Director of Alumni Relations and Donor Relations

New England College; Henniker (NH); On-site; USD 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

New England College seeks a Director of Alumni Relations and Donor Relations to join the NEC Advancement team. This role builds meaningful relationships with alumni, donors, parents, and friends, and leads strategies to increase engagement and philanthropic support.

The Director manages a donor portfolio, guides the cycle from identification through stewardship, coordinates scholarship stewardship, and plans events to strengthen lifelong connections to NEC.

Qualifications

• 5–7 years of fundraising or related relationship-based work.
• Proven ability to build long-term donor relationships.
• Track record of achieving fundraising, revenue, enrollment, or engagement goals.
• Experience moving donors from initial engagement through solicitation and ongoing stewardship.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of approximately 75–125 donors and prospects with individualized engagement plans.
• Develop alumni engagement strategies to increase participation and strengthen lifelong connections.
• Lead donor and scholarship stewardship programs with timely, personalized communications.
• Plan, coordinate, attend and support alumni and donor events on and off campus.
• Collaborate with Advancement leadership to grow annual giving and philanthropic support.

Skills

Relationship building

Verbal and written communication

Project management

Strategic planning

Tools

CRM donor database

MS Office

Job description

Director of Alumni Relations and Donor Relations

Job Title Director of Alumni Relations and Donor Relations

Position Purpose

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 tracking the number of participating alumni, types of engagement activities, and year-over-year growth in alumni involvement.

Required Qualifications

Education/Licensure

Experience

• 5–7 years of demonstrated success in fundraising, higher education admissions, client relations, business development, or other relationship-based work involving cultivation, solicitation, engagement, and revenue generation.
• Proven ability to build strong, long-term relationships with donors, clients, prospective students and families, or other constituents.
• Demonstrated success in achieving established fundraising, revenue, enrollment, or engagement goals.
• Experience cultivating relationships and moving individuals from initial engagement through solicitation, commitment, and ongoing stewardship.

Skills and Knowledge

• Ability to understand the needs and interests of major gift donors in order to develop and strengthen relationships.
• MS Office proficiency and CRM donor database experience.
• Ability to diasplay verbal and written communication skills that meet the requirements of the position and needs of clients, vendors and community liaisons.
• Strong interpersonal skills and relationship building abilities.
• Ability to prioritize tasks, handle multiple assignments, and meet deadlines while maintaining strict attention to detail.
• Ability to travel to meet with donors and attend events.

Preferred Qualifications

EEO Statement

New England College prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed or religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, veteran’s status or disability in regard to treatment, access to or employment in its programs and activities, in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act ( ADA ), individuals with disabilities needing accommodation should contact the ADA Compliance Officer.

Supplemental Questions

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