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Director of Development - Meritus College

Merit America
Location
Remote
Posted
26 days ago
Department
Meritus College
What they actually want (must-haves)
  • Experience Building New Programs in Higher Education
  • Experience as the fundraising lead, or the close partner to the fundraising lead, on something a college or university was building for the first time
  • Working knowledge of accreditation, credit portability and transfer, academic model design, and the diligence institutional funders run on a new or newly accredited program
  • Track record of raising money or building partnerships, or of supporting the person or team who did
  • Entrepreneurial & Startup Mindset
  • Bias for action: willing to prospect cold, draft the first version of a proposal template, and figure it out rather than wait for a fully formed process
Nice to have
  • Direct experience at a startup, scaling nonprofit, or other fast-moving, resource-constrained organization
  • Existing relationships with foundations or funders focused on postsecondary attainment, workforce development, or economic mobility
  • Experience with Salesforce or a comparable CRM
  • Comfort using AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to speed up research, drafting, and prospecting
What the job really is

The Director of Development at Meritus College will play a crucial role in building and managing fundraising initiatives for a new nonprofit online college aimed at supporting working adults. This hybrid position involves traditional higher education philanthropy and startup-style fundraising, focusing on cultivating relationships with individual and institutional funders to secure significant financial support. The role also includes developing compelling narratives based on early outcomes and collaborating with various teams to shape the college's advancement function.

Benefits
  • Medical, Dental and Vision insurance (100% Paid Employee Only Coverage)
  • Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account
  • Dependent care Flexible Spending Account
  • Health Reimbursement Account fully funded by Merit
  • Education & personal development reimbursement
  • Catalog of courses for professional learning and development
Things to weigh
  • No salary listed in the posting, but a figure is mentioned elsewhere
  • The role involves building a new fundraising function from the ground up, which may come with challenges
  • Candidates must be comfortable with a startup environment and ambiguity
  • The position requires occasional travel (up to 25% of time)
Job score3.4/5
Benefits5/5
Freshness4/5
Career value4/5
Role clarity4/5
Pay transparency0/5

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