Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Collaborative Healing Initiative within Communities (CHIC)

Location: Denver, Colorado | On-Site
Status: Full-Time, Exempt
Reports To: Board of Directors
Salary Range: $150,000–$170,000
Annual Operating Budget: Approximately $1.7 million

 

About CHIC

 

Collaborative Healing Initiative within Communities (CHIC) is a Black-led nonprofit dedicated to strengthening women, girls, families, and communities.

 

Rooted in the belief that Black women and girls can build generational legacies of health and wealth, CHIC delivers culturally relevant, whole-family supports that help break intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence and intervenes in systems — education, workforce, and criminal justice — that too often fail communities.

 

The Opportunity

 

CHIC is looking for its next Chief Executive Officer — only the second leader in the organization’s history.

This is a rare opportunity to steward a founder transition with care: to build on a visionary founder’s legacy while bringing fresh energy, structure, and sustainability to a trusted, community-rooted institution’s next era.

 

With a team of up to 10 employees and contractors and an annual operating budget of approximately $1.7 million, CHIC is well positioned for a thoughtful leadership transition.

 

The CEO holds overall strategic and operational responsibility for CHIC’s staff, programs, finances, fundraising, and mission execution — leading across five core areas: 1) organizational strategy; 2) people leadership; 3) Board governance; 4) fiscal and operational management; and 5) fundraising and revenue development.

 

What You’ll Do

 

Strategic Leadership & Founder Transition

 

• Lead the organization through a multi-year strategic planning and implementation process that strengthens programs, revenue, operations, talent, and community impact.

• Steward an intentional founder transition, honoring CHIC’s history and founding vision while institutionalizing knowledge, relationships, and practices.

• Serve as a visible, credible ambassador for CHIC across Denver, Colorado, and the broader nonprofit and philanthropic landscape.

 

Board Governance & Partnership

 

• Partner with the Board of Directors to advance CHIC’s mission, strategy, financial health, and governance practices.

• Provide the Board with timely, transparent, decision-ready reporting on finances, programs, risks, and performance.

• Build a trusting, candid working relationship with the Board Chair and committees to support sound, timely decisions.

 

Fundraising & Revenue Development

 

• Serve as CHIC’s lead fundraiser and chief relationship-builder with foundations, individual donors, corporate partners, and public agencies.

• Develop and execute a diversified revenue strategy that expands major gifts, institutional grants, individual giving, and earned revenue.

• Personally cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors and institutional funders, including transitioning founder-held relationships with intention.

 

People Leadership & Organizational Culture

 

• Lead, support, and develop a team of up to 10 employees and contractors through clear expectations and strong management systems.

• Build a healthy, healing-centered, high-accountability workplace culture rooted in trust, collaboration, and mission alignment.

• Guide staff through the leadership transition with steadiness, openness, and consistent communication.

 

Fiscal & Operational Management

 

• Oversee CHIC’s approximately $1.7 million annual budget in partnership with the finance team and Board of Directors.

• Ensure sound financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, cash-flow management, and internal controls.

• Strengthen operational infrastructure, including HR, technology, grants management, and compliance.

 

What We’re Looking For

 

• BS/BA degree or equivalent experience in nonprofit management, public administration, social work, education, business, law, public policy, or a related field.

• Significant senior leadership experience — Executive Director, C-suite, or equivalent — in a nonprofit, public-sector, philanthropic, social enterprise, or mission-aligned organization of comparable size and complexity.

• Demonstrated experience leading an organization, division, or major department with a budget comparable to CHIC’s $1.7 million.

• Proven fundraising success, including donor cultivation, grant writing, proposal development, and revenue strategy.

• Track record of securing and managing institutional grants, public funding, corporate sponsorships, or major gifts.

• Experience developing and implementing strategic plans, especially during periods of growth, transition, or financial uncertainty.

• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, and resource allocation.

• Demonstrated commitment to racial equity, gender justice, healing-centered practice, and community-led work.

• Experience working with or in communities directly impacted by poverty, violence, educational inequity, workforce barriers, or systemic racism.

• Excellent communication skills, including public speaking, writing, storytelling, and facilitation.

• Ability to partner effectively with a Board of Directors and support strong governance practices.

• High emotional intelligence, sound judgment, integrity, and the ability to lead with both accountability and care.

 

Preferred Experience

 

• Experience leading a minority-led, community-based, or culturally specific organization.

• Experience succeeding a founder or long-tenured leader or leading through significant leadership transition.

• Existing relationships in Colorado philanthropy, education, workforce development, criminal justice reform, re-entry, or youth development.

• Experience building new revenue streams or restructuring funding strategies during uncertain financial conditions.

• Knowledge of trauma-informed, healing-centered, culturally responsive, or restorative approaches.

• Advanced degree or equivalent experience in a related field.

 

Who We’re Looking For

 

CHIC seeks a leader who is:

 

• Strategic and Future-Focused: Able to see around corners and guide the organization through complexity.

• Fundraising-Oriented: Comfortable asking for resources and building authentic, long-term donor relationships.

• Community-Rooted: Brings deep respect for the wisdom and lived experience of the community CHIC serves.

• Operationally Strong: Able to turn vision into systems, decisions, budgets, and results.

• Courageous and Adaptive: Able to make hard decisions while staying grounded in mission and values.

• Collaborative, Humble, and Relational: Able to build trust across staff, Board, funders, and community.

• Steady Under Pressure: Able to lead effectively in moments of financial, political, or organizational uncertainty.

• A Thoughtful Successor: Able to honor a founder’s legacy without being bound by it.

 

Compensation & Benefits

 

Salary: $150,000–$170,000

 

Benefits include:

 

• Health and dental insurance.

• Paid time off and holidays.

• 401(k) match.

• Professional development.

• Sabbatical leave after three years of service.

 

How to Apply

 

Please complete the online application, attach your resume, and submit a 5–10 minute video addressing the following questions:

 

1. Tell us what drew you to CHIC and why this opportunity resonates with you at this point in your leadership journey.

2. Resource development is critical to CHIC’s future. Tell us about how you build meaningful relationships with funders, partners, and the community.

3. CHIC exists to advance generational health and wealth for Black women, girls, and families. What does leading an organization with that mission mean to you?

4. How do you build and lead a team — setting expectations, developing people, and creating accountability while fostering trust — and what does a high-performing team look like to you in a nonprofit setting?

5. What is the future you are working to create for Black women and girls, and how would you position CHIC as a catalyst for that future?

 

Video Format: Submit a shareable link via YouTube, Vimeo, or Google Drive, with your full name included in the file name or title.

 

Submit To:
CHICCEOSearch@chicdenver.org

 

Equal Opportunity

 

CHIC is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who bring deep commitment to CHIC’s mission, including candidates with lived experience, community-rooted leadership experience, and experience working alongside Black women, girls, and families.

 

CHIC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.