Director of Alumni Relations and Donor Relations

Job Title Director of Alumni Relations and Donor Relations

The Director of Alumni and Donor Relations serves as a key member of the New England College Advancement team and is responsible for building and strengthening meaningful relationships with alumni, donors, parents, friends, and members of the NEC community. The Director develops and implements strategies to increase alumni and philanthropic engagement, strengthen donor retention, provide meaningful stewardship, and cultivate relationships that lead to increased support for the College.

The Director manages a portfolio of donors and prospects, guiding individuals through all stages of the donor cycle, including identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. The position also leads alumni and donor engagement and stewardship efforts that demonstrate the impact of philanthropy, strengthen lifelong connections to New England College, and inspire continued and increased investment in the College’s mission and students.

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 75–125 donors and prospects, developing and implementing individualized strategies to identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit, and steward philanthropic relationships that lead to increased engagement and financial support for New England College.
• Build meaningful, long-term relationships with alumni, donors, parents, friends, and other members of the NEC community through consistent personal outreach, visits, events, communications, volunteer opportunities, and other engagement activities. Evaluate effectiveness annually through documented donor and prospect contacts, donor retention, year-over-year giving, increases in individual gift amounts, and the number of donors who increase their philanthropic support to at least the Founders Level.
• Develop and implement alumni engagement strategies that strengthen lifelong connections to New England College, with a goal of increasing alumni participation by 100 additional donors annually and expanding opportunities for alumni to engage with the College and its students. Evaluate progress annually through the number of new and retained alumni donors, year-over-year alumni participation in events and programs, alumni volunteer and mentoring involvement, student engagement activities, and alumni feedback.
• Lead donor stewardship efforts that recognize philanthropy, demonstrate the impact of charitable giving, strengthen donor retention, and inspire continued and increased support for the College.
• Oversee the College’s scholarship stewardship program, including coordinating donor-funded scholarship recognition, facilitating meaningful connections between scholarship donors and student recipients, and ensuring donors receive timely and personalized information demonstrating the impact of their support.
• Oversee and manage the scholarship stewardship process, including student thank-you letters, donor reports, scholarship profiles, recognition opportunities, and events that connect donors with the students and programs their philanthropy supports. Ensure that 100% of scholarship donors receive appropriate stewardship communications each year and that student thank-you letters and donor reports are completed within established timelines. Evaluate effectiveness through annual tracking of stewardship completion rates, donor participation in recognition opportunities and events, and overall donor engagement.
• Develop and coordinate donor recognition and stewardship initiatives, including, but not limited to: giving societies, personalized communications, impact reporting, donor recognition, special events.
• Partner with the Assistant Vice President of Advancement and Advancement colleagues to develop strategies that increase alumni engagement, donor participation, donor retention, annual giving, and philanthropic support for College priorities.
• Plan, coordinate, attend, and support alumni and donor events both on and off campus, including, but not limited to: reunions, regional gatherings, stewardship events, scholarship recognition activities.
• Develop and implement opportunities to engage alumni as volunteers, mentors, ambassadors, speakers, and philanthropic partners, with a goal of increasing alumni participation in these roles by 10% annually. Build connections between alumni and current students by actively recruiting and placing alumni in engagement opportunities. Evaluate progress annually by…