Community Organizing & Advocacy Manager

Job Description

Community Organizing & Advocacy Manager

Job Title

Community Organizing & Advocacy Manager

Salary Range

$70,000.00 - $98,000.00; Budgeted: $72,000.00 - $84,000.00

Business Unit

Policy & Advocacy

Home Department

Government Relations & Policy

Worker Category

Full-time

FLSA Code

Exempt

EEOC Job Classification

2 - Professionals

Standard Hours

75 biweekly

Pay Grade

5

Grant Funded Date

N/A

Reports To

Director of Government Relations & Policy

Position Summary

The Manager, Community Organizing & Advocacy will lead United Way of Rhode Island's community organizing strategy in support of the organization's public policy agenda and strategic plan: Strong Families, Strong Nonprofits, and Strong United Way.

This position will build and manage organizing strategies around the issues affecting Rhode Islanders, translating community experience, qualitative insight, and quantitative data into coordinated advocacy and engagement efforts. The Manager will work across United Way departments and with external partners[GU1] [GU2] to identify emerging needs, strengthen coalitions, develop community leadership, and mobilize stakeholders around local and statewide policy priorities.

The Manager will serve as a bridge between community voice, data, policy, and action-ensuring United Way's advocacy reflects the experiences of Rhode Islanders and that community partners are equipped to participate meaningfully in policy development and systems change.

Key Responsibilities

Community Organizing Strategy

• Lead and implement United Way's statewide community organizing strategy across the Strong Families, Strong Nonprofits, and Strong United Way policy pillars.
• Develop organizing plans for priority policy issues, including clear objectives, target audiences, geographic strategies, engagement tactics, timelines, and measures of success.
• Identify communities and populations where deeper engagement is needed and develop targeted organizing strategies responsive to local conditions.
• Build sustained relationships with residents, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, faith institutions, civic organizations, advocacy partners, and other stakeholders.
• Design engagement opportunities that elevate community experience and strengthen participation in United Way's policy and advocacy work.

Data-Informed Organizing

• Use quantitative and qualitative data to inform organizing priorities, strategies, and resource deployment.
• Assess available data sources-including 211 data, community feedback, program data, demographic information, research, and partner insights-and determine which information is most relevant to specific advocacy efforts.
• Design and facilitate community listening sessions, focus groups, surveys, stakeholder interviews, and other qualitative engagement strategies when additional community insight is needed.
• Translate community and service-delivery data into actionable organizing strategies and advocacy narratives.
• Partner with Research & Data, Community Impact, 211, Philanthropy, Marketing & Communications, and other departments to ensure organizing strategies are informed by a comprehensive understanding of community need.

Coalition Leadership and Partnership Development

• Manage and strengthen coalitions aligned with United Way's strategic and policy priorities.
• Convene nonprofit organizations, advocates, community leaders, residents, and institutional partners around shared policy objectives.
• Assess United Way's existing coalition participation and identify gaps where new partnerships, voices, or issue-specific coalitions are needed.
• Develop strategies to strengthen coalition representation across geography, race, ethnicity, age, language, lived experience, sector, and community.
• Establish clear coalition goals, workplans, communications structures, and accountability mechanisms.
• Represent United Way at coalition meetings, community tables, municipal forums, and other external convenings.

State and Local Advocacy

• Support the development of state legislative testimony, advocacy materials, public comments, community briefs, and policy communications in partnership with the Government Relations & Policy team.
• Lead community mobilization strategies around priority legislation, budget requests, administrative actions, and other policy opportunities.
• Manage local advocacy campaigns across Rhode Island, including targeted municipal organizing strategies tied to United Way priorities.
• Build relationships with municipal leaders, local boards and commissions, community organizations, and residents to advance place-based policy priorities.
• Organize public testimony, community turnout, advocacy days, public meetings, and other opportunities for community participation.
• Prepare community members and nonprofit partners to engage effectively with elected officials and public decision-making processes.

Cross-Departmental Leadership

• Serve as a key Public Policy liaison to internal teams whose expertise, relationships, or data are essential to organizing strategy.
• Convene cross-functional teams when policy or organizing priorities require coordinated input from Research & Data, Community Impact, Philanthropy, 211, Marketing & Communications, and other departments.
• Develop clear roles, timelines, and shared objectives for cross-departmental organizing initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to connect United Way's grantmaking, service delivery, fundraising, community partnerships, and public policy work to strengthen advocacy outcomes.
• Provide strategic guidance to internal teams on community engagement and organizing practices.

Community Leadership and Advocacy Capacity

• Develop trainings, tools, and resources that strengthen the ability of nonprofit partners and community members to participate in advocacy.
• Facilitate advocacy, organizing, civic engagement, and policy education sessions for community stakeholders.
• Identify and cultivate community leaders who can authentically represent local experiences in policy discussions.
• Create sustainable engagement structures that move beyond one-time participation toward long-term community leadership and partnership.

Performance, Evaluation, and Continuous Improvement

• Establish organizing goals, performance measures, and indicators of community reach and policy impact.
• Track coalition participation, community engagement, geographic reach, advocacy activity, and campaign outcomes.
• Evaluate organizing strategies and make recommendations to strengthen future campaigns.
• Provide regular updates and analysis to Public Policy leadership on emerging community trends, organizing opportunities, coalition gaps, and risks.

Manager-Level Expectations

The Manager is expected to operate with significant independence and strategic judgment. This role will:

• Design and set local campaign strategy
• Manage complex relationships and coalitions across multiple issue areas.
• Determine appropriate engagement and data strategies based on policy objectives.
• Lead cross-functional projects requiring coordination across United Way departments.
• Advise Public Policy leadership on community dynamics, organizing opportunities, and advocacy risks.
• Manage multiple campaigns and workstreams simultaneously, establishing priorities and adjusting strategies as conditions change.
• Represent United Way externally with professionalism, sound judgment, and a strong understanding of the organization's public policy priorities.

Personalized Justice, Equity Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) Pathways Journey

Every UWRI employee utilizes the JEDI Pathways Framework to identify and commit to professional growth and development. In this role, that includes:

• Develop and implement a personalized JEDI Growth Plan with your supervisor that establishes baselines and tracks growth across the three JEDI domains, two spheres of influence (interpersonal and within UWRI/sociopolitical systems), and your level of practice (Emerging, Developing, Practicing).
• Complete the annual JEDI self-assessment honestly and use it to identify priorities for ongoing learning and growth.
• Participate in annual JEDI training, monthly learning and reflection opportunities, and at least one quarterly teach-back of a JEDI learning experience.
• Engage with UWRI JEDI initiatives such as the Equity Challenge, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), the Heritage and Professionals group, and the Culture, Equity and Strengths Committee (CES).
• Participate in community, state, or national JEDI growth opportunities (including United Way Worldwide) as relevant to your role.

How You Show Up: UWRI Values & JEDI Orientations in Action

In addition to the responsibilities outlined above, your role includes consistently showing up in ways that demonstrate the UWRI values and the aligned JEDI orientations. Successful [Job title] will build and grow foundational skills across all three domains of the UWRI JEDI Pathways Framework, grounded in our core values. Examples of how the values and orientations come alive day to day in this role:

Courage

• Advocating for policy changes that address systemic barriers to economic stability, even when those conversations are politically complex or challenging.
• Elevating community voices and lived experiences that may be underrepresented in policy discussions, ensuring those most impacted have opportunities to influence solutions.
• Using community data, resident feedback, and coalition input to challenge assumptions and inform advocacy priorities.
• Engaging in difficult conversations about equity, power, and access while maintaining trust and accountability with partners and community members.
• Adapting organizing strategies when community feedback, changing conditions, or emerging issues require a new approach.

Integrity

• Communicating transparently with residents, partners, coalitions, and colleagues about advocacy goals, opportunities, limitations, and decision-making processes.
• Ensuring community perspectives are accurately and respectfully represented in advocacy materials, testimony, and policy recommendations.
• Following through on commitments to partners and maintaining trust through consistent communication and action.
• Seeking and incorporating feedback from community members and coalition partners to strengthen organizing efforts.
• Taking responsibility for mis