VP, Institutional Advancement

Kingsborough Community College; New York (NY); On-site; USD 175,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, seeks a Vice President for Institutional Advancement to lead fundraising, alumni relations, and corporate partnerships. The role reports to the President and drives a comprehensive development strategy to accelerate private support, grants, and endowments across the college and the CUNY system.

Responsibilities include building a culture of philanthropy, managing staff, and serving as the college’s chief spokesperson for external relations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; master's degree preferred.
• Eight or more years of progressively more responsible experience in institutional advancement, including major gifts, planned giving, events, and sponsorships.
• Strong leadership, integrity, and the ability to build a broad network of external partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and fundraising activities for the college and foundation.
• Serve as the chief spokesperson for external relations and fundraising.
• Manage unit staff and build a campus-wide culture of philanthropy.
• Develop and manage an advancement outreach engaging faculty, alumni, donors and volunteers.
• Collaborate with senior leaders to align advancement with college priorities and strategic plan.

Skills

Executive leadership

Fundraising

Donor relations

Major gifts

Planned giving

Events planning

Corporate sponsorships

Data-driven management

Networking

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

Kingsborough Community College (KCC), founded in 1963, is Brooklyn’s Community College. Located in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, it is one of 26 institutions within the City University of New York (CUNY) system. KCC provides access to high quality educational opportunities for a diverse population, both in career-related fields and in the liberal arts and sciences, promotes student learning and development, and strengthens and serves local communities. The college enrolls 20,000 degree, dual enrollment (high school students taking college coursework) and continuing education students each year, including 8,000 students working to earn an associate degree, supported by 2000 full and part-time faculty and staff.

KCC performs well when compared to peer institutions in successfully recruiting retaining, graduating and sending a highly diverse student body on to study for a bachelor’s degree and to start careers, consistently ranking as a leading community college in associate degrees awarded to minority students. It has been recognized for its excellence multiple times by the highly prestigious Aspen Institute College Excellence Program.

The college is entering a new phase of growth and effectiveness, with a reenergized faculty and staff, a new focus on economic and workforce development in Brooklyn and the region, and a renewed sense of purpose in supporting students to achieve economic and social mobility that transforms their lives, those of their families and of their communities. The college is in the early stages of a strategic plan for 2025-2030 that has clear goals and objectives related to student success in retention, timely graduation, transfer for the bachelor’s degree and workplace success, as well as in institutional innovation and effectiveness.

The VP for Institutional Advancement will play a critical role in ensuring that the college can achieve its ambitions for being even more effective and transformative, working with the President and other senior leaders to identify and execute advancement priorities that are in line with these strategic priorities. The position reports directly to the President and serves on the President’s Senior Staff.

Specific priorities for the VPIA will include the following:

• Corporate and foundation relations – greatly expand private grants by proactively building relationships with foundations and assertively responding to opportunities to secure grants, and expand productive corporate partnerships, both in terms of donations to the college foundation and for student employment and other partnership opportunities;
• Individual giving – cultivate and significantly increase the college’s individual donor pool, including for major gifts and endowments, and for planned giving; and
• Alumni relations – sustainably expand the college’s alumni relations operation, offering benefits and events that keep alumni engaged as current and prospective future donors and as partners to support student employment.

The Vice President for Institutional Advancement collaborates closely with other units in the college; the President’s office, Academic Affairs, Recruitment and Enrollment, Marketing and Communications, Continuing Education and Workforce Development, Student Affairs, and Finance and Administration. The position also includes participation in a university-wide “council” of chief advancement officers from across the system.

The VPIA is the primary manager for KCC’s comprehensive campaign and is expected to prepare an all-inclusive annual development plan; increase donor support by identifying, cultivating and soliciting existing and new major donors for capital, annual and endowment gifts; and lead the planning, coordination and execution of special events related to institutional advancement. Part of the VPIA’s role be to collaborate with other leaders across KCC to create and implement a strategy to connect corporate giving and industry/employer engagement more generally. The VPIA will provide leadership in developing a campus-wide culture and climate of philanthropy and work with alumni and the campus community to address the College's funding needs and opportunities.

Additional duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Leadership of all development and fundraising activities not otherwise described above.
• Serving as the College's chief spokesperson in the area of fundraising.
• Effectively managing the unit staff.
• Building a culture of philanthropy throughout the campus and external stakeholder community.
• Developing and managing an advancement outreach that effectively involves faculty, staff, alumni, board members and volunteers in the solicitation process.
• Additional duties as assigned by the President of the College.

QUALIFICATIONS

This position is in CUNY's Executive Compensation Plan. All executive positions require a minimum of a Bachelor's degree and eight years' related experience.

The position also requires a master's degree in a relevant field and a minimum of eight years related experience with at least five years of executive leadership experience in some combination of higher education settings, nonprofits, and/or corporate fundraising.

The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of and commitment to success in institutional advancement with a proven and strong record of achievement as a fundraiser; be a person of the highest professional integrity; and possess the following senior-level qualifications:

• Eight or more years of progressively more responsible experience with managing institutional development, including major gift solicitation, planned giving, events planning, and targeted drives for corporate and foundation donations and sponsorships.
• Experience with and an orientation toward data and metrics-driven management.
• A background of successful personnel and organizational management and institution-building.
• Acumen for building a strong and effective network of supporters among the College's external public such as leaders in key community organizations, in industry, philanthropy, and education.
• Ability to communicate with and harness energies from a wide base and diverse groups of people, including board members, faculty, staff, community leaders, alumni, business executives and volunteers representing the diversity of Brooklyn and the region.
• A professional portfolio that documents career successes in building and leading results-oriented operations and programs.

CUNY TITLE

Vice President

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

$175,000 - $195,000

CUNY's benefits contribute significantly to total compensation, supporting health and wellness, financial well-being, and professional development. We offer a range of health plans, competitive retirement/pension benefits and savings plans, tuition waivers for CUNY graduate study and generous paid time off. Our staff also benefits from the extensive academic, arts, and athletic programs on our campuses and the opportunity to participate in a lively, diverse academic community in one of the greatest cities in the world.

CLOSING DATE

November 22, 2026 with review of resumes to begin November 4, 2026.

JOB SEARCH CATEGORY

CUNY Job Posting: Executive

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

CUNY encourages people with disabilities, minorities, veterans and women to apply. At CUNY, Italian Americans are also included among our protected groups. Applicants and employees will not be discriminated against on the basis of any legally protected category, including sexual orientation or gender identity. EEO/AA/Vet/Disability Employer.

Job ID: 33027

Location: Kingsborough Community College