Sam Van Doran - Development Director

Sam Van Doran is Director of Partnerships at the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, the largest collective of asylum seekers in history. In addition to serving as STOP's Board Secretary, Sam is also a Policy Board Member at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), the largest and oldest statewide immigrants’ rights coalition in the country. Previously, Sam was S.T.O.P.’s Development Director and led fundraising for the organization.  Sam was also a 2021 Fellow with Coro New York’s Immigrant Civic Leadership Program. She previously worked in fundraising and communications at the NYIC, growing the organization’s budget and playing an important role in rapid response efforts after the election of Donald Trump. Sam brings her background in fundraising, historical research, and immigrant justice activism to the fight against state surveillance.

In 2020, Sam completed a dual MA/MSc history degree from Columbia University and the London School of Economics, graduating with distinction. Her coursework focused on migration, American politics, foreign policy, and humanitarian aid, and her dissertation examined U.S. immigration and refugee policy and refugee mutual aid networks after the Vietnam War. She received her BA in history with honors from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, MD.

Sam has written for the New York Daily News, MTV News, and Fast Company; consulted with civil society groups at UNAIDS; designed “know-your-rights” posters for New Yorkers with the Center for Urban Pedagogy; and been featured on the front page of the New York Times (in the background of a photo, but it still counts). Besides stints in Baltimore and London, she has lived in New York all her life, and enjoys painting, reading, swimming and riding her bike in her free time.