Thrive Scholars

The Organization

At Thrive Scholars, our goal is to see talented low-income students of color develop the inter-generational wealth and financial security their more privileged peers take for granted, 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 the career of their choice. 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 Scholars originated in Los Angeles as South Central Scholars (“SCS”) and spent the first 13 years refining its 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 recently rebranded as Thrive Scholars, and has begun launching new regions across the country, starting in Chicago and Cleveland, to enhance the organization’s fundraising capabilities and Scholar recruitment efforts,  growing the number of students served by more than 300%. Along with dramatically increasing the number of students served, Thrive Scholars is continuing to grow its program offerings, including launching a new STEM-focused career track in summer 2021. 

The Opportunity

As our Director of Corporate Partnerships, you will play a critical role in helping us grow our partnerships with STEM-focused corporations in Los Angeles, Boston and across the country, effectively meeting the needs of our Scholars as well as those of our partners through mutually-beneficial relationships. At Thrive Scholars, we see these partners as key to our ability to deliver on our mission and ensure that our Scholars are able to successfully enter and grow within competitive STEM careers. Simultaneously, partners value their relationship with Thrive Scholars, as they recognize the role our organization plays in preparing highly-talented, underrepresented students to succeed within their companies and industry. In this role, you will have the opportunity to build and leverage STEM-focused corporate partnerships, unlocking key career opportunities for our Scholars and supporting partners in investing in a diverse pipeline of future industry leaders. 

Thrive Scholars currently benefits from a wide range of corporate partnerships across industries, including an emerging base of STEM-focused partnerships. In this role, you will leverage your dynamic fundraising and partnership-development skills to steward and build on existing relationships, to market Thrive Scholars to the STEM sector and engage new partners, and to develop the most comprehensive philanthropic and employment partnerships possible with leading STEM-focused companies across the country.  

In addition to setting and implementing our STEM corporate partnership strategy in collaboration with members of our senior staff, fundraising, and career development teams, you will work to ensure that we track and exceed our current partner satisfaction goals and our revenue and employment growth goals.  As a team player who contributes to our broader development goals, your collaborative nature, attention to detail, and experience managing complex relationships will help us retain and secure sustainable revenue and employment opportunities within the STEM field.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys exceeding partner expectations, is entrepreneurial, seeks to build a model corporate partnership program within the STEM industry, and is passionate about unlocking opportunities for highly talented, underrepresented young people.  The position also provides significant opportunity to collaborate with senior leaders, with whom you will partner to manage and upsell existing partners and close new deals. You will be based in a major market, preferably, but not limited to the Bay Area, and report to the Chief Advancement Officer. 

Key Responsibilities:

Fundraising and Business Development 

• GOAL:  Successfully establish new philanthropic and employment partnerships with top-tier STEM-focused corporations in Los Angeles, Boston and across the country
• Drive a consultative sales process by: 
  • Identifying mission-aligned prospect corporations and developing and leveraging tailored cultivation strategies
  • Building a strong business case for partnering with us and leveraging interest in a stronger, more diverse talent pool to forge new employment partnerships and attract philanthropic support
  • Identifying key decision-makers and supporters within prospective partner organizations
• Managing relationships through strong communication and project management

Partner Engagement and Management 

• GOAL:  Manage the engagement and fulfillment of partnerships with STEM-focused corporate partners
• Serve as main point of contact with partners’ leadership and understand partner priorities
• Manage/track program activation timelines and build processes to ensure efficient execution
• Work with Career Development Program Manager and Career Coaches to support recruitment for partner job opportunities
• Collaborate with Career and Mentorship teams on partner activations including workshops, webinars, conferences, recruiting events, and mentorship programs
• Develop and implement formal stewardship plans for each corporate partner to ensure a positive experience for all corporate stakeholders, ultimately retaining the relationship for the long-term
• Lead, in partnership with Thrive Scholars staff and volunteer leadership, the solicitation of annual or multi-year financial support 
• Identify opportunities and secure commitments to expand current partnerships

Administration

• GOAL:  Ensure strong data and communications infrastructure to support national STEM-focused corporate partnership program
• Manage all data records for corporate partners in Salesforce, including revenue pipeline and forecast
• Manage/track sales process /activity for high priority prospects
• Create customized marketing materials and pitch presentations, as well as proposals for partner prospects
• Contribute to development team and overall organizational team efforts
• Assist in development operations initiatives, including Salesforce data review and analysis, gift processing, and donor acknowledgements
• Collaborate on development annual planning
• Support local fundraising events and cultivation / stewardship of key decision makers

The Ideal Candidate  

• Minimum of 7 years in business development and strategic partnership management or transferrable skills and experiences in human resources, corporate recruitment and revenue generation
• Minimum of 4 years in STEM-related setting, or managing STEM-focused partnerships
• Deep knowledge of technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines and related  industry landscape (top hiring companies, career paths)
• Expertise in and passion around issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion in the corporate settings
• Track record of success meeting and exceeding sales quotas
• Ability to work independently while being an integral and collaborative member of a larger team
• High level of professionalism and excellent judgment in communication and in handling sensitive information
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into a simple and understandable form; Strong ability to develop effective written pitch documents, including presentation decks that frame data in a compelling, audience-centered narrative
• Ability to navigate complex organizations and to understand key access points, develop strategic relationships and influence stakeholder decision-making
• A highly-organized individual who can take initiative and prioritize short-term and long-term needs in a fast-paced environment involving multiple projects and stakeholders
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to track and manage multiple projects simultaneously in a timely manner
• Excellent research skills and entrepreneurial nature
• Experience using fundraising or sales databases (knowledge of Salesforce preferred)
• Commitment to Thrive Scholars mission and a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of the work
• Willingness to travel and attend conferences and pitch meetings as needed

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.

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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 and inclusion, and we aspire to build a diverse staff team and community. We strongly encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. We appreciate your time and will review and respond to all applications received.

For more information, please visit thrivescholars.org