About the Project 55 Fellowship

The Project 55 Fellowship Program is a competitive, interdisciplinary program that matches recent Princeton Alumni with social impact organizations for a year of community engagement and civic leadership development. The fellowship program provides participants an opportunity to explore a lifelong responsibility to building a more just, equitable, and sustainable society. 

Project 55 is a 12-month commitment that offers Fellows formative experiences working with civic and community-based organizations. Fellows gain a greater awareness of critical social issues and a deeper understanding of their capacity to bring about change, as civic leaders, across all professions. Since 1989, more than 2,000 Princeton Alumni have launched their postgraduate careers from their leadership in Project 55. 

Partnering with the Project 55 Fellowship program to hire Fellows allows you to focus on your organization’s mission while we manage recruiting, advising, developing, and mentoring your Project 55 Fellow(s). The Princeton AlumniCorps team highly values the incorporation of equity and justice principles into our mission and civic philosophy. We aim to partner with forward-thinking, mission-driven organizations whose values align with ours and center the voices of their communities. 

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Partnership Conditions for Success

Princeton AlumniCorps is dedicated to collaborating with leaders and organizations that share our vision for equity and justice. We are committed to the success and long-term sustainability of our programs, prioritizing the delivery of a meaningful Fellowship experience that generates impactful contributions to our partnership organizations' missions.

A successful administration of the Project 55 Fellowship depends on the investment of the four main stakeholders of the program: 

1. Project 55 Fellows 
2. Partner Organizations (supervisors and strategic leaders)
3. AlumniCorps' Volunteer Network (mentors, program alumni, and community members)
4. AlumniCorps Staff (each member of our "home" office) 

AlumniCorps identifies the following five conditions required for the success of our Project 55 Partnerships. These conditions include, but are not limited to: 

1. Respectful, Mutually Beneficial Partnerships 

• Complete all required Project 55 documentation such as partnership applications and renewal forms, agreements, position descriptions, surveys, and evaluations.
• Provide Fellows access to your organization's employee handbooks, personnel guides, and Human Resources protocols. 
• Practice a culture of belonging while being open to understanding how inequitable systems, policies, and cultures impact Fellows’ experience.
• Partner organizations should treat Fellows as trusted team members so they can take time off to prioritize their mental health and physical well-being throughout the year. Princeton AlumniCorps can collaborate with partner organizations to ensure that Fellows and partner organizations feel supported throughout public health, mental health, and other emergencies.

2. Active Coaching and Co-Supervision 

• Onboard your Fellow to your organization and help them make the transition from college to a working environment. 
• Provide Fellows with organizational expectations and role clarity. 
• Meet regularly with your Fellow to provide specific check-in time – this may be weekly or every other week. Include your Fellow in general team meetings.
• Provide your Fellow with feedback and opportunities for improvement.
• Complete program mid-year and end-of-year reviews with your Project 55 Fellow. 
• Assign a Fellow an in-house mentor when possible. 

3. High-impact, Meaningful Work 

• Adhere to your submitted position description. Assign challenging and rewarding work to the Fellow, not just administrative work.
• Include at least one mission-critical project by the second half of the Fellowship (January to June).
• Provide Fellows with ownership over their assigned project(s).
• Expose Fellows to how your organization operates and collaborates across departments to achieve your mission and impact.

4. Fellow Professional Development 

• Allow Fellows to prioritize participation in Project 55 Fellowship Programming such as National Leadership Development calls, Local Area Connections, Mentorship, etc. 
• Onboard Fellows to your organization, field(s) of focus, and community served.
• Provide in-house training and resources so Fellows can create an environment of success. 
• Connect Fellows to leaders in your organization’s network and encourage professional development opportunities.
• When appropriate, support Fellows in pursuing their next professional steps (graduate school, career opportunities, etc.).

5. Compensation & Benefit Requirements 

Fellowship Salaries:

Partner organizations must pay Fellows a minimum salary set by AlumniCorps. In addition, they must provide health insurance at no cost to the Fellow for their health insurance premium. Fellows are responsible for their copays for doctor visits and prescriptions. Partners are encouraged to provide the Fellow with any other benefits offered to employees in their organizations such as paid time off, 403bs, travel reimbursements, etc.

Partner Organizations determine the salaries of their Fellows, Please note that Project 55 applicants do consider salaries in their decisions to accept fellowship positions. The following salaries are subject to a yearly adjustment based on a variety of economic and equitable factors. AlumniCorps requires partners to pay Project 55 Fellows whichever is greater: a salary comparable with the organization’s rate for entry-level positions or the minimum salary listed below by location: 

• Bay Area – $54,500
• New York – $46,500
• Chicago – $42,450
• Washington, DC – $46,500
• Boston – $44,100
• New Jersey – $46,500
• Philadelphia – $46,500

Healthcare Requirements Benefits:

Partner organizations are also responsible for providing Project 55 Fellows with employer health insurance. Fellows will be responsible for any co-pays or out-of-network costs as applicable through your organization’s health insurance coverage. 

Partner organizations that require an employee contribution toward health insurance may require the same of their Fellow as long as the agency increases the Fellow’s stipend to offset this cost. For example, if the Fellow contributes $35 to their health insurance each paycheck, their paycheck should be increased by $35 to offset that cost.
Partner organizations have been able to provide Fellows with health insurance in the following ways: 

• Partner organizations pay for monthly premiums.
• Partner organizations raise Fellow’s salary to ‘absorb’ costs if paying the premiums is not HR compliant.
• Partners provide a stipend or reimbursement to Fellows to purchase coverage through HealthCare.gov.

Some Fellows may already have health insurance through family plans and may opt out of your organization’s employer health plan. 

Other Employee Benefits:

Project 55 applicants consider a variety of aspects when accepting positions through the fellowship program. In addition to salary and healthcare, they may also consider other employee benefits a partner organization can offer. AlumniCorps requires partner organizations to provide Fellows with reasonable paid time off, in addition to time off for cultural and spiritual holidays. AlumniCorps recommends partner organizations extend to Fellows the same or equal benefits as all other employees including funding for individual development, commuter reimbursement, and technology reimbursement.

Partnership Application Process

Princeton AlumniCorps seeks nonprofit and public organizations to host Project 55 Fellows in 2025-2026. Become a Partner Organization today by applying at the link below:

AlumniCorps invites organizations serving a variety of public causes and social impact fields to join our network. Most Project 55 Fellows work at partner organizations in the following areas: Development and Fundraising, Research and Policy, Program and Project Management, Marketing and Communications, and Executive Assistance. 

Project 55 Fellows live and work in the following city cohorts: Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. If your organization is located outside these city cohorts or is fully remote, please contact Andrijana Bilbija, Program Manager of Partnership Engagement, before submitting your application. 

Recruitment Timeline   

• November 1st, 2024: Project 55 Partner Application for 2025-2026 opens! 
• November-December 2024: AlumniCorps Partner recruitment and engagement events. 
• January 3rd, 2025: Project 55 Partner Application closes. 

Onboarding Timeline

• January 6th, 2025: New organizations notified of their partnership status with Project 55. 
• January 20th, 2025: Mandatory Project 55 Partner Onboarding Session. 

Fellow Interviewing and Selection Timeline

• February-March 2025: Partners interview and evaluate Project 55 candidates for their available position(s). 
• March 24th, 2025: Partners submit hire offers and Project 55 candidates accept or decline. 
• April 14th, 2025: Project 55 Fellowship Cohort is finalized for the 2025-2026 program year. 

All Project 55 Fellows are required to attend AlumniCorps’ Onboarding Retreat on Friday, May 9th, 2025. 

Most Fellows are graduating in May of 2025 and will need time to transition from undergraduate to their respective fellowship location. We require all Fellows to begin work by the end of August 2025. AlumniCorps asks all partner organizations to respect this process and offer accommodations for Fellows. 

While AlumniCorps strives to ensure a Project 55 Fellow is placed at your organization, there is no guarantee that a partner will have a Fellow in 2025-2026. 

For questions about Princeton AlumniCorps, Project 55, and becoming a program partner, please contact Andrijana Bilbija at abilbija@alumnicorps.org.

Project 55 Partner Spotlight

Thank you to our 2024-2025 Project 55 Partners hosting 24 Fellows across the country! 

Association to Benefit Children

Blue Star Families 

Carole Roberston Center for Learning 

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Independent Partner)

Dance Institute of Washington DC 

EmNet at Massachusetts General Hospital 

Housing Development Fund

Illinois State Board of Education 

Maya Health Alliance and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (Independent Partner)

OurSpace World, Inc. 

Princeton Pace Center 

Project Rousseau (Independent Partner)

SEED SPOT

Sinai Community Institute

Springboard Collaborative 

The Community Group & Community Day Charter Public School

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (Independent Partner)

The Orthopaedic and Arthritis Center for Outcomes Research (Independent Partner) 

United World College-USA 
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Independent Partners are organizations that are independently found and pursued by the Fellows working there. In most cases, their respective Fellows applied to Project 55 and then were hired at the organization. 

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