Executive Director/Part-Time Contractor

Position Summary

The New Mexico Doula Association is seeking a visionary Executive Director (ED) to lead our mission to continue the legacy of community-based doula services while advocating for systemic changes in healthcare to ensure equitable access and meaningful outcomes. Reporting directly to the Board of Directors, the ED is responsible for the operational oversight and strategic implementation across all facets of the organization’s work. Key responsibilities include fiscal and fundraising oversight, board governance, advocacy and policy development, operations and human resources, and programmatic impact. NMDA currently operates with an annual budget of approximately $475,000.

The Executive Director is an 80-hour per month, $100 per hour contract position based in New Mexico. The organization is decentralized with contractors, consultants, and board members across the state. The role is approximately 75% remote and 25% in-person. Statewide travel is common, with Albuquerque and Santa Fe being the most frequented locations. Candidates from New Mexico and across the U.S., including members of historically marginalized communities, are strongly encouraged to apply.

Organizational Overview

The New Mexico Doula Association (NMDA) is a community-led, birth and reproductive-justice organization dedicated to making full spectrum doula support accessible and equitable across New Mexico. Since its launch in 2019, it has evolved as a critical advocate for reproductive justice, centering the needs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), as well as rural and underserved communities.

NMDA believes in the fundamental right to affordable, gender-affirming, and culturally humble support across the full spectrum of reproductive experiences—including birth, postpartum, miscarriage, abortion, and infant loss. The association focuses its efforts on four primary strategic directions:

• Mitigate Health Disparities: Increasing access for rural, tribal, and underserved families.
• Professional Support: Providing advocacy, training, and education for doula practitioners.
• Diversity: Actively working to increase the racial, social, and geographical diversity of trained doulas in the state.
• Community Building: Growing a network of "change agents" to reshape the New Mexico reproductive healthcare landscape.

NMDA has a 100% contract-based staffing model.

A new Executive Director will be instrumental in sustaining NMDA’s work, strengthening infrastructure, and building capacity that is grounded in the organization’s values. NMDA is fiscally sponsored by the New Mexico Community Trust.

Key Responsibilities

The Executive Director is responsible for the strategic direction and operational health of the New Mexico Doula Association. This role encompasses leadership across six domains:

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Management

• Partner with the Board of Directors to set strategic priorities, ensure mission alignment, and uphold strong governance practices.
• Serve as the primary organizational liaison to the Board, preparing reports, facilitating meetings, and advising on strategic decisions.
• Supervise and support contract staff, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and care.
• Lead implementation of equitable HR policies/practices and essential workplace structures (such as exploring health insurance for staff).

Financial Stewardship

• Develop and manage the annual organizational budget.
• Ensure fiscal health and accountability through sound financial management, reporting, and compliance practices.
• Present accurate, transparent financial updates to the Board of Directors.

Policy, Advocacy, & Legislative Impact

• Drive initiatives to increase the number of NMDA legislative champions.
• Focus policy work on securing insurance reimbursement for doula services and integrating doulas into broader healthcare systems.
• Serve on the NM Community Voices Coalition and other task forces to advocate for culturally responsive, gender-affirming policies.
• Host annual "Advocates Policy Events" to educate local and state-level stakeholders on birth worker issues.

Development, Sustainability, & Thought Capital

• Design a comprehensive fundraising strategy that leverages grant writing, corporate sponsorships, and individual donor cultivation.
• Build and maintain strong, sustainable relationships with community partners and funders to secure NMDA’s financial future.
• Collect community feedback to understand public perception of reproductive healthcare services and use findings to guide strategic planning.
• Meet with hospitals and clinics to address relational gaps and identify where institutional goals align or misalign with community needs.

Communications & Community Relations

• Serve as the face of NMDA, articulating the mission to diverse audiences and establishing the organization as a thought leader. Generate media coverage regarding the role of doulas and emerging Medicaid benefits to educate the broader community.
• Oversee the production of alternative media, such as zines and newsletters, to reach communities with information on reproductive access.
• Build alliances with organizations in other states that have successfully expanded Medicaid reimbursement for doula and birth worker services.

Leadership Approach

Mission Stewardship: Advance a strategic direction grounded in reproductive justice and committed to dismantling systemic barriers in healthcare.

Power-Sharing and Collective Leadership: Model shared power by dismantling hierarchical silos, ensuring that staff, volunteers, and community partners have equitable influence over organizational priorities and critical decision-making processes.

Systemic Advocacy: Engage in radical advocacy, centering the voices of those most marginalized to challenge oppressive structures and demand policy transformation rooted in reproductive justice.

Authentic Representation: Ensure that NMDA’s external presence remains uncompromised and fully accountable to the community-led values that guide our mission.

Community-Centric Fundraising: Prioritize community-centric fundraising, rejecting financial partnerships that extract value or perpetuate cycles of harm, and seeking resources that align with our commitment to long-term sustainability and communal wellness.

Aligned Financial Stewardship: Exercise financial oversight that is values-aligned, approving budgets and expenditures that prioritize the organization’s financial health and the tangible needs of the communities served.

Equitable Resource Distribution: Allocate resources through an equity lens, ensuring that funding, time, and human capital are directed toward program effectiveness that reaches the most underserved members of our community.

Accountable Community Engagement: Foster trust through deep accountability, ensuring all engagement with community partners is reciprocal, transparent, and honors NMDA’s position as a servant-leader in the movement.

Democratized Transparency: Practice radical transparency with the Board of Directors, ensuring that information is shared openly to empower collective decision-making and mitigate risk.

Commitment to Liberation and Anti-Oppression: Actively dismantle internal and external practices that perpetuate inequity, proactively fostering an environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just goals, but the baseline for organizational culture and strategy.

Qualifications & Experience

• 3+ years in a leadership role in a nonprofit organization.
• Experience managing and collaborating with a Board of Directors.
• Track record of securing funding (grants, individual/major donors, fundraising events, etc.) of approximately $350k to $500k annually.
• Experience in building consensus among board members, senior staff, and external partners.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and vision-setting capabilities.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and public speaking skills.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and inspire a team toward organizational goals.
• Knowledge of fundraising best practices and donor cultivation/stewardship.
• Oversight in generating and analyzing financial statements for board review.
• Experience developing and managing an organizational or programmatic budget including financial forecasting, risk management, and fiscal controls.
• Knowledge of program development, implementation, and evaluation, ensuring programs are mission-aligned and achieve measurable impact.
• Ability to translate complex program outcomes into compelling public narratives.
• Data-driven approach to program management and performance metrics.
• Experience overseeing day-to-day operations of the organization, including finance, fundraising, and administrative functions.
• Experience in HR policy development and oversight, ensuring compliance with labor laws, managing compensation approach, and driving a positive organizational culture.
• A strong commitment to fostering a collaborative organizational culture that prioritizes team wellbeing, shared vision-building, and equity-centered leadership.
• Proven ability to embed principles of equity and inclusion into all phases of organizational operations.