Newly-Appointed Vice President for University Advancement Brings Over 12 Years of Experience
Jonathan D. Meer has been named the new Vice President for University Advancement by University President Grey Dimenna, Esq.
According to the University, Meer will champion the University’s key fundraising initiatives with a special focus on raising dedicated funds to support student scholarships and increasing the University’s endowment. Meer’s responsibilities will also be critical to strengthening engagement efforts with alumni.
“[The Vice President for University Advancement] is a very important position as it is responsible for all fundraising and alumni affairs,” said Dimenna. “These areas are vital, especially for private universities as funds raised from private sources help to fund scholarships for students and other activities which helps keep tuition lower.”
“One of my top goals is executing a successful Scholarship Campaign that will run through the summer of 2019 and will add substantial current use and endowed funds for scholarship,” said Meer, whose appointment was effective as of March 1. “To help lead this campaign, we will be recruiting a volunteer Campaign Cabinet that is full representative of all University constituencies, including students.”
According to Meer, his first priority is to bring in more gift revenue to alleviate pressure on the employees in the Offices of Finance and Enrollment Management.
“In the short run, that means raising more money from alumni, parents, friends, faculty and staff, and local corporations and foundations that can lessen the University’s dependence on the revenue we receive from our students,” said Meer. “To be successful, my team and I must do a better job of telling the ‘Monmouth Story,’ and encouraging especially those alumni who had positive experiences here as students, to understand why it is so crucial for them to help us strengthen the financial undergirding of the University.”
Meer also said that his office will likely plan a “multi-year comprehensive campaign,” which will seek to raise “substantial” funds for a wide range of initiatives including academic programs, facility enhancements, and athletic priorities.
“Additionally, it’s very important that we inculcate in Monmouth students a sense of the University’s history, its upward trajectory, why they are so fortunate to be part of the wonderful community here, and some sense of obligation when it comes to giving back philanthropically after graduation, so that future generations of Monmouth students will have the same opportunity they now have,” Meer continued.
Meer entered the search for the position last fall after a meeting with Dimenna. Dimenna said that the University completed a national search to fill the position and said that Meer was “the unanimous choice as the best qualified candidate.”
“I am delighted to welcome Jonathan to the Monmouth family,” said Dimenna in a press release released on March 12. “Even before his official duties began, he met with our alumni in Florida, engaged with student athletes, parents, and supporters of our basketball programs at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championships in Albany [NY], and spent quality time with our trustees and senior staff to chart a path for the months and years ahead.”
“I absolutely love it here after only three weeks as a Hawk,” said Meer. “I’m guessing that’s how most of our students feel during the start of their first year on campus.”
Meer previously worked at Rider University for 12 years, where his responsibilities included oversight of development, alumni affairs, communications, and public relations for the school’s Princeton and Lawrenceville campuses.
He also served as the Vice President for University Advancement at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.
“I’m very proud of the campaign I planned and led at University of the Pacific between 2000 and 2005,” Meer continued. “We set a goal of $200 million and the campaign ultimately concluded with more than $320 million in gifts and pledges, including a $100 million gift.”
Meer’s achievements at Rider University included the planning and execution of a seires of what he called “very exciting” new events as part of Rider’s 150th anniversary in 2015; he stated that that planning also resulted in the earning of “a new Guiness World Record.”
Meer was the architect of three mini campaigns to secure funding for capital projects in excess of $35 million, and increased giving programs by 69 percent to an annual average of $10 million between 2012 and 2015.
At Rider, Meer also led recent efforts to secure record levels of support through a Trustee Challenge for unrestricted funds.
“Since moving back from the West Coast in 2005, my wife and I have enjoyed raising our three sons in New Jersey,” Meer said. “After spending 12 very professionally satisfying years at Rider University, I began to think broadly about the kind of university in and around New Jersey where I could have the greatest impact and where I would ‘fit’ best, given campus culture, leadership, and institutional mission and vision. I had been introduced several times to Monmouth over the years and each time I came away with the feeling that if I were ever to leave Rider, Monmouth would be at the top of my short list for a future professional home.”
“Notwithstanding the various serious challenges facing higher education in general, I foresee an exceedingly bright future for Monmouth,” said Meer. “Given its strong leadership (in the administration and the Board of Trustees), an enviable location, stunning campus, compelling academic and co-curricular programs (including Athletics), stable finances, excellent facilities and bright students, the University has some real advantages over other institutions in our space.”
“Jonathan is a very experienced fund raiser as well as a great colleague. I look forward to working closely with him and raising substantial monies for the benefit of the University and the students,” said Dimenna.
Meer said, “Among our many other institutional attributes, we have one other that I’ve picked up on in my short time here: a hunger to be better than we are. That institutional drive to improve, not to morph us into another university but to be, ‘the best Monmouth we can be,’ is exciting. And, assuming those of us who promote the University every day are successful in our work, the sky is the limit.”
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth University