Community Relations and Engagement Manager

JOB TITLE: Community Relations and Engagement Manager

OFFICE LOCATION

1015 15th Street, NW Suite 1200, Washington, DC

8614 Westwood Center Drive, Suite 300, Vienna, VA

WORK SCHEDULE

Hybrid/Flexible

REPORTS TO: Senior Director, Research & Evaluation

SALARY BAND: $65,136 - 97,704

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

United Way NCA offers competitive compensation and benefits including substantial paid leave, healthcare benefits, a matching retirement plan, and a great work environment.

Mission: United Way of the National Capital Area works to create the opportunity for all members of our community to have a better life. We focus on the building blocks of a good life - a quality education, financial stability for individuals and families, and good health. We bring together the voices, the expertise, and the resources to define, articulate and implement a common agenda for change for our region. That is what it means to "Live United" in the National Capital Area.

Who We Serve: The ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population represents more than 500,000 low- and moderate-income households in our region that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level but less than the basic cost of living for the county/state in which they live. United Way NCA's ALICE Lives Here initiative is one of United Way NCA's strategic programs established to address the issues of inequity in our systems for employment, education, health and food access, financial stability, and opportunities for all to grow to the best of their abilities.

Equity: Equity is fundamental to our mission. We infuse equity in all our business operations, hiring practices and community impact initiatives

Overview: Are you driven and passionate about ensuring that everyone has equitable access to health, education, and economic opportunity? Are you a natural leader who loves to build and develop teams? Are you a change agent who is looking to make a lasting impact in your community and within your organization? If so, you may be just what we are looking for as we expand our team. Take a closer look and reach out if you meet these qualifications.

Position Description:

The Community Relations and Engagement Manager (Manager) plays a key role in United Way NCA's Community Impact and Engagement Division by leading year-round strategies for community organization partner engagement, recruitment, and vetting. This position is responsible for cultivating and maintaining strong, mutually beneficial relationships with local community representatives and nonprofit partner organizations to advance our mission and support effective service delivery.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, the Manager will coordinate community outreach and essential needs initiatives, promote United Way NCA's presence in the community, and develop responsive strategies to address complex local issues. The role also includes implementing and monitoring performance metrics to measure progress toward engagement goals.

The Manager will support and enhance the nonprofit partner experience through relationship-building, customer service, application review, event planning, data management, and evaluation. This position plays a central role in empowering grantees and investing partners through consistent communication, programmatic support, and a focus on innovation and continuous improvement.

The Community Relations and Engagement Manager will manage and support efforts that provide added value to the nonprofit community - including customer service, community organization relationship building, community organization partner recruitment and application review, event planning and coordination, data management and evaluation. To advance the goals of United Way NCA, the Community Relations and Engagement Manager will engage and empower key grantee and investing partner organizations and individuals via strong relationships, excellent and frequent communication, and support for programs, deliverables, innovation, outreach, and continuous development.

Key Responsibilities: Builds and maintains outstanding relationships with new and existing partner organizations and United Way NCA stakeholders.

• Develops and implements a membership model for engaging community-based organizations, including designing an assessment framework to identify and recruit high-impact partners.
• Leads outreach and relationship-building efforts to identify, assess, and recruit new community-based organizations to join United Way NCA's network of community partners.
• Develops onboarding and orientation processes for new partner organizations to ensure seamless integration into the network.
• Establishes criteria and metrics to evaluate prospective and existing partners, ensuring alignment with United Way NCA's mission and strategic priorities.
• Compiles partner engagement data, activities, and reports.
• Responsible for planning and executing the annual partners meeting.
• Manage the implementation and constant improvement of the annual community organization partner application process, including community organization application training.
• Manage work of volunteer and temporary team members, including training activities in support of the annual partner vetting process.
• Complete annual workplace campaign applications on behalf of United Way NCA and partner organizations.
• Stays up to date on specific deliverables for supported partner organizations and meets regularly with supported community based to provide support and drive continuous improvement.
• Identifies gaps in key stakeholder engagement, develop innovative engagement strategies, and proactively recruits and engages potential new partner organizations in collaboration with community impact teams.
• Drives results and outcomes for increased stakeholder engagement with autonomy/little supervision.
• Identifies and drives activities for community engagement including, but not limited to, essential needs and long-term promote connectedness among United Way NCA community organization partners.
• Consistently present, communicative, and visible in the community; stays informed re: relevant work locally, regionally, and nationally.
• Facilitates program development through knowledge of best practices, and identification of partner strengths and opportunities in addition to gaps in community care.
• Ensures engagement of stakeholders for collective impact efforts, grant administration & opportunities, and partner meetings.
• Actively plans and engages in community organization partner networking opportunities and related event planning and implementation, as needed.
• Serves as the primary liaison for all new and existing partner organizations, providing support and responding to queries as they emerge.
• Develops training and capacity-building opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of partner and non-partner organizations. Collaborates across roles, initiatives, and departments.
• Composes correspondence, memorandums, instructional guides, and reports as needed.
• Handles sensitive and confidential materials in a professional manner.
• Research, writes, and contributes to the collaborative development of proposals for grants and other funding opportunities.
• Works with Community Impact Directors to submit partner engagement information for board reports per timelines.
• Assists in other United Way NCA initiatives and meetings as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and Personal Attributes:

• Minimum 5 years of experience in community or community-based organization engagement, or membership services management.
• Bachelor's degree or High School Diploma (or GED) with a minimum of 5 years of related work experience.
• Project management skills - proven ability to schedule, plan, track, and complete complex projects on time.
• PMP Certification and experience in data management is a plus.
• Experience with essential needs, emergency response programs are a plus.
• Excellent analytical ability and ability to manage key projects or program metrics.
• Previous experience with relationship/partnership management.
• Demonstrated ability to work within a community setting with diverse populations, including community groups, elected and non-elected policy makers, businesses, donors, and volunteers.
• Travel throughout the Greater Washington area for business purposes is required.

Qualifications and Personal Attributes (cont.):

• Ability to multi-task and manage shifting priorities.
• Results oriented.
• High energy, positive outlook.
• Excellent project management and community outreach/engagement skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication.
• High level of responsibility, accountability, and confidentiality.
• Exceptional interpersonal and customer relations.
• Strong organizational skills, strong follow-through, and attention to detail.
• Strategic thinker and outcomes-oriented mindset.
• Highly motivated, self-directed with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Collaborative and team oriented.
• Able to manage ambiguity at times and nuance.
• Welcome and is open to constructive feedback.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook) and database management.
• Confidence in engaging Executive Directors and high-level staff from the
• nonprofit and corporate sectors.
• Commitment to core values of United Way NCA in service to community.

Competencies: To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies to perform the essential functions of this position.

Organizational

• Mission focused - the ability to create real social change that leads to better lives and healthier communities.
• Relationship oriented -an understanding that people come before process and is astute in cultivating and managing relationships toward a common goal.
• Collaborator - understands the role and contribution of all sectors of the community and can mobilize resources through meaningful engagement.
• Results driven - dedicated to shared and measurable goals for the common good, creating, resourcing, scaling, and leveraging strategies and innovations.
• Brand steward - a steward of the brand and understands his/her role in growing and protecting the reputation and results of the greater network.

Functional:

• Ethical Standards - Maintains confidentiality, acts with professional, personal, and behavioral integrity.
• Problem solving-the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyzes information skillfully.
• Interpersonal Skills-the individual maintains confidentiality, remains open to others' ideas, and exhibits willingness to try new things.
• Oral communication-the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills, and conducts meetings.
• Written Communication-the individual edits work for spelling and grammar, presents numerical data effectively and can read and interpret written information.
• Planning/organizing-the individual prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently and develops realistic action plans.
• Quality control demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness and monitors your own work to ensure quality.
• Adaptability-the individual adapts to changes in the work environment, manages competing demands, and can deal with frequent changes, delays, or unexpected events.
• Dependability-the individual is consistently at work and on time, follows instructions, responds to management direction, and solicits feedback to improve performance.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume directly to Human Resources: https://unitedwaynca.org/about-us/careers/

Successful candidates must pass criminal background and reference checks.

United Way of the National Capital Area

EOE

M/F/D/V