Director, Alumni Engagement
Are you passionate about building meaningful connections that inspire lifelong engagement, advocacy, and philanthropy? Do you thrive at the intersection of digital community building, storytelling, relationship management, and mission driven impact? National 4-H Council is seeking a Director, Alumni Engagement to lead the development of a modern, digital first national alumni engagement strategy that reconnects alumni and friends to the 4-H mission through networking, volunteering, advocacy, storytelling, and giving opportunities.
At National 4-H Council, we empower nearly 6 million young people each year to become confident leaders who are ready for life and work. As the nation’s largest youth development organization, we prepare young people to be Beyond Ready through hands-on learning experiences in STEM, Agriculture, Healthy Living, and Civic Engagement.
As the Director, Alumni Engagement, you will play a key role in strengthening and scaling the national 4-H alumni community by building inclusive engagement experiences and fostering meaningful lifelong connections to the organization’s mission. You will lead the strategy and growth of national alumni engagement initiatives, including digital networking platforms, alumni storytelling, volunteer engagement, advocacy efforts, and donor pipeline development. Partnering closely with Cooperative Extension, Development, Communications, Marketing, and program teams, you will help create innovative opportunities for alumni and friends to reconnect, engage, and invest in the future of 4-H while driving measurable engagement and philanthropic impact across a national network.
Join us in building a vibrant and connected alumni community that helps expand the reach, impact, and future of 4-H while ensuring even more young people have access to the relationships, experiences, and opportunities that prepare them to be Beyond Ready for the future. #4HBeyondReady
Mission
4-H, the nation’s largest youth development organization, grows confident young people empowered for life today and prepared for careers tomorrow. In collaboration with the USDA and our network of 110 public universities, we serve every county and parish in the United States in more than 3,000 local 4-H Extension offices. Our programs have a positive impact on young people: 4-H youth are 2x more likely to excel in school, 4x more likely to contribute to their communities, 2x more likely to make healthier choices, and 2x more likely to pursue STEM education or careers.
National 4-H Council (Council), 4-H’s private sector nonprofit partner, builds public-private partnerships and provides resources and leadership development opportunities that expand the reach and impact of 4-H. With the Beyond Ready Initiative, 4-H has the potential to reach 10 million young people annually to help them lead healthy, productive, and engaged lives. Young leaders will have the experience and mentorship to succeed in an evolving workforce and thrive in their communities.
Position Summary
The Director of Alumni Engagement will design, launch, and steward a modern, digital-first national alumni engagement strategy. This role will build scalable, inclusive pathways for alumni to reconnect with 4-H through networking, volunteering, advocacy, storytelling, and philanthropy; while ensuring strong alignment with local Cooperative Extension 4-H programs, Development & Marketing Leadership, and national priorities. Reporting to the VP, Development, this position will serve as the central convener and strategist for national alumni engagement, focusing on digital platforms, shared tools, and national-level opportunities that complement and support built in coordination with state and local alumni efforts.
Essential Functions
Alumni Engagement Strategy & Program Development
- Develop and execute a comprehensive national alumni and friends engagement strategy grounded in digital, scalable, and inclusive experiences.
- Manage the strategy, growth, and ongoing engagement within the national alumni networking platform (e.g., AlmaBase), ensuring it supports networking, events, volunteering, advocacy, and giving.
- Create and nurture the alumni value proposition in alignment with specific personas and engagement journeys to guide participation across key actions, including events, networking, volunteering, advocacy, and donations.
- Obtain, maintain, and utilize current best practices in alumni engagement and national nonprofit engagement strategies.
- Strengthen affinity and value for alumni through different channels including designing and managing national alumni perks and benefits.
- Develop and manage alumni advocate groups that support engagement campaigns, special projects, and targeted donation asks.
- Lead and support alumni committees, advisory groups, and working groups, ensuring clear purpose, engagement, and outcomes.
- Collaborate cross-functionally and with Cooperative Extension to build and steward a national Young Alumni Network that supports early-career engagement and philanthropy.
- Drive engagement through alumni stories demonstrating long-term impact and outcomes of 4-H participation by partnering with Communications and the Youth Voice teams.
- Drive the donor funnel by partnering closely with the Annual Giving Team to produce digital engagement and fundraising opportunities, including days of giving, campaigns, and peer-to-peer efforts.
- Co-manage the Luminaries alumni recognition program in partnership with the Communications team.
- Elevate alumni and their stories in internal organizational initiatives by connecting across Development, Communications, Marketing, technology and program teams.
- Drive responsible financial stewardship by managing program budgets related to alumni engagement, including digital platforms, events, travel, and alumni perks.
- Additional responsibilities as needed.
Alumni Outreach
- Work in close partnership with Cooperative Extension State 4-H Program Leaders and Development Executives to ensure national alumni efforts strengthen and support state-level work.
- Provide shared tools, templates, messaging, and digital assets that states can adapt for their alumni outreach.
- Collaborate with Cooperative Extension engagement partners to align national alumni opportunities with Extension-led efforts and field priorities.
Data & Analytics
- Establish and track KPIs related to alumni growth, engagement, conversion, and impact in addition to helping to create alumni engagement scores.
- Support a data-first approach to decision-making by using data insights to continuously refine strategy and demonstrate value to internal and external stakeholders.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in business, nonprofit management or a related field (or any equivalent combination of relevant work experience and training).
- 10 + years in business development, marketing, communications, data analytics or relevant work experience.
- 6+ years of experience in alumni relations, nonprofit programming, nonprofit development, digital engagement, or related work.
Required Qualifications
- Proven ability to work cross-functionally and collaboratively with and influencing all levels of the organization.
- Proven ability to work independently in driving strategic, complex initiatives.
- Experience managing budgets, vendors, and customer relationship management.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.
- Demonstrated experience building engagement strategies and communities at a national or enterprise level.
Preferred Qualifications
- Professional experience and familiarity with 4-H and Cooperative Extension, particularly working with multiple programs.
- Ability to interpret analytics and turn insights into strategy and compelling storytelling.
- Experience working with national alumni networking platforms, AlmaBase preferred.
- Experience working within donor management and fundraising software, Raiser’s Edge NXT preferred.
Travel Requirements: Travel may be necessary up to 35% by air, car, and/or rail domestically.
ADA Requirements: The physical demands described here represent those that an Associate must meet to perform the position's essential functions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Mostly a sedentary role; however, some movement is required.
- Role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, telephones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
- Requires the ability to lift files, open filing cabinets, and bend or stand as necessary.
- Basic math skills needed to calculate formulas, discounts, and so forth.
- Must be able to lift up to 10 pounds.
Disclaimer: This position description indicates, in general, the nature and levels of work, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other essential functions (as covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act) expected of an incumbent. It is not designed to include or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required. An incumbent may be asked to perform other tasks as needed.
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