impressed. NYCHA is now working on procurement for the initiative.
"It would not have happened without the program," Rubin said. "We had no way to figure out whether to do it or what to do. So it was beyond helpful."
And NYCHA is far from alone. By the end of this year, Berger said, the Analyst Corps will have served 28 nonprofits, and it expects to reach at least the same number in 2026. In Berger's view, that means not only more examples of the public and private sectors working together, but more young people deepening their connection to their city.
"It's going to be another cohort of young New Yorkers who have put their skills to use, have been helpful and useful … and found another reason to love it here," Berger said. "I think the more people truly love it here, the better off the city is going to be in the long run."
