API Chaya

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. If you are an empathetic, strategic, and transformational leader who believes in the power of grassroots movements and collective care, this is your opportunity to lead an organization deeply rooted in justice and healing.

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 donor, foundation, 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. They will lead comprehensive fundraising strategies that include grant acquisition, donor cultivation, corporate and institutional partnerships, and endowment development, all while aligning resource mobilization with API Chaya’s values and community-driven approach. With a keen understanding of nonprofit financial management, the Executive Director will ensure fiscal accountability, strategic budgeting, and operational efficiency. This will allow API Chaya to expand its impact, maintain its independence, and remain a resilient force for survivor advocacy and transformative justice.

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. Through their vision and leadership, API Chaya will continue to sustain its legacy and expand its impact—mobilizing people, shifting narratives, and dismantling the systems that perpetuate violence and oppression.

- 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.

To center those at the margins, we keep whole families, faith-based communities, queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and people of color, people with disabilities, and immigrants at our core. The language capacity of staff includes Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Marathi, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, Tongan, ASL, Farsi, Lao, Punjabi, Thai, Telugu, Mandarin and Vietnamese.

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

Who We’re Looking For

We seek a courageous, empathetic, and collaborative leader who believes in the power of community-driven change. The ideal candidate is strategic yet deeply relational, decisive yet collaborative, and bold yet humble. They bring a commitment to justice, an ability to navigate complexity, and a passion for sustaining grassroots movements.

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 that 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.

Applying

API Chaya is committed to a fair, transparent, and community-centered hiring process that prioritizes input from staff, board, and community stakeholders.

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit an application to hiring@lamdi.co detailing their alignment with API Chaya’s mission, leadership experience, and vision for the role.

Why Join API Chaya?

At API Chaya, we believe that a just world is possible—one where survivors lead, communities heal, and systemic violence is dismantled at its roots. As our next Executive Director, you will stand at the forefront of a movement that is redefining safety, justice, and community care. If you are ready to bring vision, courage, and deep love for community to this role, we invite you to apply. Together, we can build a future where all people are free from violence, oppression, and injustice—where we rise, heal, and thrive together.

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.

Contact Us

The team at làmdi is honored to steward this search.

We invite values-aligned candidates to send a complete application including a cover letter and resume to hiring@lamdi.co. All inquiries are held in confidence and treated with care.

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. Should you move forward in the process, we’ll ensure you receive clear guidance on how to request any interview accommodations you may need. We believe leadership is most powerful when it reflects the wisdom of lived experience. We encourage applications from leaders who have been historically excluded—especially those whose leadership practices are rooted in equity, accountability, and abundance. The right candidate will move with integrity, cultural humility, and deep respect for the people and places they serve.