Director of Strategic Partnerships

POSITION SUMMARY

United Way of the Midlands was established in Columbia in 1925. We provide critical health and human service needs in Calhoun, Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry, Richland, and Orangeburg Counties. With a mission to unite people and resources to improve the quality of life in the Midlands, United Way of the Midlands focuses on helping provide a strong safety net, space for non-profit collaboration, and pathways to resiliency.

United Way's Community Impact Department is a dynamic group of professionals working to improve the quality of life in the Midlands. We enlist an extensive network of community partners and volunteers to make lasting change. We manage grant funding and relationship with partners, directly operate community interventions, and provide thought leadership in health and human service content areas.

The Director of Strategic Partnerships leads UWM’s connection building to the greater community. The position serves as a convener bringing together local non-profits to work more effectively, provides education to the community, including elected officials on community needs and UWM’s work, and corporate leadership. The position also deploys revenue generating strategies to support our community work. The position is based in our offices located in Columbia, South Carolina.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Public Policy (approximately 30%)

• Provide leadership and content expertise for public policy issues that impact the non-profit and health and human services sector.
• Serve as a liaison to elected officials to provide information on UWM’s work, introduce programs for funding consideration, and offer assistance with constituent issues.
• Serve as liaison to State United Way Association’s Public Policy Committee and represent UWM in policy events.
• Develop and implement revenue strategies working with local and state governments with measurable outcomes.

Cultivating Collaborations (approximately 30%)

• Lead and participate in collective impact initiatives and foster cross-sector collaboration to drive community change.
• Serve as connector to strengthen partnerships across complementary non-profits.
• Convene community partners to explore collaborations and reduce duplication of services in the non-profit community.
• Serve as liaison to UWM CEO Association, the networking group of leaders of UWM’s partner agencies.

Leadership Development (approximately 10%)

• Lead UWM’s Blueprint for Leadership (BLP) program that trains local community members, including emerging leaders, to serve on non-profits boards.
• Manage BLP’s program design, market program to prospective applicants, evaluate program effectiveness, and implement a robust board placement program with participants.
• Develop and implement a revenue generation strategy for BLP sponsorship.

Partnership Management (approximately 30%)

• Manage overall UWM Impact agency partnerships by overseeing partnership standards and review process for new and existing agency partners.
• Coordinate UWM’s Partnership Committee of volunteers providing input on partnership certification process.
• Serve as primary liaison in UWM’s rural communities interacting with UWM and non-UWM agencies growing UWM’s knowledge of community work, strengthen connections for revenue generation, and deepen partnerships with local leaders.

REQUIRED & PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in human services field or a bachelor’s degree in another area with relevant experience.
• Expertise in non-profit governance practices.
• Experience with meeting facilitation in group settings of various sizes.
• Experience in recruiting and managing volunteer committee members.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Teams.
• Experience in community building and implementation of community-based initiatives, collaborating with and convening diverse community partners in efforts that produce measurable outcomes.
• Ability to work independently within a team environment.

Preferred

• Experience serving on non-profit boards or staffing non-profit boards and committees.
• Experience managing grants and/or program design of community initiatives and/or relationship management and marketing.
• Experience with relationship building and corporate engagement.