SEATTLE ALUMNI BOARD MEMBER

FY17POSITION DESCRIPTION

City Year Alumni Association Governance Role

Role of Site Alumni Board Member: As City Year seeks to achieve long-term impact in the classroom and sustain local and national growth as an organization, it will need to draw upon the vision, passion, and talents of its alumni community. In partnership with the Alumni Board Chair and Site, and guided by the strategy set forth by the National Alumni Advisory Board, an alumni board member leads or co-leads the planning and execution of high-level events and outreach initiatives to engage alumni as volunteers, donors and ambassadors. Alumni board members also provide input and feedback to their Alumni Board Chair(s) to help strengthen local engagement, as well as contribute to the development of best practices to support other chapters.

Responsibilities, Time Commitment and Term

Serve on a committee and co-lead at least one initiative: Each Alumni Board Member will collaborate with fellow board members to plan events and initiatives suchas 18 Minute Networking Event, Grad School Info Night, Fall Family Dinner, alumni fundraising initiatives, and other strategic local events. Specific role may include:

  • Collaborate with Board Chair, Committee Chairs, and Site Rep to confirm details (such asgoals, date, venue, budget, marketing/promotion, etc)
  • Collaborate with Board Chair, Committee Chairs, and Site Rep to ensure the event or initiative is planned using approved best practices, communication and branding materials
  • Lead outreach to confirm alumni involvement in key initiatives and steward these alumni through regular communication leading up to event;
  • Support alumni site rep in communicating details and any special roles to alumni community
  • Play a speaking role (if applicable) during the event
  • Support / Lead follow up and thank you communication to alumni and other relevant parties
  • Contribute to documenting event and debrief with alumni board

Requirements and Time Commitment (about 5-8 hours per month):

  • Monthly time commitment: 5-8 hours
  • Attending 80% of bi-monthly full-board meetings
  • Serving on one committee
  • Attending 80% of bi-monthly committee meetings
  • Making a meaningful financial contribution to City Year Seattle’s Alumni Giving Goal of $25,000
  • Aid in alumni board fundraising efforts throughout the year
  • Attending key events such as 18-Minute Networking, Fall Family Dinner, Opening Day, MLK Day, and Graduation
  • Join the alumni Facebook fan page ( and Alumni group on LinkedIn (
  • Keep your profile and contact information updated on the Alumni Website (alumni.cityyear.org)

Term: The term of service is 1-year term begins with the annual Corps Welcome BBQ on August 4, 2016, and concludes on June 30, 2017. Opportunity and process to continue to renew 1 year term will be defined by Alumni Board Chair.

Personal Attributes and Skills

Personal attributes: An Alumni Board Member must be a City Year alum who believes in City Year the organization, its mission, and its power totransform students, individuals and communities. An Alumni Board Member must embody both City Year alumni's role asleaders for life and City Year's spirit of service, and be philosophically aligned with City Year’s current service strategy.The site alumni board strives to reflect the diversity of City Year alumni; this diversity takes many forms including professional occupation, age, gender, geographic and racial/ethnic diversity. An Alumni Board Member must seek, value, and embody such diversity. An Alumni Board Member should be a motivated and driven leader who strives for the best results while also creating harmony between all relevant parties.
Skills/Experience:

  • Passion for City Year and belief in organization’s long-term impact to improve the urban high school graduation rate
  • Demonstrated interest and involvement in the City Year Alumni Association
  • Previous board or committee experience with another organization (a plus)
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and ability to cultivate relationships
  • Ability to effectively communicate written and spoken ideas to a diverse audience
  • Ability to lead and collaborate on a team to implement events and initiatives
  • Sense of humor
  • Flexiblity

Benefits

Benefits:

  • Ability to play a critical role in shaping and executing City Year’s alumni engagement strategy
  • Training ground to serve on boards of other non-profits
  • Ample networking opportunities with City Year alumni and champions


2016-2017 Alumni Board Member Application

Name:

City Year Site & Year(s):

Occupation:

Employer:

Education (last institution attended? Graduation date?):

Part 1: Previous Board Experience

1. Have you previously served on a board or similar leadership body of another City Year site, your college or other organization? Yes* No
*If yes, please briefly describe your board experience: ______

______

Part 2: Indicate how you would like to contribute to the alumni board:

In 2-3 sentences explain what you hope to gain and contribute to the alumni board:
______

______

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This year alumni board members will serve on one of three committees. Please rank your preference for which committee you would like to serve on:

___ Corps Support (18 Minute Networking, Alumni-Corps Mentoring, LACY support, etc)
___ Alumni Engagement (Quarterly Social/Networking Events, Fall Family Dinner, Enews Communications, etc)

___ Development (Ripples of Hope, Alumni Giving, Strong Circle Day, etc)
Are there other areas of building the alumni community you have an interest in contributing your time and talent? ______
Part 3: Requirements and time commitment as an alumni board member:

  • Monthly time commitment: 5-8 hours
  • Attending 80% of bi-monthly full-board meetings
  • Serving on one committee
  • Attending 80% of bi-monthly committee meetingscommittee meetings
  • Making a meaningful financial contribution to City Year Seattle’s Alumni Giving Goal of $25,000
  • Attending key events such as 18-Minute Networking, Fall Family Dinner, Opening Day, MLK Day, and Graduation
  • Join the alumni facebook fan page ( and Alumni group on LinkedIn (
  • Keep your profile and contact information updated on the Alumni Website (alumni.cityyear.org)

Do you have any reservations about fulfilling these commitments?
______

______

Part 4: Timeline and Application Process

  • Application deadline: June 27, 2016
  • Please submit this completed application to Owen Kajfasz at
  • Upon submission of your application, you will be contacted by Owen, Alumni Board Chair, with any follow up questions or next steps.
  • The Alumni Board Chair will either invite you to join the Alumni Board or communicate other ways you can be involved in the Alumni Association by July 11, 2016
  • If invited to serve on the board, your one-year term begins with the Corps Member Welcome BBQ (August 4) and concludes on June 30, 2017.

Part 5: Please include a short educational and professional bio:
Sample: Trude Goodman is the Class 5 Supervisor and a humanities teacher at The Chapin School, a K-12 all-girls school on the Upper East Side. At Chapin she also serves as the sponsor of the geography and model congress clubs and co-leads a monthly faculty diversity workshop. Trude grew up in Dallas, Texas, and graduated from The Hockaday School. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Trinity College (CT), where she serves on the National Alumni Association Executive Committee. She received her master’s in education leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2008. Trude is the Director of Education for Top Honors, a non-profit math tutoring program in New York City and the chair of the City Year New York Alumni Board. She completed her year of national service with City Year Boston in 1999.
Your bio:
______

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______

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Part 6: Indicate Other Ways to Stay Involved:

If you are unable to join the alumni board, but would like to support in a leadership capacity next year, please indicate areas you are interested in:

Corps Support:

___ Mentoring & LACY

___ Learning & Development

___ Grad School Info Night

___ Welcome BBQ

___ Corps Appreciation Month

___ 18-Minute Networking

Alumni Engagement:

___ Social/Networking events

___ Fall Family Dinner

___ Monthly Enews

___ Social Media

___ Stone Soup Dinners

___ MLK Day of Service

Development:

___ Ripples of Hope

___ GiveBIG

___ Strong Circle Day

___ Alumni Giving Challenge

___ Corporate Partnerships