Executive Director\Chief Executive Officer (Wausau)

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United Way of Marathon County 705 × S. 24th Avenue, Suite 400B × Wausau, WI 54403 848-2927(715) ×

Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer

The OpportunityUnited Way of Marathon County is seeking a high energy and compassionate individual to make adifference and join a progressive team that is dedicated to achieve ambitious community andorganization-wide goals. The organization is highly successful and regarded as a leader in supportingthe needs of our community. The success is attributed to strong staff and volunteer leadership and ahistory of program excellence, innovation, and collaboration to advance the mission and goals of theorganization.The United Way of Marathon County has a total budget of $3.7 million and includes a staff of 17. Itoperates an eight county 211 call center, promotes volunteer engagement, maintains the CommunityCloset, and spearheads the Marathon County Hunger Coalition and Housing Taskforce. Roughly$900,000 of the revenue is raised outside of the annual campaign. The United Way also has anendowment that is maintained at the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin.To position itself for the future, United Way of Marathon County conducts regular strategic planningprocesses to set strategy and direction. In 2022 our organization elected to change our Mission to“Uniting to Thrive” with our Bold Goal of Lifting 10,000 Community Members to Financial Stability by2033. The organization is focused on impacting our ALICE population, convening the communityaround common goals, investing in best practices and engaging donors and stakeholders in its work.Examples of progress and accomplishments include:

• As of March 2025, we have achieved helping 4,443 community members to reach financialstability.

• The Community Closet served 1,550 unique households since re-opening in July 2023.

• Along with our funded partners we have served 16,288 community members since wechanged our Mission and referred 7,289 members to other services in the community.

• The 211 Call Center is accredited and receives more than twice the national average numberof calls as a % of population.

• Dedicated volunteers contribute approximately 7,400 hours in support of United Way eachyear, demonstrating a strong commitment to community engagement.

This profile is based on the direction set in the 2022 Strategic Plan and further conversations aboutour progress and challenges.

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United Way of Marathon County 705 × S. 24th Avenue, Suite 400B × Wausau, WI 54403 848-2927(715) ×

The Organization

Mission: Uniting to Thrive!

Bold Goal: Lifting 10,000 Community Members to Financial Stability by 2033.Values: United Way of Marathon County believes in:

• Respecting and showing compassion for all people.

• Providing excellence in customer service.

• Engaging volunteers that reflect the county’s diversity and expands our capacity to addressour mission.

• Being a great partner to create positive community change.

• Embracing change to be a relevant and visionary leader.

• Pursuing growth through evaluation, continuous improvement, and learning.

• Communicating often and clearly with different messages appropriate to our variousstakeholders to build relationships and increase understanding.

• Having the highest standards of accountability, integrity, transparency, and ethics.

• Measuring and reporting impact results that relate to our community agenda.

The strategic planning process recognized that there are numerous institutional initiatives.They are:

1. Evaluator of Community Needs: With the community, collect and analyze data and input tocollectively set priorities and monitor results. (LIFE and ALICE reports)

2. A single-issue focus.3. Grow and diversify revenue to serve our community.4. Engage and motivate our community through communications to emphasize the relevance

and impart of our work.5. Deliver outstanding service to ensure every community member can be stable, by Uniting to

Thrive.

United Way Is the organization leader for these coalitions:
• Marathon County Hunger Coalition

• Housing Taskforce

• Marathon County Early Years Coalition

• United Way Partnership for Youth

Key Opportunities and Challenges for the next CEO:Be a leader in innovation, strategy implementation and a reputation for deliveringvalue. The Board is actively engaged in setting direction and overseeing the performance of UnitedWay to ensure it grows and stays relevant to make an impact in the community. The challenge for thefuture is to sustain this momentum and reputation for being a leader and delivering on expectations.

Grow financial and other resources. Fundraising growth is a challenge and relies on expandingeffective strategies and deepening individual relationships especially with leadership donors, andcorporate and local foundation leaders. No single strategy exists to grow both traditional and non-traditional revenue. We operate in an increasingly competitive environment for growing resources.The key to future success will be to tap into connecting people who want to make a difference andcare about their community with United Way. Increased community engagement and leadershipgiving groups to help United Way connect to more individuals and help to increase donor retention.

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United Way of Marathon County 705 × S. 24th Avenue, Suite 400B × Wausau, WI 54403 848-2927(715) ×

United Way story is difficult to understand and share in a short concise way, yet critical for attractingand expanding the donor base. Utilizing technology and social media to connect and communicatewill be an ongoing opportunity as will segmenting our audiences and our message along with theapproaches used.

Show measurable results for the collaborations and investments of United Way. Theorganization understands its unique value in aligning community resources to create positive changeand that no one organization can impact these issues alone. Collaborative partnerships are requiredwhich include public, private and non-profit organizations who are motivated to work together onimproving community around common goals. People are coming together, and United Way is seeingsome success with the coalitions. The opportunity is to continue to assist in skillfully supporting anddriving focused work plans that help set measurable results and make progress on the issue.

Excel at governance and operations and retain and attract top staff and volunteertalent. United Way has an active and engaged Board of Directors and committees. Bringing the rightpeople together with the support they need is critical to success. One of the top attributes of thisUnited Way is the exceptional reputation and dedication of volunteers and staff for delivering qualityservices and support. The opportunity for United Way is to retain and develop staff and increasevolunteerism, resulting in a greater impact on our key areas of focus.

Continue the Visionary Leadership. This position’s responsibility is to be constantly andproactively envisioning where we are going, then prepare and present those ideas to the Board. TheExecutive Director needs to lead us to achieve our current bold goal but also have reasoned sense forwhat our next bold goal might be based on the LIFE and ALICE reports, relationships with ourpartners, staff, and donors.

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United Way of Marathon County 705 × S. 24th Avenue, Suite 400B × Wausau, WI 54403 848-2927(715) ×

The Job Description

Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities:The CEO is the leader of the organization, executing a framework of community impacttowards the organization’s Bold Goal, fostering collaboration between the Board of Directors,community leaders, partner organizations, volunteers, and staff by:

• Supporting the Board of Directors and its Committees in recruitment and training and in thedevelopment of policies, procedures, budgets, and programs that fulfill the mission of UnitedWay of Marathon County.

• Ensuring the Board is engaged in regular strategic planning discussions or processes toidentify needed changes in strategy, governance, and direction for the long-term health of theorganization.

• Facilitating the process which brings community leaders together to provide coordinatedevaluation, planning, assessment, and response to the community's needs.

• Serving as the chief spokesperson to inspire and grow the commitment of others to supportUnited Way of Marathon County, championing the organizations mission, vision, programs,and services.

• Dedicating time to identifying and involving a diverse group of volunteers to assist in carryingout the work of United Way and who serve as ambassadors in the community.

• Hiring, inspiring, aligning and leading a high performing team with focused efforts onsuccession and capacity building.

• Developing a culture of action and outcomes by facilitating cooperation and teamwork,supporting constructive resolution of conflicts, and providing opportunities to generate andassess innovative ideas.

• Actively engaging in resource development planning and execution, including:o Developing diverse funding sources through a clear resource development strategy.o Growing individual and corporate giving.o Connecting to individuals and organizations for planned or major gifts.o Seeking donors outside the workplace in new ways that engages and connects them to

United Way.

• Developing relationships with government organizations, community agencies and othergroups to work collaboratively to implement best prac