Development Manager

The Organization:  Merit America

The American economy is broken. Today, 53 million working adults–nearly half of the U.S. workforce–do not earn a living wage. These talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full-time boot camp 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 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 support our learners in their job search, helping them connect with a broad constellation of local and national employers such as JPMorgan Chase and Infosys to land higher-earning, family-sustaining jobs, driving an average wage gain of $24k three months or more after completing the program. Merit America is on a mission to build a scalable pathway for workers to join the middle class through merit, not money. Since our founding in 2018, we’ve generated a projected $1 billion in near-term wage gains for our learners. 

About the Role: 

Merit America empowers low-wage workers to build family-sustaining careers. As the Development Manager, you'll secure transformative gifts from foundations, corporations, and individuals to fuel this mission. You'll cultivate a robust pipeline, develop compelling proposals, and work closely with leadership to secure and steward six- and seven-figure grants.

The Development Manager is an exempt role and will actively work with Merit America’s Philanthropy team leaders to expertly manage and thoughtfully cultivate relationships with new and existing funding partners and ensure their commitment to the organization's mission.

A successful candidate will:

1. Thoughtfully and strategically drive the development of a robust portfolio of new funding partners with annual grant sizes between $250,000 and $5M, including research and prospecting.
2. Develop and present strong, compelling cases for support to attract new six- and seven-figure corporate and foundation funding partners to our mission and impact. 
3. Manage a portfolio of existing institutional donors, including stewardship, reporting, and renewal strategy.

Role Structure & Goals:

• Reports to the Director of Institutional Giving within Merit America's Sustainability Team
• Part of a team with a 2025 portfolio goal of approximately $40M in secured funding
• Key relationship contact or account manager for several funding partners

What You’ll be Doing: 

Alongside the Director of Institutional Giving, the Development Manager will create and implement a comprehensive fundraising strategy focused on individual, foundation, and corporate funding partners. This leader will manage some relationships and opportunities with foundations and corporations that fund Merit America or are likely to do so in the future. 

The responsibilities of the Development Manager will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Pipeline Development & Research (40%): 

• Build and maintain major individual donor and institutional funding pipeline using research tools and network intelligence
• Design and implement prospect screening criteria and outreach strategies
• Partner with the Development Coordinator on:
• Prospect research and relationship mapping
• CRM management and pipeline tracking
• Prospect profiles and funding estimates

• Build relationships within funder communities through strategic networking, conferences, and other events
• Partner with Sr. Sustainability Manager on grant calendar and pipeline management, executing action items aligned to internal and external deadlines
• Prepare briefing materials for leadership donor meetings, as needed

Initial Outreach & Proposal Development (30%): 

• Partner with Finance, Growth, Product, Policy, and Program teams to craft compelling proposals to prospective funders and meet the needs of Merit America’s mission and strategy
• Create well-written, engaging, and strategic grant proposals, budgets, and supplementary m