About
Sarah Coleman is a 1999 graduate of Alderson Broaddus University and returned to her alma mater in 2021 as Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Engagement. She is responsible for the AB Annual Fund, planned giving, the endowed-scholarship program, capital-campaign leadership, alumni engagement, and parent relations. She reports to the President and serves on the President's Cabinet.
Coleman spent the twenty-two years between her AB commencement and her return to College Hill in senior fundraising roles at three of the country's most respected nonprofit institutions. She was a Major Gifts Officer at The Carter Center in Atlanta from 2002 to 2008, Director of Donor Relations at ChildFund International from 2008 to 2015, and Senior Vice President for Development at the Appalachian Community Fund from 2015 until her return to AB.
A communication major and concert-choir soprano in her AB undergraduate years, Coleman has led AB's "Forging the Next 155" comprehensive campaign since its quiet phase in 2023. The campaign aims to raise $75M by 2031 and reached its $30M milestone in March 2026, eighteen months ahead of plan.
Education
- 2017Certificate, Nonprofit Leadership — Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education.
- 2005M.A., Communication & Public Affairs — Emory University.
- 1999B.A., Communication (minor in Music) — Alderson Broaddus University. Outstanding Senior in Communication.
Teaching
VP Coleman teaches one section of the AB senior communication capstone each fall semester, focused on professional and nonprofit communication.
- COM 410Nonprofit & Mission-Driven CommunicationA senior capstone course on writing, storytelling, donor stewardship, brand management, and public relations for nonprofit and mission-driven organizations. Includes a semester-long client project.
Professional Practice & National Voice
Coleman is a frequent speaker on fundraising for small mission-driven institutions, alumni engagement strategy for non-elite colleges, and storytelling in the donor-acquisition cycle. She has presented at the CASE Annual Conference (three years running), the Council for Advancement and Support of Education District III meeting, and the Appalachian College Association Advancement Officers retreat.
She is currently writing her first book — The Long Way Home: Fundraising for Places You Loved First — under contract with Indiana University Press, expected in 2027.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- 2024Plenary, CASE Annual Conference, "Why Your Alumni Don't Give — And What To Do About It."
- 2023"The 1999 Question: Engaging the Forgotten Middle of Your Alumni Roster." Currents, March.
- 2021Co-author, Mission Storytelling: A Field Manual. CompassPoint Press.
Honors & Service
- 2024CASE District III Outstanding Advancement Officer.
- 2023Honored Alumna, AB Class of 1999 25th Reunion.
- 2018ChildFund International President's Award.
- 2015Atlanta Business Chronicle "40 Under 40."
- 1999AB Senior Class President.
You spend your career making other people's places better, and then one day the place that made you calls, and you go home. That's what this job is. Not strategy. Going home.— Sarah J. Coleman, '99
Beyond the Classroom
Coleman lives in downtown Philippi in a 1909 Queen Anne three blocks from campus. She is married to Will Coleman (AB '97), a high-school English teacher at Philip Barbour High School, and they have two children at Philippi Elementary. She sings every week in the AB Concert Choir as a community member.
In 2022 she founded the Battler Bridge Mentorship Network, which now pairs more than 400 AB alumni mentors with current students each year. She is on the board of the Philippi Main Street Association and the Barbour County Habitat for Humanity affiliate.