About LA Plaza
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes is a vibrant community hub where people come together to celebrate Latinx culture through transformative exhibitions, music, dance, culinary arts, and multigenerational storytelling and art-making experiences.
Located in two historic buildings in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to Olvera Street at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, LA Plaza features a museum, a 30,000-square-foot outdoor space with a performance stage, an edible garden, and LA Cocina de Gloria Molina—a teaching kitchen and flexible event space that highlights the history, culture, and influence of Mexican and Mexican American cuisine.
Established in 2011, LA Plaza is a Los Angeles County cultural institution and a proud Smithsonian affiliate.
About the Role
LA Plaza is seeking a visionary and results-oriented leader to guide its next chapter of growth as Director of Advancement & Strategy .
In this pivotal role, the Director will lead the vision, build the systems, and help secure LA Plaza’s philanthropic future by designing and implementing a comprehensive development strategy that advances the organization’s mission and supports long-term financial sustainability.
This position integrates fundraising leadership with systems-building excellence. The Director will serve as both strategist and executor—shaping high-level plans, cultivating donors, and driving day-to-day fundraising efforts while ensuring that organizational tools, processes, and workflows are optimized to support sustainable growth.
The Opportunity
LA Plaza is entering a pivotal phase of growth. Historically supported by robust grant and corporate funding, the organization is now positioned to expand its individual donor base and major gifts program. The Board of Directors is highly engaged and eager to deepen its fundraising role with the right leadership and infrastructure in place.
This is a unique opportunity to design and strengthen the systems that connect strategy, people, and processes—creating a more integrated, diversified, and sustainable development program.
The Director of Advancement & Strategy will ensure LA Plaza’s CRM platform is fully leveraged to support donor engagement, stewardship, and reporting, while fostering collaboration across teams to align messaging and outreach.
Primary Responsibilities
As Director of Advancement & Strategy, you will drive LA Plaza’s fundraising vision while building the systems and infrastructure that make growth sustainable.
Fundraising Strategy & Leadership
Shape and execute a multi-year fundraising strategy aligned with LA Plaza’s mission and organizational growth goals.
Partner with the CEO and Board of Directors to cultivate and solicit donors.
Ensure organizational leadership and board members are meaningfully engaged in fundraising activities.
Monitor fundraising progress and performance against established goals.
Adapt fundraising strategies as needed to keep the organization on track toward ambitious revenue targets.
Systems Building & Reporting
Lead the design, development, and optimization of fundraising systems.
Ensure CRM platforms and related workflows are fully leveraged to support fundraising and donor engagement.
Establish scalable processes for donor tracking, segmentation, cultivation, and stewardship.
Maintain strong data integrity across fundraising systems.
Develop and generate timely reports to inform strategic decision-making, donor engagement, and organizational planning.
Donor Engagement & Stewardship
Build and manage a portfolio of individual donors, foundations, and corporate sponsors.
Develop meaningful relationships with current and prospective donors.
Lead major gift cultivation and solicitation efforts.
Strengthen LA Plaza’s philanthropic partnerships.
Establish and maintain donor stewardship practices that foster trust, loyalty, engagement, and long-term donor commitment.
Grant & Sponsorship Oversight
Provide strategic direction for grant proposals, grant reports, and sponsorship…