The Organization
The American economy is broken. Today 53 million working adults–nearly half of the U.S. workforce–do not earn a living wage. And these talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full-time bootcamp programs don’t offer enough flexibility, and online courses don’t have the structure or support to translate learning into a new career. The result? Talented workers, disproportionately people of color and women, get stuck in low-wage roles with no way to build a better life for themselves and their families.
The American economy is broken. Today 53 million working adults–nearly half of the U.S. workforce–do not earn a living wage. And these talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full-time bootcamp programs don’t offer enough flexibility, and online courses don’t have the structure or support to translate learning into a new career. The result? Talented workers, disproportionately people of color and women, get stuck in low-wage roles with no way to build a better life for themselves and their families.
Merit America is a national nonprofit that creates pathways to family-sustaining careers for Americans without college degrees, stuck in low-wage work. Our fast, flexible solutions are built for working adults: we start by analyzing tens of millions of job postings to identify in-demand, high-paying tech careers, and then work with industry-recognized partners to train for these roles with part-time programs that combine flexible online learning with best-in-class coaching. Finally, we work with a broad constellation of local and national employers like JPMorgan Chase and Infosys to place learners into higher-earning, family-sustaining jobs, driving an average wage gain of $19k. Merit America is on a mission to build a scalable pathway for workers to join the middle class through merit, not money. We’re on track to generate $1B in wage gains by 2024.
Position Overview
We are excited to bring on a uniquely talented, senior leader to oversee our development function and partner with us to achieve our future growth. The VP of Development will report to our Chief Business Officer and work closely with the CBO and co-CEOs to develop and implement our fundraising strategy, build our development team, and close $30M+ in funding in 2023.
This leader will build their team, including hiring direct reports to focus on:
We are excited to bring on a uniquely talented, senior leader to oversee our development function and partner with us to achieve our future growth. The VP of Development will report to our Chief Business Officer and work closely with the CBO and co-CEOs to develop and implement our fundraising strategy, build our development team, and close $30M+ in funding in 2023.
This leader will build their team, including hiring direct reports to focus on:
- Corporate Philanthropy (Corporate Partnerships, Corporate Foundations, Matching Gifts, Workplace Giving) – we have a strong track record of working with the largest corporate funders in our space: Google.Org, Walmart.Org, Ascendium, etc.
- Institutional Foundations – we anticipate building strong and lasting relationships with major funders; the role requires stewarding key partners like Blue Meridian Partners, ECMC, Strada, and others
- Individual Giving (High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs), Private Family Foundations, Community Foundations, Family Offices) – though nascent for Merit America, individual giving is expected to offer the strongest future potential to drive impact. We seek a seasoned professional with a strong track record of developing and leading individual giving functions, carrying a portfolio personally, and managing a team of front-line individual giving officers
- Government Funds (Local, State, Federal) – we’ve had successful pilots with government grants (e.g. partnerships with the state of CT and city of Sacramento) and see opportunities to expand our presence to take advantage of large-scale opportunities such as the Good Jobs Challenge from the Department of Commerce (which we actively developed alongside policy makers)
How To Apply
To view additional details about the role and organization and to apply, please use this link.