What does a community organizer do?
Community organizers assist communities in clarifying and determining their problems, articulating their needs, and exploring resolution strategies. The organizers choose and apply strategies related to the intervention. They establish their capacities to cope effectively and deal with their respective issues. Part of their job is to organize communities acting collectively on shared interests. Honesty, compassion, and a sense of responsibility in carrying out their duties are all necessary for the postition.
Community organizer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real community organizer resumes:
- Manage local campaigns to improve the NYC public education system and perform research on school districts to gather and analyze statistics.
- Grow and manage existing relationships in assign territories with physicians, hospitals, skil nursing and rehabilitation facilities and assist livings.
- Lead strategist and coordinator for creating and advancing Latino community organizing throughout rural Oregon.
- Grow and manage existing relationships in assign territories with physicians, hospitals, skil nursing and rehabilitation facilities and assist livings.
- Coordinate monthly meetings for city-wide coalition of organizations working on human rights issues in NYC.
- Maintain organizational Facebook, and blog.
- Create community partnerships in addiction ministry and education resulting in ecumenical collaboration surrounding the issues of addiction and recovery.
- Share relative material encompassing tertiary extra curricular interests on Facebook/Twitter
Community organizer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Community Organizers are proficient in Community Outreach, Public Speaking, and Social Justice. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Community Organizers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Community Outreach, 15%
Increased citizen's awareness of energy conservation and environmental sustainability through citywide community outreach activities to reduce household energy consumption.
- Public Speaking, 7%
Participated in public speaking engagements to promote and inform others on the services provided by the agency.
- Social Justice, 6%
Educate local social justice outreach program representatives on community mediation techniques.
- Community Organizations, 5%
Trained new volunteers, planned outreach events with other community organizations, and coordinated joint philanthropic events with other outside organizations.
- Local Community, 5%
Developed and maintained relationships with other organizing groups and local community-based organizations to build collaborative partnerships.
- Press Releases, 4%
Developed key messages for social media, wrote press releases, congregational updates/yearly reports, and monthly newsletter updates.
Most community organizers use their skills in "community outreach," "public speaking," and "social justice" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential community organizer responsibilities here:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a community organizer to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." Community organizers often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "used skills in oral communication and persuasion to provide door-to-door community outreach in low-income neighborhoods for recruiting and development purposes"
Compassion. Many community organizer duties rely on compassion. "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations," so a community organizer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways community organizer responsibilities rely on compassion: "provided outstanding customer service, with the correct level of compassion and empathy. "
Organizational skills. community organizers are also known for organizational skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to community organizer responsibilities, because "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." A community organizer resume example shows how organizational skills is used in the workplace: "assisted the project evaluator in developing a community need assessment created an organizational development plan to improve community outreach. "
Problem-solving skills. For certain community organizer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a community organizer rely on this skill, as "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what community organizers do: "serve on policymaking committees, assist in community development, and assist client groups by lobbying for solutions to problems. "
Time-management skills. A commonly-found skill in community organizer job descriptions, "time-management skills" is essential to what community organizers do. Community organizer responsibilities rely on this skill because "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." You can also see how community organizer duties rely on time-management skills in this resume example: "process member grievances and adhere to strict deadlines outlined by each collective bargaining agreement. "
The three companies that hire the most community organizers are:
- Americorps25 community organizers jobs
- First National of Nebraska19 community organizers jobs
- First National Bank Texas18 community organizers jobs
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Compare different community organizers
Community organizer vs. Outreach specialist
An outreach specialist is primarily responsible for organizing and managing social service programs that promote health and wellness within a community. They typically conduct research and assessments to determine the community's needs, thoroughly plan events and programs, participate in hiring staff and volunteers, and liaise with sponsors and suppliers. Often reporting to a manager or supervisor, an outreach specialist must also perform clerical tasks such as producing progress reports, preparing necessary documentation, managing schedules, arranging appointments, and even responding to inquiries and concerns.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a community organizer are more likely to require skills like "public speaking," "local community," "community engagement," and "leadership development." On the other hand, a job as an outreach specialist requires skills like "customer service," "patients," "social work," and "veterans." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Outreach specialists tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $47,346. In contrast, community organizers make the biggest average salary, $47,895, in the professional industry.The education levels that outreach specialists earn slightly differ from community organizers. In particular, outreach specialists are 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a community organizer. Additionally, they're 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community organizer vs. Student outreach coordinator
An outreach worker is responsible for supporting community events and relief efforts to assist citizens with their needs, providing them resources, and facilitating lifestyle programs. Outreach workers coordinate with participants, suppliers, and sponsors for funding and promotions. They also manage the budgeting and allocation of resources for the programs, ensuring that the activities adhere to the state regulations and community benefits. An outreach worker must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in writing progress reports and transactions.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that community organizer responsibilities requires skills like "community outreach," "public speaking," "local community," and "community engagement." But a student outreach coordinator might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "student outreach," "outreach program," "educational programs," and "financial aid."
In general, student outreach coordinators achieve similar levels of education than community organizers. They're 3.4% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community organizer vs. Outreach worker
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, community organizers are more likely to have skills like "public speaking," "social justice," "local community," and "press releases." But a outreach worker is more likely to have skills like "social work," "autism," "patients," and "crisis intervention."
Outreach workers make a very good living in the finance industry with an average annual salary of $53,625. On the other hand, community organizers are paid the highest salary in the professional industry, with average annual pay of $47,895.When it comes to education, outreach workers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to community organizers. In fact, they're 1.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Community organizer vs. Campaign worker
Types of community organizer
Updated January 8, 2025
