Tag

housing

Jul 13

When a Full-Time Job Isn’t Enough

By Sponsor Insight

By Fred Payne, President and CEO, United Way of Central Indiana

Across Central Indiana, many families are doing exactly what we hope and expect: showing up for work, caring for their children, and doing their best to build a stable life. Yet for too many, even full-time work — and sometimes more than one job — is not enough to keep housing secure; bills current, and family life steady.

That reality is one reason why United Way of Central Indiana tracks a measure we call ALICE: Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. The most resent ALICE report shows that nearly 260,000 households in our region are either ALICE or living below the poverty line — one in three. This is not only an urban reality. In Hamilton County, 24% of households fall into this category. In Boone and Hendricks Counties, it is 29%. In Marion County, 41%.

Journalist Brian Goldstone spent years documenting this exact phenomenon nationally in his book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, following five families in Atlanta who held full-time jobs and still couldn’t secure stable housing.

The book won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Goldstone will join us this month to share more about what his reporting revealed — and what it means for communities like ours. His work reminds us that poverty is often closer and more familiar than we realize: our neighbors, the people beside us at church, in the grocery line, or working in our own buildings.

That recognition is exactly why United Way of Central Indiana set a goal in 2023: distance 10,000 families from poverty by 2028, a commitment we call the Road to 10K. We are now more than 70% of the way there, having closed gaps for 7,700 families. Alongside that, we’ve helped relieve nearly $240 million in medical debt for 112,000 Hoosiers, while working with partners on housing, food security, and childcare.

These investments strengthen more than individual households. An updated study from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business found that United Way of Central Indiana’s grants generated nearly $80 million in annual economic activity for Central Indiana between 2020 and 2025 — every $1 we invest spurs an additional $1.28 in local economic activity.

Behind those numbers are real people and real turning points: families who, with the right combination of coaching, childcare, food assistance, and financial support, moved from crisis to stability. Some are now helping others do the same. Those stories are the reason this work matters, and they’re the reason we keep pushing toward the next 2,300 families on our path to 10,000.

Progress is possible when a community of partners, employers, and neighbors work together.

That is the spirit behind CONNECT, our inaugural convening on July 20 from 3-6 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The event will bring together leaders from business, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy to strengthen relationships and build collective understanding and eventual action plans. Attendees will hear directly from Brian Goldstone and explore Impact Experience Exhibits about basic needs, early learning, economic mobility, and housing.

Central Indiana can be a place where a full-time job reliably leads to a stable life. Getting there takes honesty about how far that promise has slipped — and it takes all of us to work from the same table.

For details and to register, visit our CONNECT website. Use code: Charitable50 for a discount.

Jul 17

Prioritize partnerships to strengthen your nonprofit marketing strategy

By Feature

INHP marketing executive recommends collaboration to better connect with audiences

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News

(Note: A recent study by the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy revealed that a significant number of Americans do not understand how their lives are impacted by nonprofits. During the months of July and August, the features in Not-for-profit News will focus on ways nonprofits can elevate their profiles in their communities as well as increase the public’s understanding of the nonprofit sector.)

For many Indianapolis residents, INHP is a familiar acronym for good reason. As an established nonprofit, the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership has been working to increase affordable and sustainable housing for thousands of households since 1988.

Yet, even with that decades-long history, the organization relies on numerous marketing strategies and tools to increase awareness of INHP among potential beneficiaries, donors, and enterprise audiences, said Morgan Hoover, CFRE, vice president of philanthropy and marketing for INHP.

And the team also has found that establishing partnerships with other organizations is essential to expanding its reach, Hoover said. “Working with community partners is key,” she said.

By forming a partnership with La Plaza, for example, INHP has been able to reach individuals and families who may not realize resources are available to help them find housing. La Plaza is a nonprofit that supports Latino families in Central Indiana through educational programs, social services, and workforce development initiatives.

“We have a really strong partnership with La Plaza,” Hoover said. “Their customers may not know INHP, but their customers need INHP support and services. You must have trusted partners in the space that you’re operating, especially if you’re not known in that community. We’re reaching the consumers where they are,” she said.

When seeking out partnerships, Hoover said, it’s important to identify gaps in the populations that you’re trying to reach, and then ask the question, “How can we connect with what you are doing as the trusted resource in their community?”

Consistency also is essential in developing a successful marketing program, according to Hoover. INHP focuses on having a consistent message year-round to make sure they’re reaching their audiences. “You have to be out there letting clients know they can come to you for services, including those who may or may not know that they need them,” she said.

In addition to forming partnerships throughout its service areas, INHP utilizes a comprehensive suite of marketing services and strategies, including earned, paid, and owned channels as well as more traditional methods such as radio, billboards, digital advertising, community, events, sponsorships, testimonials, videos, and blogs, Hoover said.

“We continue to evolve as an organization,” said Hoover, noting that the team is continuously seeking areas to improve their core values continuous improvement.

“How do we always move the needle?” she said. “We don’t pretend that we’re relevant. We do the data and the research. We look at the analysis. We ask, ‘What are the barriers that led to people being denied for mortgage financing?’ ‘How are we helping families achieve that access?’ ‘What’s the identified barrier?’ ‘How are we positioned to serve and does that make sense in our wheelhouse?’”

The organization also continuously seek to understand how best to communicate to its varied audiences, including clients, donors, partners, and community stakeholders, Hoover said.

When asked about public perceptions of nonprofit, Hoover said people often focus on the tax status of the organization.

“We are a mission,” Hoover said. “We are a business producing a social mission. People have this lack of general understanding about what a nonprofit is. They may think of nonprofits in terms of a tax status — not a way of doing business.”