APEX Fellow - Corporate Relations & Athletic Partnerships

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.

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.