API Chaya Executive Director

API Chaya Executive Director - Job Description

www.lamdi.co/apichaya

To Apply

Please send a complete application with a cover letter and resume to hiring@lamdi.co.

The Opportunity

API Chaya is entering an exciting new chapter of growth, grounded in strategic vision and guided by its deep commitment to heart-centered leadership.

For over three decades, we have stood as a beacon of hope, resilience, and justice, supporting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking while fostering deep-rooted community organizing and advocacy. As we transition into a new chapter, we seek an energized, values-driven, and heart-centered leader to guide us forward with integrity, wisdom, and an unwavering commitment to collective liberation.

The next Executive Director will build on our rich legacy and dedicated team, strengthening our ability to sustain and expand culturally responsive, survivor-centered support systems. They will work alongside our experienced staff, board, and community to amplify our impact, deepen our relationships, and steward our long-term sustainability in a changing social and political landscape.

We are looking for a leader who not only believes in the power of grassroots movements and collective care, but who deeply honors the skills, lived experience, and expertise already present within our staff. The next Executive Director will actively recognize, uplift, and harness the wisdom of the team, while also supporting staff in growing their leadership and professional development.

The Role

The Executive Director will provide bold and strategic leadership upholding API Chaya’s mission while adapting to the evolving needs of the communities we serve. They will:

• Inspire a shared vision for API Chaya’s future, ensuring alignment with our organizational values, community needs, and fundraising goals.
• Lead the implementation of our strategic plan with an emphasis on sustainable growth, organizational resilience, and expanded fundraising efforts.
• Prioritize resource development by strengthening donor relationships, cultivating new funding opportunities, and building a diversified, sustainable fundraising infrastructure.
• Cultivate a culture of collective leadership.
• Strengthen API Chaya’s role as a movement leader through coalitions and partnerships.

Financial Stewardship & Resource Mobilization

API Chaya is a financially stable organization with a current annual operating budget of $5M; support is comprised of a variety of individual donors, foundations, county, state, and federal grant funds. The next Executive Director must be a proactive and visionary financial steward, adept at diversifying revenue streams, strengthening financial infrastructure, and securing long-term sustainability and growth.

• Lead and innovate API Chaya’s fundraising strategy, securing diverse funding streams through launching an endowment and managing grants, donor engagement, and legacy giving.
• Foster an abundance mindset, ensuring financial sustainability that does not compromise API Chaya’s values or independence.
• Collaborate with staff and board leadership to ensure financial transparency and strategic resource allocation.
• Advocate for funding justice, ensuring community-driven organizations receive the resources needed to thrive.

Community Power & Movement Building

This leader will stand at the intersection of advocacy, culture, and systemic change, building coalitions across movements, fostering trust with historically underinvested communities, and ensuring that API Chaya continues to be a beacon of safety, belonging, and empowerment.

• Engage and uplift survivor leadership, ensuring that those most impacted by violence and oppression are centered in decision-making.
• Strengthen ties with funders, community organizations, and allies to advance shared goals of equity, justice, and collective well-being.
• Expand API Chaya’s visibility through public advocacy, coalition-building, and strategic communications.
• Champion rebranding efforts, honoring our grassroots history while broadening API Chaya’s reach and accessibility.

Collective Care & Organizational Culture

We believe that how we lead internally reflects the world we seek to create. The Executive Director will prioritize staff well-being, equity, and inclusive decision-making to ensure a supportive, anti-oppressive, and generative work environment.

• Champion trauma-informed leadership, embedding wellness and sustainability into API Chaya’s organizational practices.
• Invest in staff leadership development, ensuring a collaborative and growth-oriented culture.
• Facilitate conflict resolution with care and integrity, fostering a culture of accountability and transformation.
• Strengthen systems and processes that allow API Chaya’s staff to do their best work while honoring work-life balance.

The Organization

API Chaya is an agency created by survivors and for survivors. API Chaya was founded in 1996 from the need to support victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence in the Asian, South Asian, and Pacific Island communities. Today, API Chaya is a survivor-led organization and regional leader in the grassroots anti-violence movement focused on serving survivors of sexual violence, human trafficking, and domestic violence and their families, and has expanded its scope from a focus on the API community to providing services to intersecting multi-cultural BIPOC communities of survivors at large.

API Chaya’s free and confidential wraparound services include intensive case management, safety planning, emotional support, legal services, and therapy, working closely with survivors to reach safety and independence.

In the community organizing program, API Chaya provides leadership development to survivors, youth, LGBTQ communities, immigrants, incarcerated folks, and faith-based communities to address and prevent violence in their own communities. Through strategic support services and intergenerational community organizing, API Chaya meets the immediate safety needs of survivors while developing long term leadership to transform conditions that allow harm to happen.

As a survivor-led organization, API Chaya values self-determination and creates options for healing and accountability. The staff is committed to a grassroots and anti-institutional approach to healing, recognizing that our intersecting communities have the resources, traditions and legacies we need to build the relationships and families we want for generations to come.

Our core priorities:

• Support Survivors
• Community & Cultural Connection
• Growing Leadership
• Movement Sustainability

Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of meaningful experience within nonprofit organizations or movement work, including 5 years of managerial experience, particularly in survivor-centered, anti-violence, or coalition-building spaces.
• A proven track record in fundraising, grant writing, and financial stewardship, with a strong understanding of the funding landscape.
• Expertise in trauma-informed, survivor-centered approaches, with a nuanced understanding of community-led interventions.
• A strategic mindset, capable of balancing long-term vision with day-to-day operations.
• Strong relationship-building and coalition-building skills, particularly within BIPOC, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.
• A leadership style grounded in humility, care, and accountability.

Preferred but Not Required

• Multilingual fluency, particularly in languages spoken by API Chaya’s community members.
• Experience leading rebranding efforts, community engagement strategies, or visibility campaigns.
• A sense of humor, adaptability, and openness to creative problem-solving.
• Coaching and mentorship experience to foster staff growth.

We recognize strong candidates come from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. If your qualifications don’t perfectly align with every listed criterion, but you feel your unique strengths and lived experiences would make you a strong fit for this role, we encourage you to apply and share your story with us.

Compensation & Benefits

API Chaya offers a competitive compensation and benefits package that reflects our commitment to collective care and staff well-being, including:

• Annual salary of $180,000 - $230,000 DOE.
• Comprehensive benefits including health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Generous paid time off and flexible work arrangements.
• Professional development opportunities to support ongoing growth.
• A mission-driven, values-aligned work environment, where love, justice, and healing guide our daily work.

API Chaya is committed to a fair, transparent, and community-centered hiring process that prioritizes input from staff, board, and community stakeholders. API Chaya is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, healing, and collective liberation. We honor the leadership, wisdom, and lived experiences of survivors, BIPOC, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and others who have been systemically excluded. API Chaya is dedicated to creating a supportive, inclusive workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and able to thrive. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, immigration status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other identity protected by local, state, or federal law. We center collective care, shared leadership, and accountability in everything we do.

How To Apply

The team at làmdi is honored to steward this search. Interested candidates are encouraged to submit a complete application with cover letter and resume to hiring@lamdi.co detailing their alignment with API Chaya’s mission, leadership experience, and vision for the role.

We recognize that every journey is different. If you need special accommodations navigating the application process, please reach out to us at hiring@lamdi.co. To view the complete candidate packet: www.lamdi.co/apichaya