Executive Director - Dayspring Center

The Opportunity

Dayspring Center has forty years doing what few organizations can claim: showing up, every single day, for Indianapolis's most vulnerable families. The organization's mission to lovingly meet the basic needs of homeless families while connecting them with opportunities to realize their potential has never wavered. Dayspring is now seeking a leader ready to build on that foundation and carry the organization into a new era.

The families Dayspring serves today arrive carrying more than a housing crisis. Mental and emotional health needs are growing, and the path to stable housing has never been harder. The next Executive Director will have the curiosity to ask whether Dayspring is keeping pace, the vision to see what's possible, and the courage to act on the answer.

Dayspring seeks a catalyst. Someone who honors what has been built while bringing the energy, discipline, and entrepreneurial mindset to strengthen organizational infrastructure, professionalize operations, and grow the organization. Dayspring is established and mission‑proven, with the capacity and the appetite to build on a strong foundation, forge new alliances with the private sector, and implement an effective and sustainable business model.

As Executive Director, the selected candidate will have full responsibility for every dimension of Dayspring Center: the shelter programs, financial health, fundraising and development, kitchen operations, children's services, community relationships, facilities, and a staff and volunteer community that is deeply committed to the mission.

The Executive Director will partner closely with the Board of Directors on strategic direction, fund development, and organizational priorities, building the resources, structure, and credibility to position Dayspring as a leading voice and premier provider of services for homeless families in Indianapolis.

• Build trust with staff, board, donors, and community partners through presence, transparency, and consistent follow‑through, establishing relationships that will anchor everything else.
• Assess the current state of programs and operations honestly, asking whether the model is right‑sized and right‑shaped for today’s needs.
• Strengthen financial systems, stewardship practices, and development infrastructure, with meaningful progress toward new major gift relationships, and a diversified revenue base.
• Deepen community partnerships and establish Dayspring as a recognized advocacy voice, elevating the organization’s influence with civic, government, faith, and business leaders on issues of family homelessness and housing policy.
• Bring professional rigor to the organization without losing the warmth and heart that makes Dayspring special, and cultivate a staff culture where people feel supported, valued, and set up to succeed.

Dayspring seeks a leader first, with genuine passion for this mission. The ideal candidate is someone who:

• Brings eight to ten or more years of proven senior leadership, preferably in the nonprofit sector.
• Thinks strategically and has demonstrated experience leading organizational growth, managing change, and driving strategic planning processes that produce measurable results.
• Serves as the organization’s chief fundraiser, with a demonstrated track record in major gifts, foundation relations, corporate partnerships, grant procurement, and revenue diversification across multiple funding streams.
• Serves as a visible public ambassador for Dayspring, telling the organization’s story compellingly to boards, funders, media, policymakers, and the public, while actively advancing advocacy efforts around family homelessness.
• Holds high standards of fairness, transparency, and accountability.
• Exercises disciplined financial stewardship, with the ability to oversee budgets, manage risk, and make sound resource allocation decisions that keep the mission and the bottom line in balance.
• Carries a genuine commitment to ending family homelessness in Indianapolis.
• Believes, as a daily practice, that every family deserves to feel seen, understood, and valued, and leads…