As vice president of community investment for the Heart of Illinois United Way (HOIUW), Nicole Frederick directs efforts to support volunteer resource distribution and community impact activities across central Illinois. She provides guidance to the Solution Council and Board of Directors to ensure the effective and accountable expenditure of resources raised in the annual campaign, and is responsible for developing and maintaining supportive relationships with nearly four dozen partner agencies, offering technical guidance and coaching to help them accurately measure their programs’ successes and impact. Prior to this role, her tenure with the City of Peoria included significant community development work in the areas of economic development, workforce readiness and grants administration.
A solutions-oriented leader, Frederick manages a team of staff for fund distribution work and internal initiatives including the Success by 6, Supporting Student Success, Homeless Continuum of Care and 2-1-1 information and referral line. Each year, she manages more than 100 volunteers and keeps them engaged throughout an intensive grant review process that represents a multi-million-dollar investment in HOIUW partner agency programs. She was instrumental in transitioning the Community Impact Fund allocation process from paper-based to electronic/web-based for partner agencies and volunteers for a three-year grant cycle. Using her guidance, HOIUW built its organizational capacity as a federal sub-grantee with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for homelessness services, programs and funding.
Volunteerism is not only the cornerstone of Frederick’s career, but her personal life as well. Her strong belief in the work done by the United Way and its partner agencies compels her to support them without recognition or accolades, spending a significant amount of time giving back to the community outside of her professional commitments. Her ability to develop relationships and her active engagement, energy and enthusiasm towards furthering their mission is having a lasting impact on Greater Peoria. PM
