Assistant Vice President for Alumni and Donor Engagement
Position Overview
The Assistant Vice President for Alumni and Donor Engagement at Wright State University serves as a member of the university advancement leadership team, participating in planning processes, developing divisional goals, budgeting, and improving efficiency. They will lead the expansion of a comprehensive and unified program of alumni engagement, develop relationships with key influencers, and ensure continuous growth in alumni and donor engagement.
Essential Functions
Alumni Engagement (50%) - Plans, organizes, and implements a comprehensive program of alumni engagement. Develops and nurtures relationships with key influencers, including the president of the university, members of boards, alumni leaders, faculty, parents, students, and friends. Leads metrics-driven strategies to increase engagement of alumni and friends in alumni networks, chapters, events, volunteer roles, and fundraising. Provides strategic direction for the Alumni Engagement team and the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Ensures clear goals, operating plans, and measures of success for each programmatic area, tracked to show growth and depth of engagement. Ensures volunteers and their leadership structures are representative of the alumni population, with strong succession planning and alignment with the WSU Alumni Association's strategic direction.
Leadership & Program Management (25%) - Builds a cohesive team of professionals who collaborate in new and innovative ways. Creates protocols and procedures for service delivery, establishes policies, standard operating procedures, goals, metrics, and other key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of programs under leadership. Creates and leads an innovative outreach effort to accelerate growth in alumni and donor volunteerism and engagement. Collaborates across all areas of the Advancement team to provide leadership and opportunities for shared growth in programs and engagement. Develops and maintains relationships with key volunteer leadership across the university. Leads, mentors, and inspires new and existing staff members through transparent communication and modeling of collaborative behavior. Manages the budgets for each area of responsibility, deploying staff and budgeted financial resources to achieve specified goals and objectives.
Philanthropy (25%) - Participates in WSU's leadership team for the next campaign, focusing on scholarships and student success. Maintains a portfolio of alumni major gift prospects, partners with the AVP for Corporate Relations to identify opportunities for corporate and affinity partnerships, and ensures a healthy pipeline of engaged donors. Provides strong leadership and support to the Annual Giving team to ensure resources are in place for continued growth. Shares the WSU story with various constituencies and provides leadership for planning effective alumni and campaign events.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree and five years of experience in alumni relations or university fundraising at a similar institution. Success in cultivating and closing major gifts. Experience in developing diverse and impactful volunteer boards. Success in working with multi-disciplinary teams.
Preferred Qualifications: Master's degree. Experience with working in a complex, dynamic environment connecting the philanthropic interests and needs of students, faculty, staff, and alumni with donors. Proven ability to manage in challenging times, with multiple and diverse interests of many groups, and willingness to connect to the community. Ability to serve as the bridge between the University and alumni/donors while advancing and protecting the interests of both. Experience with being accountable to multiple constituents such as alumni, donors, volunteers, senior university leadership, and academic colleagues. Superb communications skills with the ability to speak passionately about the university, its students, vision, and future.