MIKE KING ’73 BEGAN TRAINING for his lifelong career in community service as a boy, with a religious upbringing that was focused on helping others. From tagging along as a child when his father taught Sunday school to volunteering at a local youth center while studying at TCU, his path led him to become CEO of one of the nation’s largest and oldest human services organizations.

At Volunteers of America, he leads a faith-based, nondenominational nonprofit with just over 15,000 employees. Each year, the organization helps 1.5 million people in 46 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Those served include military veterans who need counseling, seniors who need housing and people recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.

Faith is “the motivation behind our work. … It’s the reason why we take on some of the most difficult cases,” including providing basic needs like food and shelter to the nation’s most vulnerable people, King said.

King approaches his work with optimism, a sense of humor and unfaltering dedication, said Sarah Jane Rehnborg, who researches national volunteer engagement for the University of Texas’ RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, where King sits on the board of directors.

“He is definitely a champion for the lowest rung of the underdog,” said Rehnborg, who a decade ago, as the center’s director, invited King to develop and teach a university course on innovations and trends in the nonprofit sector. “His concern … is genuine.”

Texas Roots

Born in Dallas, King was raised there and in Austin. His mother owned a beauty salon, and his father was a union organizer. Faith was a cornerstone of family life.

“He is definitely a champion for the lowest rung of the underdog.”
Sarah Jane Rehnborg

“I knew as a junior in high school what I wanted to do — what I was called to do,” King said.

As a teenager, he accompanied his minister, the late Rev. James Smith, on jail ministry visits and became involved in the urban ministry mission at his Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Dallas.

“The church we went to helped us understand that faith was more than attending worship,” said the Rev. Thomas “Tommy” N. Potter ’71 (DMin ’99), a Brite honorary Trustee who grew up in the same Dallas neighborhood and attended the same church as King did. “Faith was about what can you do for others.”

King’s involvement with his church led him to study at TCU, where he majored in religion. In 1983, he earned a master’s in civic affairs from the University of Dallas.

“Mike has vision,” said Potter, who retired from church ministry to become assistant vice president for advancement at TCU’s Brite Divinity School, a post he held until 2015. “I could see it germinating early in our friendship at TCU. He listened well.”

While at TCU, King volunteered at a youth center through the Collegiate Educational Services Corps, which helped students find local community service opportunities. He was chairman of that group for a year.

King’s studies in TCU’s religion department greatly influenced him. “That is what shaped me choosing human services as my ministry,” he said. “I really just fell in love with the hands-on caregiving work of human services. I really needed to be and wanted to be connected to that. I still do.”

His first job after TCU was with Senior Citizens of Tarrant County. He became executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Tarrant County at age 23 and later served as chief operating officer of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and CEO of Child Care Group in Dallas.

A National Stage

King joined Volunteers of America in 2005, first leading the Texas affiliate and then becoming national CEO in 2010. He rents a tiny apartment — “smaller than most cars” — in Washington, D.C., but his home is in the Dallas area so he can spend time with his family, including five grandchildren who live locally.

The organization’s beginnings date back to 1896, when Ballington Booth, the son of the founder of the Salvation Army, and his wife, Maud, established God’s American Volunteers, which became Volunteers of America.

Volunteers of America has seen its national revenue balloon to about $1.7 billion under Mike King’s leadership.

Today it’s a network of 30 independent affiliates, each with its own CEO and programs tailored to the needs in its community, ranging from food banks and preschools to health care equity and restorative justice for youth. The national office supports the affiliates, providing fundraising, marketing and strategy.

When King became national CEO, he spent the first few years mending fences with some affiliate leaders who disagreed with the previous management style. He met leaders and board members on a listening tour, which reflects his leadership approach.

“He’s extremely engaged in ensuring affiliates are successful,” said Jennifer Hancock, president and CEO of Volunteers of America Mid-States, based in Louisville, Kentucky. She added that King is skillful at creating consensus among 30 affiliate CEOs as to “what we should be prioritizing [and] what we should be working on together.”

During his 14-year tenure as national CEO, King has grown national revenue 74 percent to about $1.7 billion in 2023; spearheaded the organization’s first paid advertising and marketing campaign, including splashing ads on the jumbo video screens in New York City’s Times Square; increased corporate partnerships; and boosted private philanthropy a cumulative 28 percent over the last five years. Roughly 70 percent of Volunteers of America’s funding is from federal, state and local governments.

In 2022, King embarked on a bold 10-year strategic plan to grow Volunteers of America to better serve people and communities.

The plan includes a new $83 million national headquarters and service center in Washington, D.C., scheduled to open in 2028. The Service Center at the Point will include an innovation hub, 110 housing units for low-income seniors, the Shay Center for Moral Injury and a chapel. Moral injury shares some similarities with post-traumatic stress disorder but potentially affects anyone who commits, witnesses or fails to prevent a moral transgression.

“Everyone will drive by the building and see the name on it every day,” he said. “Instead of going to the Hill, we’ll invite the Hill to come there to see our people and services.”

Mike King talks with Ericka English, the nonprofit’s senior director of marketing and communications.

King has testified on Capitol Hill before the House Ways and Means Committee in support of the charitable tax deduction. He sits on the board of LeadingAge, a national network of aging-related nonprofits, and is a member of Leadership 18, an alliance of the nation’s largest charities.

“His impact is much broader than just Volunteers of America,” Rehnborg said. “He has been very involved with legislative initiatives representing concerns of the nonprofit world to Congress.”

As a humanitarian, King sees it as his duty. “We have a responsibility to inform decision-makers in Congress and elsewhere as to what we see on the ground,” he said. “We’re trying to further our impact on local people and their lives.”

Going Strong

King leads with empathy.

He records weekly video messages to encourage and align employees around the mission. “You are the heart and soul of this organization, and you are our greatest investment,” King said in a March video focused on National Employee Appreciation Day and Volunteers of America being a certified Great Place to Work.

Each year he volunteers with his staff. Last year, they helped out at a center for cognitively impaired seniors in Virginia.

“If he’s speaking to a senior in a wheelchair, he’ll sit down beside them and say, ‘How’s it going? How are we treating you?’ ” said Karen Dale, chair of Volunteers of America’s board of directors and market president of AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia. “He authentically connects with others.”

Because Volunteers of America calls itself a “church without walls,” it asks leaders to become ordained ministers. King, who has himself become a minister, often officiates weddings and funerals for family and others, including his grandson’s recent wedding.

“That’s what attracted me to the job years ago,” King said. “I always thought I’d go back and do ministry work when I retired. It’s the inspiration for the work we do.”

Right now, retirement is far from his mind. King, who just inked a new five-year employment contract with Volunteers of America, said: “I’m still going strong.”