Executive Director

Location: Portland, Oregon (Hybrid; regular on-site presence required). Compensation: $105,000–$130,000 annually.

About the organization

Call to Safety is a Portland-based nonprofit organization supporting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, exploitation, and stalking. Formerly known as Portland Women’s Crisis Line, the organization provides free, confidential, and survivor-centered advocacy through its 24/7 crisis line, in-person medical advocacy, safety planning, referrals, follow-up services, and community partnerships.

Call to Safety believes everyone deserves a life free from domestic and sexual violence. Its work is grounded in trauma-informed care, survivor autonomy, equity, anti-oppression, and social justice. The organization partners with culturally specific organizations, service providers, government agencies, healthcare systems, funders, and advocates to improve services for survivors and advance systemic change.

About the role

Reports to: Board of Directors. Direct reports: Leadership Team, Program Directors, and other designated leaders.

The Executive Director provides strategic, operational, financial, and cultural leadership for Call to Safety. Reporting to the Board of Directors, this leader will guide the organization through its next chapter by strengthening internal stability, rebuilding trust, supporting staff, improving organizational infrastructure, and creating a sustainable long-term direction.

The Executive Director will serve as a manager, coach, collaborator, and strategic problem-solver. This leader will partner closely with staff, the Leadership Team, Program Directors, union representatives, and the Board to ensure that employees have the communication, systems, resources, and support necessary to provide high-quality survivor services.

A central priority will be strengthening workplace culture and restoring trust. The Executive Director must communicate transparently, listen carefully, address conflict directly, and create meaningful opportunities for staff participation. This leader will also oversee financial performance, fundraising, human resources, operations, Board relations, and external partnerships while ensuring survivor voices continue to inform the organization’s work.

Responsibilities

Executive Leadership and Organizational Strategy

• Provide steady, mission-driven leadership that strengthens Call to Safety’s stability, effectiveness, and long-term sustainability.
• Partner with the Board, Leadership Team, staff, and union representatives to establish and implement a clear strategic direction.
• Align programs, staffing, infrastructure, and financial resources while prioritizing organizational stabilization before significant growth.
• Lead organizational change with transparency, emotional intelligence, sound judgment, and a trauma-informed approach.
• Establish clear priorities, responsibilities, decision-making authority, performance expectations, and organizational accountability.

Organizational Culture, Staff Leadership, and Labor Relations

• Foster an inclusive, equitable, trauma-informed, and psychologically safe workplace grounded in shared purpose.
• Rebuild staff trust and morale through transparent communication, accessibility, accountability, and consistent follow-through.
• Coach and develop a cohesive Leadership Team while strengthening supervision, professional development, succession planning, and retention.
• Address workplace conflict, grievances, performance concerns, trauma exposure, and burnout directly, fairly, and promptly.
• Build constructive relationships with union-represented employees and participate effectively in collective bargaining, labor-management discussions, mediation, and conflict resolution.

Financial Stewardship, Fundraising, and Operations

• Oversee budgeting, financial reporting, grants, contracts, cash flow, financial controls, compliance, and organizational risk.
• Partner with the Board Finance Committee, staff, and financial professionals to monitor performance and communicate financial priorities and challenges.
• Align staffing, programs, and infrastructure with available resources and long-term organizational sustainability.
• Strengthen and diversify revenue through grants, government funding, donor cultivation, fundraising, and philanthropic partnerships.
• Assess and improve human resources, finance, technology, administration, data, compliance, and other operational systems.

Program and Survivor-Centered Leadership

• Ensure Call to Safety’s services remain survivor-centered, trauma-informed, accessible, culturally responsive, and aligned with its mission.
• Support Program Directors and staff in delivering high-quality crisis intervention, advocacy, safety planning, referrals, and related services.
• Maintain an informed understanding of frontline work, including trauma exposure, service-delivery challenges, and employee-support needs.
• Center survivor perspectives while respecting confidentiality, safety, autonomy, and individual choice.
• Create meaningful opportunities for survivor and community input, including engagement with historically underserved and culturally specific communities.

Board Governance and Community Leadership

• Serve as the Board’s chief executive partner and provide transparent information, strategic recommendations, and organizational reporting.
• Maintain appropriate boundaries between Board governance and staff management while supporting Board development, recruitment, and succession planning.
• Build a healthy and sustainable partnership among the Board, Executive Director, Leadership Team, staff, and union.
• Serve as Call to Safety’s primary ambassador and strengthen relationships with community organizations, government agencies, healthcare systems, funders, donors, and advocates.
• Represent Call to Safety in coalitions, public forums, fundraising activities, and policy discussions with integrity, diplomacy, and political awareness.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Five or more years of senior nonprofit leadership experience, including responsibility for organizational strategy, programs, people, finances, and operations.
• Demonstrated experience leading an organization through transition, instability, cultural challenges, or significant organizational change.
• Experience supervising, coaching, and developing multidisciplinary teams and organizational leaders.
• Strong financial and operational management experience, including budgeting, financial reporting, grants, contracts, compliance, and organizational infrastructure.
• Experience partnering with a nonprofit Board of Directors and supporting effective governance and executive accountability.
• Demonstrated success building relationships with government agencies, community partners, funders, donors, and other external stakeholders.
• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and professional experience, along with strong communication, decision-making, conflict-resolution, and equity-centered leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience serving as an Executive Director or comparable chief executive of a nonprofit organization.
• Professional experience in domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, exploitation, stalking, crisis-line services, or survivor advocacy.
• Experience leading a trauma-informed organization or workforce and supporting employees exposed to secondary trauma or burnout.
• Experience working with union-represented employees, collective bargaining, labor-management relations, mediation, or grievances.
• Demonstrated fundraising and resource-development experience involving grants, government contracts, institutional giving, individual donors, or major gifts.
• Experience rebuilding organizational culture, strengthening staff morale and retention, and developing effective leadership teams and nonprofit Boards.
• Familiarity with culturally specific organizations, historically underserved communities, and the Portland-area survivor-services network, or the ability to establish authentic local relationships quickly.

Ideal candidate profile