Chief Community Impact Officer

UNITED WAY NORTHWEST INDIANA | STRONGER FAMILIES, STRONGER COMMUNITIES

United Way Northwest Indiana | Chief Community Impact Officer | Page 1

NOW HIRING Chief Community Impact Officer

Executive Leadership | Community Investment | Partnerships | Measurable Outcomes

Lead a regional strategy that turns community insight, trusted partnerships, and investment into measurable, lasting change.

LOCATION Valparaiso, Indiana

EMPLOYMENT Full-Time, Exempt

REPORTS TO President & CEO

TRAVEL Regional / In Person

The Opportunity

United Way Northwest Indiana is seeking a visionary, collaborative, and execution-oriented Chief Community Impact Officer to lead our work to create stronger families and stronger communities across Northwest Indiana. Reporting to the President & CEO, the Chief Community Impact Officer (CCIO) is a senior member of the executive leadership team. The CCIO leads United Way's community investment strategy, grantmaking, strategic partnerships, program innovation, and measurement of results across financial stability, youth opportunity, healthy communities, and community resiliency. This is an opportunity for an accomplished community leader to shape a growing regional impact agenda, convene cross-sector partners, steward significant community investments, and help ensure that more families have the support and opportunity needed to thrive.

What You Will Lead

Community Impact Strategy and Investment
• Develop and execute a data-informed community impact strategy, theory of change, and multi-year investment portfolio.
• Lead needs assessment through research, public data, 211 insights, partner engagement, resident voice, and program

performance.
• Identify high-leverage opportunities for United Way to serve as a funder, convener, backbone organization, advocate, or

program leader. Grantmaking and Partner Performance

• Lead the full community grantmaking lifecycle, including outreach, due diligence, review, awards, monitoring, reporting, renewal, and closeout.

• Ensure investments are transparent, equitable, strategically aligned, compliant, and focused on measurable outcomes.
• Strengthen partner performance through clear measures, site visits, risk-based monitoring, technical assistance, and effective

reporting. Collective Impact and Program Innovation

• Build multi-sector consortiums involving nonprofit organizations, schools, employers, government, financial institutions, funders, higher education, faith communities, and residents.

• Develop shared-action plans that define goals, partner roles, resources, data, communications, and performance measures.
• Make disciplined recommendations about when to launch, scale, redesign, transition, or sunset initiatives.

Financial Stability and Economic Mobility
• Lead the continued evolution of the Level Up initiative into a sustainable model for recruitment, coaching, partner

engagement, and measurable household mobility.
• Build a regional financial wellness initiative and a Get Out of Debt initiative with trusted financial-services and community

partners.
• Expand pathways to workforce advancement, credentials, employment, savings, credit building, homeownership preparation,

and other financial-stability supports. Youth Opportunity, Early Childhood, and Literacy

• Develop early childhood initiatives that support kindergarten readiness, developmental outcomes, family engagement, and access to quality learning opportunities.

• Lead a regional youth literacy strategy, including collective-impact work supporting children from age three through third grade.

UNITED WAY NORTHWEST INDIANA | STRONGER FAMILIES, STRONGER COMMUNITIES

United Way Northwest Indiana | Chief Community Impact Officer | Page 2

• Convene schools, libraries, families, educators, employers, and public agencies around shared goals for literacy, attendance, family stability, and student success.

Crisis Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
• Lead a coordinated regional strategy for disaster preparedness, response, recovery, severe weather, economic disruption,

and other community crises.
• Build and maintain a network of public, nonprofit, faith-based, business, volunteer, and philanthropic partners capable of

responding quickly and effectively.
• Develop protocols for needs assessment, resource coordination, volunteer mobilization, communications, fundraising

support, grant deployment, and recovery assistance. Data, Public Leadership, and Executive Management

• Build practical systems for outcome measurement, dashboards, evaluation, data governance, partner reporting, and impact storytelling.

• Serve as a visible representative of United Way with funders, public officials, civic leaders, nonprofit partners, media, and community stakeholders.

• Lead, coach, and develop Community Impact staff, consultants, project teams, and partner workgroups; align work closely with United Way's executive leadership team.

What Success Looks Like in the First 12-18 Months

• A Board-aligned community impact strategy, investment portfolio, and shared measurement dashboard.
• A transparent, disciplined Community Impact Grant Program with clear policies, strong partner due diligence, performance

measures, and meaningful reporting.
• A redesigned Level Up model with defined financial-mobility outcomes and sustained partner engagement.
• Operational financial wellness and debt-reduction initiatives with credible community and industry partners.
• A practical early childhood and youth literacy strategy with cross-sector commitment, implementation traction, and

measurable goals.
• A coordinated regional crisis preparedness and response framework that can be activated quickly when communities need

help.

What You Bring

• A bachelor's degree in public policy, education, social work, nonprofit management, business, public administration, community development, research, or a related field.

• At least 10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in philanthropy, nonprofit management, education, workforce development, government, community development, or a related sector.

• At least five years of experience leading teams, budgets, programs, grants, community investments, or complex cross-sector initiatives.

• Demonstrated success designing, launching, managing, and evaluating community-based programs, collective-impact efforts, or place-based initiatives.

• Experience with grantmaking, partner performance management, compliance, outcome reporting, financial stewardship, and risk management.

• Strong research, data analysis, performance measurement, strategic planning, facilitation, presentation, and public communication skills.

• A proven ability to build trusted partnerships across nonprofit, business, government, education, financial services, and philanthropic sectors.

• An understanding of the barriers facing households working hard but struggling to afford basic necessities, including housing, childcare, food, transportation, debt, and access to opportunity.

• The ability to operate effectively as both a strategic executive and a hands-on leader in a fast-moving organization. Preferred: A graduate degree; experience in early childhood, literacy, financial capability, economic mobility, crisis response, 211, regional collaboration, or public-private partnerships; knowledge of Northwest Indiana communities and institutions.

Work Environment and Application

This position is based in Valparaiso, Indiana and requires regular in-person work and travel throughout Lake, Porter, Jasper, Newton, and Starke Counties. Selected evening and weekend meetings, community events, and crisis-response activities will be required.

HOW TO APPLY: Send resume and cover letter describing your interest in leading regional community impact work to Chris@UnitedWayNWI.org.

mailto:Chris@UnitedWayNWI.org