Associate Director, Alumni Engagement and Philanthropy-1

Thank you for your interest in working at William Paterson University.

We invite you to join William Paterson University: a wonderful community to learn, work, grow, and thrive. William Paterson University has been named to Forbes’ prestigious “Best Employers by State” list for 2024, recognizing the institution as one of the best-ranked employers in New Jersey based on nationwide surveys. WP is one of four education institutions on the Garden State’s list this year. Here is the link to the article forbes-best-in-state-employers-new-jersey-2024. William Paterson University is among more than 40 companies and organizations that will be honored with a 2024 NJBIZ Empowering Women Award for their commitment to supporting and elevating women employees.

William Paterson University employs approximately 1000 full time employees in the state who work in a variety of positions ranging from professors to administrative assistants and administrators, physical plant operations, campus police, athletics coaches, academic advisors, and more. William Paterson University supports a remote friendly hybrid work schedule for this role. William Paterson also boasts a four-day summer work week from mid-May to mid-August (Fridays off), during which all employees participate in our award-winning Summer Learning series.

Spanning more than 400 wooded acres in suburban Wayne, New Jersey – just 20 miles from New York City – our campus is one of the most diverse in the nation and it ranks in the top 4 percent of colleges for social mobility. William Paterson is a strong proponent of employees growing their careers there. More than fifty percent of the University’s roles are filled by promotions from within. We’re not only committed to social mobility for our students, but also for our employees.

Your work as a member of our team is important to our students and to the progress of our University. What you do here matters, and we value every contribution.

The Associate Director of Alumni Engagement and Philanthropy is responsible for creating and implementing strategic engagement initiatives that foster strong connections among a diverse William Paterson University alumni community. By providing seamless, non-transactional experiences, this role aims to inspire philanthropic support—whether through time, talent, or treasure—aligned with the institution’s goals. Reporting to the Assistant VP of Alumni Engagement and Philanthropy, the Associate Director will be part of a team that is dedicated to enhancing alumni involvement through key engagement areas: philanthropy, volunteering, experiential opportunities, and communication.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Designs and manages strategic programmatic initiatives to engage diverse segments of alumni and creates a seamless alumni experience that moves from engagement to volunteerism to building a robust philanthropic pipeline. 
• Manages a portfolio of prospects and successfully achieves personal fundraising goals, with a focus on personal outreach (moves management) and pipeline development.
• Partners with Annual Giving to engage lapsed donors and acquire new donors through innovative strategic outreach programing.
• Plans and executes events and activities, overseeing all aspects to meet objectives, development of communications, management of logistics and conducting follow up donor centric pipeline building.
• Maintain regular communication with alumni via email, social media, phone and direct outreach.
• Works closely with alumni volunteers, identifying meaningful volunteer opportunities that properly cultivates the relationship toward philanthropic outcomes.
• Build regional chapters through programing, information sharing, volunteerism and philanthropic opportunities.
• Develops strong relationships with campus partners to identify opportunities for collaboration to expand our engagement and philanthropic footprint, including engaging future alumni – our students.
• Monitor and evaluate fundraising progress, provide reports on engagement and giving trends that inform future outreach strategies.
• Provides excellent customer service to all constituents.
• Performs other duties as assigned that are appropriate for the position.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree from accredited college or University; Master’s degree preferred.
• At least 3 years of professional work experience in a field that is directly related to the functions of the position; direct experience in alumni engagement in a higher education environment preferred.
• Fundraising experience in a higher education or not for profit setting preferred
• Excellent written and verbal comm