Open Positions
Executive Director, AIDS Project of Southern Vermont
About the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont
The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont is a regional service organization providing direct services to people living with HIV/AIDS, and HIV and Hepatitis C prevention services to those at most risk in Windham, Bennington, and southern Windsor counties. The organization provides HIV case management, prevention harm reduction services, connection to other services such as treatment/recovery and medical care, and basic needs support, and has continuously evolved its services to meet changing community needs.
APSV has two offices, in Brattleboro and Bennington. Programs include a syringe services program, a food pantry, HIV case management, prevention services, and mobile community outreach. The organization's current annual budget is about $880,000, with a staff of 10.
About the role
The Executive Director leads the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont and is responsible for its overall success: the quality of its programs, the success of its staff, its financial health, and its relationships with the communities it serves. The role combines internal leadership, including staff, finances, and systems, with external work, including fundraising, partnerships, and representing APSV to the public and to government.
Our outgoing Executive Director leaves APSV with strong staffing and programs. Over the next several years, APSV's priorities include increasing and diversifying its funding, strengthening communications and public education, developing an engaged board, sustaining culture and improving key internal policies and systems, and expanding partnerships across the region and state.
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced nonprofit leader committed to harm reduction to lead a respected community organization with dedicated staff and clear priorities for the years ahead.
Reports to: Board of Directors
Supervises: Senior staff (currently two program directors), third party bookkeeper
Responsibilities
Fundraising and communication: Ensure APSV's long-term financial stability and clear communication about its work.
Set fundraising strategy and yearly goals, and evaluate the goals, costs, and results of current fundraising and communications efforts.
Develop and maintain relationships with individual donors and foundations, and personally ask for gifts.
Identify new revenue and find creative ways to diversify it across individual donors, foundations, and public sources
Oversee grant writing and reporting, appeals, and communications to donors, partners, and the community.
Engage the board to participate in communications and fundraising activities, including identifying and stewarding key relationships.
Partnerships, advocacy, and public representation: Maintain and expand APSV's reputation and relationships across the region and state.
Represent APSV at regional and statewide meetings, coalitions, and events, and form new partnerships with community organizations, government agencies, and funders.
Advocate with state agencies and legislators for funding and policies that support APSV's mission.
Serve as APSV's main spokesperson with the press and community groups, including audiences unfamiliar with or opposed to harm reduction.
Support and empower staff to maintain and expand partnerships and visibility for APSV in both Bennington and Brattleboro.
Board support: Work with the board to support effective governance, financial oversight, and fundraising.
Keep the board informed and prepare materials for board meetings.
Support the board’s efforts to recruit, orient, and involve new members, especially people with finance and fundraising experience and representation from the Bennington area.
Help board members take part in fundraising and communications, including identifying and stewarding donor relationships.
Staff and workplace culture: Recruit, support, and retain staff, and maintain an inclusive, collaborative, transparent, and authentic workplace.
Supervise program directors and work with the leadership team to continue a shared approach to leadership with both collaborative decision-making and clear roles.
Work with the Leadership Team to maintain communication and collaboration among staff, including across offices.
Work with the Leadership Team and HR consultant to keep personnel policies current, legally compliant, understood by all staff, and consistent with APSV's commitment to employing staff with lived experience of HIV, substance use, or recovery.
Utilize and strengthen the system of regular supervision and yearly performance reviews so staff have clear expectations and are empowered to lead work in their areas of responsibility.
Finance and operations: Ensure that APSV's finances and internal systems are well managed and comply with funder, legal, and regulatory requirements.
Oversee payroll, office operations, databases, and internal communication systems, and improve them where needed.
Ensure office tasks are assigned clearly and help cover them as needed, considering additional staffing where it would help.
Oversee the outside bookkeeper, who manages day-to-day financial processing and record-keeping.
Prepare the annual budget for board approval, monitor financial performance, and use financial information to guide decisions.
Ensure that grant budgets, cost allocations, and grant reports are accurate and submitted on time.
Provide the board with clear, regular financial reports, and oversee the annual financial review or audit.
Oversee cash reserves, contracts, insurance, and facilities, including planning for the office space needs of both locations.
Planning and strategy: Lead planning and goal-setting with the board and staff.
Set long-term priorities with the board and staff, and plan how to reach them.
Set yearly goals with staff, track progress, and report results to the board.
Work with the board to keep APSV's work and mission statement aligned with current needs in harm reduction, while continuing to center the organization's history in the AIDS epidemic.
Qualifications
We know candidates will bring more experience in some areas than others. If you have strong experience in most of these areas and want to develop the rest, please apply.
Experience: At least 5 years experience leading or managing a nonprofit or public program, including supervising managers and managing a budget. Experience in harm reduction, HIV/AIDS, public health, or social services required.
Fundraising and donor relationships: Record of personally securing gifts from individual donors and grants from foundations, and of setting fundraising goals and meeting them. Comfortable stewarding relationships and asking for money.
Grant writing and compliance: Ability to write clear, persuasive grant proposals and reports. Experience managing state or federal grants, including spending rules, data requirements, and deadlines. Knowledge of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program a plus.
Nonprofit financial management: Ability to prepare and monitor an organizational budget, read financial statements, allocate shared costs across restricted grants, and work with an outside bookkeeper and auditor. Explains financial information clearly to a board that does not include finance specialists.
People management and accountability: Sets clear expectations, empowers staff with support and skillbuilding to lead in their areas of responsibility, and addresses performance challenges directly and compassionately. Supports managers in supervising their own teams.
Shared leadership: Makes decisions collaboratively with a leadership team and involves staff in planning. Takes time to understand how an organization works before making changes, and makes changes at a pace staff can manage.
Board development: Experience recruiting board members, preparing board materials, and helping board members take part in fundraising and financial oversight.
Advocacy, public speaking, and partnerships: Speaks clearly and persuasively to the press, legislators, funders, and community groups. Establishes and maintains working relationships with people and organizations of different backgrounds and political views.
Harm reduction knowledge and communication: Understands harm reduction principles, the effects of stigma, and the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Able to both share and listen about harm reduction with audiences who might disagree with it.
Human resources and operations: Experience with employment law compliance, personnel policies, payroll and benefits administration, and improving office systems to be effective and efficient. Vermont experience a plus.
Planning and follow-through: Ability to set yearly goals, manage competing priorities, and meet deadlines.
We encourage applicants with lived or living experience of HIV, substance use, or recovery to apply.
Compensation and position details
Status
Full time, exempt, salaried
Salary
The salary range for this role is $70,000 - $80,000. The offer amount will depend on the candidate’s qualifications and experience.
Health insurance
APSV pays 80% of the premium for full-time employees
Dental and vision
Available to employees at a reduced rate through the Chamber of Commerce
Paid time off
12 vacation days in the first year, increasing to 18 days/year after one year and 24 days/year after five years; 6 sick days per year; 11 office holidays
Location
Based primarily out of either the Brattleboro or Bennington office; up to one day per week of remote work may be possible, provided that all work is performed within the state of Vermont
Travel
Regular travel between offices (visiting the non-primary office at least twice per month), plus regional and statewide meetings
Schedule
Some evening and weekend hours for events and board meetings
How to apply
Send a resume and a cover letter to julia@apsvt.org with the subject line "Executive Director Application – [your last name]." In your cover letter, please describe your relevant experience and why you are interested in APSV’s work.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.