Associate Director, Alumni and Volunteer Experience

About the Department

The University of Chicago Advancement team cultivates lifelong connections with more than 220,000 alumni, current students, parents, and friends worldwide, building community through intellectual, professional, and other meaningful experiences on campus, around the world, and online. Advancement empowers every division, school, department, and institute to thrive, generating support for esteemed faculty, pioneering researchers, visionary practitioners, and ambitious students. During the Chicago Minds campaign, Advancement seeks to raise over $1 billion annually to fuel bold discovery and amplify the University’s global impact. The Alumni and Volunteer Experience team oversees programs and initiatives designed to increase participation and engagement among alumni, parents, and friends of the University, with a focus on driving key University priorities.

About the Role

The Associate Director, Alumni and Volunteer Experience, will develop innovative strategies for building and strengthening class-based undergraduate alumni engagement. This role focuses on identifying and executing initiatives that strengthen alumni affinity during and between milestone reunion years. The undergraduate College has seen significant growth and change in the past two decades, resulting in diversity of identity and campus experiences in the alumni population. This role will respond to this diversity by taking an entrepreneurial and proactive approach to tailoring class-based experiences.

Responsibilities

• Develops and implements strategic engagement plans for College Reunion classes, with specific and measurable goals, aligned with the University's alumni engagement and fundraising priorities and tailored to the unique needs of each class.
• Identifies, creates, and executes opportunities for meaningful class-based engagement during and between reunion years, focusing on strengthening connections between alumni and the University and among alumni themselves; deepening alumni pride; and enhancing engagement opportunities for the global UChicago undergraduate alumni community.
• Partners closely with Reunion volunteer committee staff leads to support volunteers in the development of class-based programs and initiatives aligned with community and University priorities.
• Collaborates with key stakeholders in planning and executing strategic class-based experiences, including College Alumni Weekend programming and Reunion dinners.
• Develops and implements strategies for leveraging existing alumni programs to engage Reunion classes and for increasing touchpoints with the broad community of Reunion alumni.
• Partners with colleagues across the University and the College, including College reunion fundraising leads, to develop and implement strategies to increase cross-campus collaboration on class-based engagement strategies and goals.
• Builds a culture of philanthropy across alumni communities, supporting divisional qualification, cultivation, and solicitation strategies and ensuring that volunteer boards meet philanthropic goals.
• Continually evaluates, assesses, and reports on class-based alumni engagement strategies for ongoing improvement and growth, with a focus on driving Advancement goals.
• Identifies and integrates strategies for increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging across programs and experiences.
• Seeks opportunities for professional development that will enhance job performance, including building networks within the University and with colleagues at peer institutions.
• Assists in leading and coordinating the planning, organization, and management of events, programs, and services designed to cultivate and maintain ties between the University of Chicago and key constituent groups.
• May assist in or individually create a marketing plan to maximize participation and engagement of alumni, parents, and friends.
• Has a deep understanding of strategic planning, data management, the creation and tracking of metrics, and the creation and implementation of new constituent relations programs worldwide. Measures, tracks, and reports participation and success of initiatives.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Requirements

• College or university degree in a related field.
• 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Minimum five years of professional work experience in nonprofit management, development, alumni relations, marketing, public relations, sales, or a similar professional field.
• Minimum one year of experience developing and monitoring budgets.
• Background providing responsive, professional, and customer-focused service to internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated skill and knowledge of, or ability to learn quickly, the internal workings of the University as well as the technology tools available to Advancement, including Phoenix, the University's Donor Relationship Management Salesforce System.
• Proficient in a Microsoft Windows computer environment, especially Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.

Skills

• A strong commitment to personal and professional development, and the ability to foster a collaborative and inclusive team environment.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships and engage effectively with alumni and volunteers.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills characterized by the ability to listen, speak, and write effectively.
• Manage confidential information with discretion and tact.
• Act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
• Work collegially and collaboratively in a team setting.
• Prioritize multiple projects and independently follow through with detail.
• Self-motivated and take initiative.

Working Conditions

• Hybrid work schedule with weekly in-office presence.
• Standard office environment.
• Travel to campus and/or non-campus locations for University business.
• Work evenings and weekends as needed.
• Position is located in Hyde Park at 5235 South Harper Court.
• Not eligible for employer-sponsored employment authorization.

Pay

$76,500.00 - $90,000.00

Benefits

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.