Executive Director

Position:                                      Executive Director

Accountability:                         This position reports directly to the Board of Directors

Location:                                     On-site, Newton, KS

About the Organization

United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties works to improve lives and build a stronger community by addressing the root causes of poverty and expanding pathways to upward mobility. In Harvey County, 35 percent of households live below the ALICE threshold, meaning they earn above the federal poverty line but still cannot consistently afford the basics. In Marion County, that figure reaches 39 percent. These numbers shape everything we do.

Over the past several years, the organization has grown from a single staff member into a team of four full-time and one part-time employees running nine connected lines of work: Resource Navigation, the Early Childhood Initiative, the Healthy Harvey Coalition, the Housing Alliance of Harvey & Marion Counties, Volunteer United, VITA free tax preparation, VOAD disaster response, Community Investment Grants, and Public Policy & Advocacy. We bring partners together, fill gaps others cannot, and put data behind the case for change.

The Role

The Executive Director leads the organization's strategy, people, resources, and community presence. This is a builder's role. It calls for someone who can hold a clear long-term vision while staying close enough to the work to write the grant, sit at the coalition table, and testify at the statehouse when the moment requires it.

Much of the work here is adaptive rather than routine. The hardest problems facing this community, from the cost of childcare to the future of rural healthcare, do not come with a known playbook. They call for a leader who can sit in uncertainty with grace and curiosity, ask better questions, and help partners find their way to answers that did not exist before. Creativity matters as much as competence in this seat.

The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors and serves as the public face of the organization across both counties and within the broader Kansas United Way network.

What You Will Do

• Lead strategy and community impact. Set direction across all nine pillars, keep the work anchored in local data and real community need, and make hard calls about where the organization can add the most value. Translate the strategic plan into measurable outcomes and keep the team accountable to them.
• Raise and diversify the resources. Drive fundraising across grants, individual giving, corporate partnerships, and government appropriations, and keep building new streams so the organization never leans too heavily on any one source. Much of the most important work is creative: braiding federal, state, philanthropic, and local dollars into a single coherent project, structuring capital stacks for bigger efforts, and finding earned-revenue and contracted-service models that fit the mission. Write and oversee competitive applications and build the kind of donor and funder relationships that last beyond any single ask.
• Build and lead the team. Recruit, develop, and retain strong staff. Create an environment where people do their best work, grow into bigger roles, and stay. Manage performance with honesty and care.
• Steward the finances. Own the budget alongside the board and treasurer. Maintain sound financial policies, protect the organization's integrity, and make sure every dollar is tied to mission.
• Convene and partner. Bring nonprofits, government, schools, healthcare, employers, and residents to the same table. Lead coalitions that no single organization could carry alone and keep partners moving toward shared goals.
• Advocate for change. Represent the community's interests on the issues that determine whether families get ahead: housing, childcare, food security, healthcare access, and the public programs that hold the safety net together. Engage local commissions, the Kansas Legislature, and the congressional delegation.
• Support the board. Partner with board leadership on governance, recruitment, and planning. Give directors the information and framing they need to lead well.
• Tell the story. Communicate the organization's work and impact clearly to funders, partners, media, and the public, always grounded in evidence rather than slogans.

What We Are Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field: nonprofit management, public administration, business, communications, social work, public policy, or another related field. Master’s degree preferred: MPA, MBA, MSW, nonprofit management, or a related graduate degree, or an equivalent combination of education and lived and professional experience.
• Five to seven years of progressively responsible leadership experience, including supervisory and budget responsibility.
• A track record of nonprofit, public sector, or mission-driven leadership, ideally including experience growing an organization or program
• Demonstrated success in fundraising, grant writing, or revenue development, with a creative eye for braiding funding and diversifying revenue
• Strong coalition-building and partnership skills, with the patience and credibility to lead people you do not supervise
• Comfort with ambiguity and adaptive challenges, and the curiosity to treat hard problems as something to explore rather than fear
• Sound financial judgment and comfort owning a budget
• Genuine fluency with community data and the ability to turn it into a compelling case
• Excellent writing and communication skills
• A real understanding of rural Kansas and the families we serve, or the humility and drive to learn it quickly
• Experience with policy and advocacy is a strong plus

What Success Looks Like

The right leader will keep this organization punching well above its size: financially healthy, deeply trusted across both counties, and known as the place where partners go when something important needs to get done. Most of all, success means measurable progress for the families living below the ALICE threshold, and a community that is more stable, more connected, and more hopeful because this organization is in it.

Salary: Starting salary is $70,000, with higher compensation available based on qualifications and experience.

Working Conditions

The executive director is a full-time exempt, salaried employee of United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties, Inc. Normal workweek is Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm and allows for flexibility in schedule. However, some meetings and/or special events require time outside the regular workweek. This position will require travel throughout Harvey and Marion County, and occasionally throughout the state and country.

Benefits

• Paid sick leave
• Paid vacation leave
• Paid holiday leave
• Health insurance stipend

Equal Opportunity Employer

The officers, directors, committee members, employees and persons served by UWHMC shall be selected in a manner to promote diversity and inclusion and entirely on a non-discriminatory basis with respect to race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, veteran-status, familial and marital status, political affiliation, or socio-economic status, or any other legally protected group status, and in support of the UWHMC’s Diversity and Inclusion statement and/or principle and policy.

To apply please send your resume and cover letter to director@uwhmc.org.