APEX Fellow - Corporate Relations & Athletic Partnerships

Department

Advancement

Overview

As Ursinus continues to advance APEX and applied liberal arts education, we wish to extend those principles beyond graduation while supporting the College's evolving operating model. This Post-Baccalaureate APEX Fellows Program creates practical, project-based early career professional experience for recent graduates while expanding the College's capacity to execute strategic initiatives. Each Fellow will be assigned a primary area of focus that provides entry-level, real-world experience within a professional functional area, complemented by secondary work and learning experiences that broaden their understanding of higher education, institutional operations, and cross-functional collaboration.

The Corporate Relations Fellow - Athletics Partnerships will develop and execute the "Fill the Fence" Corporate Sponsorship Campaign, securing local and regional business partners to generate budget-relieving support for the Bears Athletics Club while establishing scalable corporate sponsorship processes that can support future athletics and institutional initiatives.

What You'll Gain:

• Applied: Direct engagement with employer partners, sponsorship cultivation, and partnership development strategy.
• Professional: Proficiency with industry-standard CRM tools (e.g., Raiser's Edge NXT, VanillaSoft) APEX Fellow Descriptions.docx and an understanding of how institutions build and sustain external relationships.
• Experiential: Real-world exposure to negotiation, proposal development, and cross-functional collaboration between academic and administrative offices.

This fellowship will position you for careers in business development, corporate relations, strategic partnerships, and higher education advancement.

Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities:

• Research, identify, and prioritize local and regional businesses and vendors as prospective corporate sponsors.
• Conduct coordinated virtual and in-person outreach and help connect prospective partners with sponsorship opportunities that align with their business goals.
• Create and maintain sponsorship materials, outreach templates, checklists, and processes under the guidance of Advancement staff.
• Coordinate with Advancement and Athletics staff to support the activation and fulfillment of sponsor benefits, including signage, game-day announcements, and digital recognition.
• Maintain accurate sponsor and prospect records and track outreach, commitments, benefit fulfillment, and other program results using Raiser's Edge NXT and VanillaSoft.
• Support sponsor stewardship and renewal efforts through personalized outreach, impact updates, and year-end recaps, and refine processes and materials based on results and staff guidance.

Secondary: Support other office, administrative, and event-based Corporate Relations, Athletics fundraising, and Advancement initiatives as assigned to gain broader exposure to the work.

Application

Interested candidates should apply here