Executive Director

About the role

AIRR is a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing immigrant rights, dignity, education, advocacy, and community leadership in the Kansas City region. The Executive Director will translate the organization's mission, values, and strategy into sustained organizational impact, working closely with the Board of Directors.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Board's primary strategic partner, translating mission, priorities, and strategy into an annual operating plan, budget, and clear areas of accountability.
• Balance long-term sustainability and growth planning with the immediate needs of the communities AIRR serves.
• Ensure effective execution of the full grants lifecycle, including prospect identification, proposal development, grant administration, compliance, relationship management, and funder reporting.
• Represent AIRR with funders, partners, coalitions, public officials, media, and other external audiences in a culturally responsive and mission-aligned manner.
• Provide strategic direction for local and regional advocacy campaigns grounded in AIRR's organizing and power-building model, and supervise and support the staff and leaders responsible for implementation.
• Create and sustain trusted, accountable relationships with immigrant community members, volunteer leaders, organizers, and directly affected constituencies.
• Maintain accountability to directly affected communities as programs, partnerships, campaigns, and revenue grow.
• Develop staff and volunteer leaders through feedback, accountability, training, and professional growth.
• Foster a transparent and participatory workplace culture that engages tension and conflict directly, honestly, equitably, and with care.
• Assess and strengthen AIRR's operational systems so they can support responsible growth without creating unnecessary bureaucracy or weakening community accountability.

Requirements

• At least five years of relevant, progressively responsible leadership experience, with a demonstrated record of delivering meaningful organizational, policy, campaign, fundraising, or community outcomes.
• Leadership experience in a nonprofit, advocacy, community organizing, public service, philanthropy, or other mission-driven environment, including direct experience working within or alongside a community-organizing or power-building model.
• Demonstrated fundraising and donor-development capability that has resulted in secured revenue, strengthened funding relationships, or a more diversified funding base.
• Experience developing, managing, or monitoring organizational or program budgets, with the ability to understand, explain, and use nonprofit financial information in decision-making.
• Experience supervising, coaching, coordinating, or developing staff, contractors, volunteers, or community leaders and contributing to a healthy and accountable organizational culture.
• Experience working with a nonprofit Board, advisory body, coalition, or comparable governance or stakeholder group.
• Professional proficiency in Spanish and English, including the ability to communicate, facilitate meetings, build relationships, and represent the organization in both languages.
• A demonstrated record of building trusted and accountable relationships with immigrant communities through organizing, advocacy, professional, volunteer, or community leadership experience.
• Strong written and verbal communication, facilitation, relationship-building, public-presentation, and conflict-navigation skills.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of the Kansas City region's immigrant, nonprofit, philanthropic, government, faith-based, and advocacy communities.
• Knowledge of federal, state, and local immigration policy and the ways immigration systems affect communities in the Kansas City region.
• Experience strengthening organizational infrastructure, internal controls, grant compliance, human resources practices, or operational systems.