Advisor | Facilitator | Consultant

LaTanya is Founder & Principal of CauseAdvance, a social change advisory practice based in Houston, Texas, where she partners with clients to reimagine possibilities and plan how they take action for a more just world.  

She  is a skilled strategist with more than 20 years of experience in organizational development, equity and diversity, and philanthropy.  

LaTanya leverages her expertise to support nonprofit leaders, businesses, and individuals that are committed to advancing opportunities for all people. Having sat on both sides of the table--as a solicitor and distributor of funding—LaTanya realized a gap existed between the two worlds.

Race and social capital were often deciding factors in determining which organizations and ideas received support. Seeking to more effectively influence how resources are allocated, she deliberately transitioned from nonprofit leadership  into philanthropy.  

Making  equity a priority and increasing the impact of all forms of philanthropy are central purposes of her work through CauseAdvance. She is a consultant for the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund Flexible Leadership Award and the David & Lucille Packard Foundation LeaderPower Collaborative. LaTanya has led equity initiatives for Casey Family Programs, United Way, and she initiated and co-planned the first equity and criminal justice programs for the Greater Houston Grantmakers’ Forum.

LaTanya is passionate about leveraging the collective resources of black philanthropists and in 2019 launched Black Philanthropy Houston, a first-of-its-kind initiative to inspire, connect, and inform Houston donors.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

Before founding CauseAdvance, LaTanya was Donor Engagement Director and a key relationship manager for a portfolio of donor advised funds at the Greater Houston Community Foundation. She led an innovative revamp of donor education programs, managed a partnership to create the first regional community indicators dataset, facilitated the launch of the first Black giving circle, and supported grantmaking of the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee, Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, and a pooled fund for youth homelessness. 

As executive director of The Women’s Resource of Greater Houston, she initiated the first and only empirical study on the charitable giving patterns of Houston women and directed the largest free financial education program for low income women and girls reaching 6,000 annually. 

LaTanya began her career as the founding director of a national faith-based nonprofit and has held senior roles in operations and external relations at community-based organizations and City Year, an AmeriCorps program. 

EDUCATION

• MPAff, The LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of  Texas at Austin 
• BA, Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
• Public Policy & International Affairs Fellow, Junior Summer Institute- Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley

PERSONAL

LaTanya is a native Houstonian and fifth generation Texan and enjoys travel, live music, long walks, and well-aged tequila.