Vice President of Community Impact & Strategic Communications

Position Summary

United Way of Wyoming Valley is seeking an experienced, collaborative, and forward-thinking leader to serve as our Vice President of Community Impact & Strategic Communications.

Based in Wilkes-Barre, this position supports United Way’s growing regional organization by strengthening community impact, cultivating meaningful partnerships, and helping ensure our work is effectively communicated throughout the communities we serve.

Reporting directly to the President/CEO and serving as a member of the senior leadership team, this role provides leadership across community impact, strategic initiatives, organizational partnerships, and strategic communications.

The Vice President works across departments to connect ideas with action, helping ensure initiatives are well-planned, thoughtfully executed, measurable, and reflective of United Way’s mission.

This position is ideal for a leader who enjoys building relationships, creating systems, solving complex challenges, and inspiring others around a shared vision. The successful candidate brings professionalism, sound judgment, emotional intelligence, and the ability to navigate complex relationships with confidence, discretion, and respect.

Key Responsibilities

Community Impact Leadership

• Provide leadership for United Way’s community impact strategies, initiatives, and investments.
• Coordinate community funding processes, grants, strategic investments, and related reporting.
• Foster strong relationships with nonprofit agencies, school districts, businesses, government partners, volunteers, and community leaders.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen programs, address emerging community needs, and build collaborative partnerships.
• Support evaluation and measurement of community outcomes to ensure meaningful impact.

Strategic Initiatives

• Provide leadership and oversight for key organizational initiatives from planning through evaluation.
• Develop systems that support effective project management, accountability, and organizational excellence.
• Help ensure initiatives have clearly defined goals, measurable outcomes, realistic timelines, and appropriate resource allocation.
• Work collaboratively across departments to align organizational priorities and maximize impact.
• Provide leadership support for organizational initiatives and community events as needed to ensure successful execution.

Strategic Communications

• Help ensure United Way’s work is effectively communicated through meaningful storytelling, community engagement, and strategic messaging.
• Partner with the communications team to identify organizational priorities, communication opportunities, and messaging strategies.
• Strengthen relationships with local media and community partners to increase awareness of United Way’s work.
• Help identify stories that demonstrate community impact and inspire engagement among donors, volunteers, partners, and the public.

Grants, Budgets & Organizational Planning

• Partner with staff to align grant opportunities with organizational priorities and community needs.
• Monitor initiative budgets and funding sources in collaboration with the Finance team.
• Help ensure projects are financially sustainable and aligned with organizational goals.
• Utilize data and evaluation to support planning, reporting, and continuous improvement.

Leadership

• Serve as a member of the senior leadership team.
• Foster a collaborative, positive, and mission-focused organizational culture.
• Demonstrated experience leading, developing, and inspiring high-performing teams through collaboration, coaching, and accountability.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and support to assigned staff.
• Promote communication, accountability, and collaboration across departments.
• Support organizational planning and strategic decision-making.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will demonstrate many of the following:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Progressive leadership experience in nonprofit management, philanthropy, community impact, education, communications, public administration, or a related field.
• Experience managing and developing professional staff and leading cross-functional teams.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills.
• Strong relationship-building and collaboration skills.
• Experience managing complex initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to think strategically while remaining comfortable with hands-on leadership when needed.
• Experience with budgets, grants, and program evaluation.
• Demonstrated emotional intelligence, sound judgment, diplomacy, and the ability to build trust with diverse stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust, influence others, and lead through collaboration.

About the Role

The Vice President of Community Impact & Strategic Communications is a leader who naturally connects people, ideas, and opportunities.

Success in this role requires curiosity, sound judgment, strong organizational skills, and the ability to balance strategic thinking with practical execution. The successful candidate will enjoy working across teams, strengthening community partnerships, helping others succeed, and ensuring United Way continues to grow its impact throughout the region.

This position is based at United Way of Wyoming Valley’s headquarters in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Regular travel throughout our regional service area is expected.

United Way of Wyoming Valley is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.

Compensation & Benefits

United Way of Wyoming Valley offers a competitive salary and benefits package. The anticipated starting salary for this position is approximately $90,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Our comprehensive benefits package includes health insurance, retirement contributions, paid time off, holidays, and other employee benefits.

We are committed to investing in exceptional leaders who are passionate about making a lasting impact in our community.

To Apply

Interested applicants should send a resume and cover letter to Sara Peperno, President/CEO at speperno@unitedwaywb.org