Summary
Description
Position summary
Colorado Artists in Recovery (CAiR) is hiring an Executive Director to lead a growing arts-and-recovery nonprofit through its first transition out of founder leadership.
CAiR uses creative expression to support people in recovery from substance use and related challenges. We run free arts-based workshops, multiweek creative programs, peer navigation and public events across the Denver metro area and Northern Colorado, in partnership with more than twenty recovery organizations, shelters, youth facilities and community centers.
The Executive Director is responsible for the whole of the organization: programs, staff, finances, fundraising, grant compliance and the partnerships CAiR depends on. This is a hands-on role at an organization where the leader still touches the work. It is also a builder’s role. Much of what a larger nonprofit would already have, including documented systems, an HR function and a development pipeline beyond grants, does not exist yet and is part of the job.
The organization you would be leading
CAiR is a Colorado nonprofit founded in 2019. It runs a large amount of programming on a small budget with a small team, which is both the appeal of the job and its central challenge.
Funding: Program revenue is grant-funded and concentrated in five relationships: Caring for Denver, Signal Behavioral Health
Network (Region 4), Larimer County Behavioral Health Services, the Colorado Health Foundation and the Bohemian Foundation. Each carries its own reporting cycle, period and definitions. A Colorado Department of Law application was
submitted in July 2026 with a decision expected around November. The 2026 budget plans a modest deficit drawn from reserves, and grant receipts are weighted to the second half of the year.
Team: Program leadership in Denver, a Northern Colorado program lead, a full-time peer navigator, and a roster of more than
twenty contracted teaching artists and facilitators. Bookkeeping, payroll and grant billing are handled by an outside accounting firm. A dedicated Grant Reporting and Compliance Coordinator position is being created alongside this
one, and the board is recruiting to expand the team further as funding allows.
Partnerships: Standing workshop partnerships include Colorado Village Collaborative, Gilliam Youth Services Center, The Center on Colfax, Servicios de la Raza, Conectoras de Montbello, the Don’t Look Back Center, Advocates for Recovery, the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, Free Recovery Community and The Phoenix, with roughly ten new inbound partnership
requests each month.
What the job actually involves
Organizational leadership
- Set annual priorities with the board and deliver against them
- Build the operating infrastructure CAiR has outgrown: documented processes, role-based access to accounts and finances, an HR function, and clear delegation so no single person is a point of failure
- Represent CAiR to funders, partners, the recovery community and the public
Fundraising and development
- Own the grant portfolio: renewals, new applications, funder relationships and the annual calendar of deadlines
- Diversify beyond grants. Individual giving is currently the smallest and least predictable part of the revenue mix, and closing that gap is one of the two or three things this hire is most needed for
- Lead fundraising events and sponsorship solicitation with the board’s events committee
- Work with contracted grant writers where capacity requires it Grant compliance and reporting
- CAiR is hiring a dedicated Grant Reporting and Compliance Coordinator, so the Executive Director owns this at the oversight level rather than producing reports personally.
- Own funder relationships and renewal strategy across the portfolio, including the definitional questions that determine what gets counted and how
- Supervise the Grant Reporting and Compliance Coordinator and be accountable for the accuracy and timeliness of everything filed under CAiR’s name
- Review and approve reported figures before submission, and be able to explain how any number was derived if a funder asks
- Manage spend-down against restricted awards so funds are used within their periods
- Make sure participant data lives on organization-owned systems and is handled confidentially, with role-based access rather than shared credentials
Programs
- Oversee workshop and event programming across both regions, including quality, facilitator support and the instructor manual
- Triage inbound partnership requests against real capacity, and say no when capacity does not exist
- Keep programming grounded in non-stigmatizing, all-pathways recovery practice
Finance and administration
- Build and manage the annual budget with the Treasurer and the outside accounting firm
- Approve expenditures, serve as a bank signer, and monitor cash position and runway
- Own vendor relationships, insurance, contracts and organizational accounts
People
- Supervise a small staff and a large contractor roster, including hiring, onboarding, evaluation and compensation recommendations
- Build the team out as funding allows, starting with the positions already identified as gaps
- Sustain a workplace that is realistic about workload in an organization where nearly everyone is connected to recovery personally or professionally
Board partnership
- Report monthly to the board, staff its committees, and give the board the information it needs to govern rather than manage
- Work with the President on governance, recruitment and succession
What we are looking for
Required
- Five or more years of leadership (nonprofit preferred), including direct responsibility for a budget and for supervising staff. Executive Director, Deputy Director, or a senior program or development role with real P&L
ownership all qualify - Demonstrated grant management: writing, renewing, and reporting on restricted awards, and managing spend-down against award periods
- A track record of raising money from more than one source, including individual donors or events
- Comfort building systems and the discipline to document them rather than carry them personally
- Sound judgment on confidential personnel and participant matters
- Colorado-based or relocating, with the ability to travel regularly between Denver and Northern Colorado
Preferred
- Direct experience in recovery, behavioral health, or arts and culture, and fluency with non-stigmatizing, all-pathways recovery language
- Existing relationships among Colorado funders, including local behavioral health and recovery funders
- Experience leading an organization through founder transition or a similar structural change
- Experience partnering with a working board, including committee support and board development
- Spanish proficiency, given CAiR’s bilingual programming
What the role will ask of you personally
The next Executive Director will spend the first year building. The work is close to people in recovery and to staff who are
themselves in recovery. It calls for someone who can hold high standards and real warmth at the same time, be candid with a board, and stay steady while the organization changes shape around them.
Lived experience of recovery is valued and is not required. CAiR encourages applications from people in recovery, people of color, LGBTQIA+ applicants, and people whose path to this work did not run through a traditional nonprofit career.
Benefits
Compensation and terms
Salary Range: $82,000- $95,000, plus a $1,260 monthly health stipend.
Benefits and terms: Health stipend, paid time off, and paid holidays. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
Equal opportunity. CAiR is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color,
religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Recovery status is not a condition of employment in either direction.
How to Apply
Send a resume and a short letter describing why this organization and this moment to Board President Isabel Serafin (she/they) at isabelnicoleserafin@gmail.com. No formal cover letter format required. Tell us what you would want to understand in your first sixty days.
Applications are reviewed as they arrive. Position will remain open until filled. CAiR is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Recovery status is not a condition of employment in either direction.
Interview process: The elected officers (President, Treasurer and Secretary) will schedule the initial interview. A second interview will be done with at least one board member, as well as at least one of our program managers. The final interview will proceed in the format of a formal, prepared presentation to at least a quorum of the Board of Directors, and will demonstrate a consistent understanding of the mission, vision, and values for Colorado Artists in Recovery. It should also contain a tentative 3-month plan for how the Executive Director plans to integrate themselves into the organizational culture, as well as some aspirational goals for the organization over the span of appx. 3 years. Candidates will be granted a brief overview of current grants, as well as a general summary of growth over the organization’s 6 years of development and operation in order to prepare for the presentation portion of the interview.
