Chief External Affairs Officer

Chief External Affairs Officer

Location: Cincinnati, OH

Job : 549

Number of Openings: 1

United Way of Greater Cincinnati is seeking a Chief External Affairs Officer to serve as a strategic executive leader responsible for advancing United Way of Greater Cincinnati external relationships and communications to raise the organization’s profile in order to grow impact regionally. The Chief External Affairs Officer oversees the functions of:
Marketing & Communications, Board Governance & Relations, Public Policy & Advocacy.

The Chief External Affairs Officer oversees the design and execution of UWGC’s external communications strategy, including developing the voice of the organization and aligned messaging and style.

As a member of the Executive Team, this leader partners closely with the CEO and executive leadership to execute UWGC’s strategic framework and represent the organization externally with community leaders, donors, policymakers, and the general public.

• Provide executive leadership for United Way’s external engagement efforts aligned with organizational mission, vision, strategic priorities, and impact; align external brand and reputation with internal strategy and implementation.
• Identify emerging opportunities, risks, trends, and community needs while advising executive leadership on strategic responses and priorities.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, transparency, and continuous improvement across teams and organizational initiatives.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment among Education, Impact, Resource Development, Community Engagement, and Finance to advance organizational outcomes and community impact.
• Represent UWGC at community and stakeholder meetings, including representing the CEO as needed.

• Create communications strategy to influence and inform key stakeholders, including Board of Directors, donors, volunteers, media, elected officials, community members, consumers, partner agencies, and the general public.
• Operationalize communication strategy to elevate external reputation and communicate United Way’s impact.
• Collaborate with Resource Development to develop communications and messaging that support cultivation of relationships with funders, corporate partners, and donors to advance strategic initiatives and organizational sustainability.
• Develop unified voice and aligned messaging for internal and external organizational use, including community presentations, speeches, employee communications, and other key stakeholder communications.
• Oversee external communication and brand management strategy by creating and disseminating informative,educational,and positive content through all channels, including websites, social media, mainstream media, newsletters, organizational publications, intranet and video.
• Manage all media requests for the organization.
• Develop strong relationships with local media and actively pitch stories to spotlight the organization in a positive manner.
• Develop and execute crisis communications.

• Develop and implement United Way’s public policy and advocacy strategy and agenda and align external engagement with long-term policy change efforts.
• In partnership with organizational leadership and policy stakeholders, advocate for policies that support educational success, housing security, and financial empowerment.
• Facilitate connection and alignment between external public policy and advocacy priorities and community impact initiatives and programs, including ensuring United Way staff are informed of relevant policy topics.
• Ensure cohesion, alignment, and shared accountability across UWGC’s internal priorities and external partnerships, engagement, and advocacy efforts.
• Oversee Public Policy Committee, creating a strategy to leverage volunteers to advance United Way’s agenda externally; build relationships and facilitate meetings.
• Represent UWGC in collaborative initiatives, coalitions, and civic partnerships that strengthen regional impact and influence.
• Serve as a thought leader in local, regional, and state policy conversations.
• O…