Director of Institutional Giving

As the Director of Institutional Giving, you will play a pivotal leadership role within Merit America, actively collaborating with our co-CEOs, the executive team, and other development leaders. Your primary responsibility will be to strategically manage, cultivate, and grow relationships with both new and existing funding partners, ensuring their continued support for our mission. As the relationship manager for the majority of institutional funder opportunities, you'll be directly responsible for ensuring they have a best-in-class experience with Merit America and are inspired to continue supporting our mission. Your expert relationship management will also attract new funders and expand our influence in funder networks. The primary responsibilities of the Director of Institutional Giving will include, but are not limited to: Manage Donor and Prospect Relationships (60%): With the support of the team, manage relationships with prospects and existing funders, including producing all written communications, proposals, and reports, as well as interacting via regular meetings or presentations. Take a proactive and tailored approach to stewardship, demonstrating a high degree of responsiveness, creativity, and a keen understanding of each funder’s interests and priorities. Strategically leverage the co-CEOs to build and nurture relationships that enhance commitment and investment from funders. Successfully position the organization for renewed and increased investment from existing funders at the end of their grant cycle. Create powerful fundraising narratives that connect program data, impact metrics, and with emotional impact to drive stakeholder engagement. Grow and Advance the Development Pipeline (30%): Meaningfully contribute to the ambitious team goal to add $50M+ to the qualified pipeline during your first 12 months, with a focus on identifying opportunities to grow commitments from existing funders and leveraging funder networks to open up new opportunities. Analyze funding trends to identify potential headwinds and tailwinds and design outreach strategies to specific funders or groups, proactively positioning Merit America to capitalize on favorable funding opportunities. Contribute to the development of comprehensive, data-informed fundraising strategies that align with Merit America's long-term strategic priorities. Collaborate successfully with teams across the organization to create and refine cases for support that align with the needs of Merit America’s mission and strategy. Set strategy and prepare co-CEOs/executive leaders for meetings with current and prospective funders. Advance Team Priorities through Cross-Functional Collaboration (10%): Engage the Sustainability team and broader organization to identify and address pipeline gaps with a solutions-oriented approach. Lead complex projects and create compelling cases about strategic priorities and resource allocation, effectively influencing decision-makers. Deeply understand our data and leverage it to advance fundraising goals, gathering insights from program and other teams.