portal resources jobs companies t thrive scholars (previously scs noonan scholars) executive director, jacksonville

Executive Director, Jacksonville 🔥


ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:

At Thrive Scholars, our goal is to see talented BIPOC students from economically disadvantaged communities develop economic mobility and financial security, and become the diverse corporate, civic, and academic leaders our country so desperately needs. 

Our comprehensive, data-driven, high-touch program model focuses on the key inflection points that can be the difference between just graduating from any college, and graduating from a top college with the grades, degree, career skills, and network needed to thrive in a career that positions students for economic mobility. Over our six-year program, Scholars benefit from admissions and intensive academic preparation before college and a comprehensive set of academic, personal, social-emotional, financial, and career supports throughout college.

 Thrive originated in Los Angeles as South Central Scholars (“SCS”) and spent the first 13 years refining its comprehensive, integrated high school-through-career program model. The founders replicated this model in Boston in 2014 as Noonan Scholars and then merged the two programs into SCS Noonan Scholars in 2017. As part of its national expansion strategy, SCS Noonan Scholars rebranded as Thrive Scholars, and began launching new regions across the country, including Chicago, Cleveland, and New York.  

For more information about Thrive, please visit our website: https://www.thrivescholars.org/ [1]

 

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY:

Thrive Scholars is launching a new region in Jacksonville/Northeast Florida, and is seeking a founding Executive Director for Thrive Scholars Jacksonville to build and drive support for the organization in the region, and enable high performing local students to flourish in college and beyond. With Thrive’s early success and an existing network (including Thrive’s founders) in the region, this is an ideal opportunity for an entrepreneurial self-starter with a strong track record in fundraising and passion for college and career access and success. Reporting to Thrive’s national Managing Director of Regions, this executive will be joining a passionate and dedicated team of 5 Regional Executive Directors (Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, New York) that is committed to measurable and meaningful impact. As the primary face and champion of Thrive’s work and impact in Jacksonville, the Executive Director will be charged with creating the narrative around local support, closing five and six figure gifts, and generating a network of donor support including the creation of a local advisory board. While this role will collaborate with national program teams and leadership, Thrive’s ED’s do not manage programmatic work; the focus of the role is on building support and awareness in the region to enable the delivery of our national program model for students in the area.

 

Key Responsibilities:

Development and External Relations

  • Serve as an inspirational external leader who actively engages and energizes Thrive’s supporters, partners, scholars, families, volunteers, and corporate partners.
  • Identify, cultivate, and solicit five and six figure gifts to meet ambitious seven-figure revenue targets; leverage a nuanced understanding of the Jacksonville philanthropic space to lead regional fundraising efforts.
  • Capitalize on existing relationships with founding regional donors to build a growing network of engaged individual, foundation, and corporate partners.
  • Establish and develop relationships with key prospects (with an emphasis on individuals and foundations), ensuring their continued engagement, with an eye towards ensuring sustainable multi-year support; this will include drafting proposals and grant reports along with effective moves management and donor strategies and stewardship.
  • Play a highly visible external role and serve as the main ambassador and champion for Thrive and its Scholars across the Jacksonville metro area, coordinating with the national recruitment team to engage students, schools, and other access/success programs.
  • Collaborate effectively within the Jacksonville college access and success space, building cooperative partnerships with like-minded organizations.
  • Steward, appoint, and grow local champions to serve on a new Thrive Jacksonville Regional Advisory Board to meet fundraising and recruitment goals, and enhance Thrive’s profile in the community; leverage the Jacksonville Regional Advisory Board to drive fundraising success in the region.
  • Support the efforts of the national development team, leveraging an area of interest or expertise to further the efforts of Thrive more broadly.

 

Systems Building and Management

  • Establish effective day-to-day systems to ensure effective workflows and cross-team collaboration within Thrive’s Jacksonville region, demonstrating exceptional follow-through. 
  • Maintain responsibility for the Jacksonville and NE Florida revenue, with an acute understanding of the full operating budget and grant compliance.
  • Partner closely with Thrive’s national leadership to create and maintain clear lines of communication around local fundraising initiatives and progress.
  • Leverage existing prospect and donor tracking and moves management systems and programs to stay abreast of and report on active fundraising opportunities.
  • Provide strategic guidance and thought partnership to Thrive’s senior leadership team on local initiatives.

 

 Qualifications and experience

There are innumerable ways to learn, grow and excel professionally. We respect this when we review applications and take a broad look at the experience of each applicant. The qualifications and experiences listed below are intended as a guide; we do not expect candidates to check every box. If you believe you can meet the expectations and responsibilities of this position, we want to get to know you and the unique strengths you will bring to the work. 

  • Commitment to the mission and work of Thrive Scholars.
  • Minimum of 10 years total experience strongly preferred; minimum of 5 years fundraising experience strongly preferred with an elevated comfort level working with high net worth individuals.
  • Proven track record of building a strong body of support from new donors, community partners, corporate partners, and other key constituents in support of an organization with which they were not previously engaged.
  • Ability to compellingly convey Thrive's mission, impact, and needs across the community in an authentic way that honors Thrive Scholars and their families.
  • Ability to establish and sustain relationships with a diverse body of stakeholders, rallying them towards a common goal of college and career access and success in the Jacksonville metro region.
  • Experience managing a seven-figure fundraising goal and knowledge of nonprofit revenue sources preferred, with a nuanced understanding of and networks in the Jacksonville philanthropic and corporate communities.
  • Demonstrated success in fundraising, with a focus on individual major gifts, especially with family offices, foundation relations, and/or corporate partnerships, and track record of stewarding and closing multi-year support.
  • Experience building and maintaining within-sector and cross-sector partnerships, and when necessary, problem-solving through partnership challenges and conflict.
  • Excellence in systems building and management with the demonstrated ability to manage one’s work and approach towards successful outcomes.
  • Strong skills in planning, organizing, and oral and written communication, including strong presentation skills.

 

Competencies:

Along with the specific qualifications and experiences noted above, the ideal candidate for this position will be expected to demonstrate the following competencies:

  • Influencing: Communicates persuasively across the organization to build stakeholder and team alignment and support.
  • Strategic Collaboration: Understands how and when to work with others to drive strong results. Able to balance attention to both results and relationships. 
  • Problem Solving: Able to analyze situations and apply critical thinking in order to identify issues and solutions.
  • Commitment to Results: Takes action to produce high-quality work with measurable results in service of Thrive’s mission and Scholars.
  • Fostering Thrive Community: Contributes to a work environment that embraces organizational values and works effectively across identities.  

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 

Thrive Scholars offers a robust compensation and benefits package including high-quality health and dental insurance, three weeks of paid vacation, generous professional development funding, and access to an employer-matched retirement plan. This is a full-time exempt position.


 Compensation Range: $112,000-$132,000


LOCATION:   

This remote role must be based in the Jacksonville/Northeast Florida area. Local in-person meetings and occasional national travel are required. 


COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement

Thrive has instituted a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees, including remote staff. Individuals selected for job opportunities must be fully vaccinated and up to date, per CDC guidelines [2], and will be required to provide proof of vaccination status in advance of your hire date. 

 

If you are unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons or sincerely-held religious beliefs, Thrive will consider requests for reasonable accommodations consistent with our policy. Accommodation requests cannot be guaranteed, Thrive will consider requests where we are able to provide such accommodations without undue hardship to the organization pursuant to applicable law. Any such accommodation must be approved in advance of signing an offer letter.


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Thrive Scholars provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status. Knowing its importance to the success of our work, Thrive Scholars is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we aspire to build a diverse staff team and community. We strongly encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. 


  1. https://www.thrivescholars.org/
  2. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html

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