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External relations director vs community relations manager

The differences between external relations directors and community relations managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an external relations director and a community relations manager. Additionally, an external relations director has an average salary of $130,849, which is higher than the $71,899 average annual salary of a community relations manager.

The top three skills for an external relations director include project management, external relations and oversight. The most important skills for a community relations manager are patients, medicare, and business development.

External relations director vs community relations manager overview

External Relations DirectorCommunity Relations Manager
Yearly salary$130,849$71,899
Hourly rate$62.91$34.57
Growth rate8%8%
Number of jobs22,84832,850
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age4242
Years of experience44

What does an external relations director do?

An external relations director is responsible for helping a company or entity establish good public relations by creating a good market perception. The professional's responsibilities include giving communications counseling to the leadership team and ensuring compliance with appropriate facility conditions and sanitation standards. The job requires good communication, leadership, and organizational skills to accomplish such responsibilities. The job's education requirements include possessing a college degree in business, public relations, marketing, or other related fields.

What does a community relations manager do?

Community Relations Managers take care of the company's relationship with a specific community. Often, they are employed by a nonprofit organization, and they take care of the community that the organization serves. They are in charge of coordinating with community leaders to identify the people's needs, creating programs that would address these needs, and raising funds for their projects. Community Relations Managers oversee the implementation of the company's community projects. They manage the project's budget and workforce allocation. Community Relations Managers ensure that the good relationship between the company and the community is maintained at all times.

External relations director vs community relations manager salary

External relations directors and community relations managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

External Relations DirectorCommunity Relations Manager
Average salary$130,849$71,899
Salary rangeBetween $82,000 And $208,000Between $47,000 And $107,000
Highest paying CityDavis, CAWashington, DC
Highest paying stateNevadaNew Jersey
Best paying companyPhoenix Children'sNVIDIA
Best paying industryEnergy-

Differences between external relations director and community relations manager education

There are a few differences between an external relations director and a community relations manager in terms of educational background:

External Relations DirectorCommunity Relations Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

External relations director vs community relations manager demographics

Here are the differences between external relations directors' and community relations managers' demographics:

External Relations DirectorCommunity Relations Manager
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 44.1% Female, 55.9%Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 74.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 74.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage16%16%

Differences between external relations director and community relations manager duties and responsibilities

External relations director example responsibilities.

  • Program development includes managing and building strong relationships with corporate and affinity partners to secure sponsorship and career enhancement for alumni
  • Ensure target ROI with feasibility studies on potential acquisitions, identifying optimum projects requiring rezoning and entitlement approvals for development.
  • Develop and implement company-wide QA and delivery procedures.

Community relations manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage social networking, such as Facebook.
  • Plan and execute project grand openings and manage all social media platforms (Facebook/Twitter )
  • Manage the creation and display of both user-generate and resort-developed videos for YouTube.
  • Maintain strong working relationships across all departments to manage successful on-site opportunities, content and multimedia asset development and spokesperson requests.
  • Provide a strong database of community, affordable housing and economic development opportunities for bank to meet CRA goals.
  • Provide continuing education to patients and families regarding palliative/hospice care services and placement options.
  • Show more

External relations director vs community relations manager skills

Common external relations director skills
  • Project Management, 13%
  • External Relations, 11%
  • Oversight, 10%
  • Press Releases, 9%
  • GAAP, 8%
  • Financial Statements, 7%
Common community relations manager skills
  • Patients, 19%
  • Medicare, 10%
  • Business Development, 8%
  • Community Events, 6%
  • Health Fairs, 5%
  • Local Community, 5%

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