We are excited to welcome Heather Masterton, Lawrence Haynes, and Cinthya Martinez to Western Center’s development team!
“As Western Center works to adopt community-centric fundraising principles, our new Philanthropy/Development Team will build on our strong foundation and lead the expansion of our donor community to be even more aligned with our commitment to equity, inclusion, and justice. The members of this fundraising team are champions for racial equity whose approach to philanthropy centers a racial justice and equity lens. I am confident in their ability to help take Western Center to higher heights as we continue to positively impact the lives of our sisters, brothers, and gender expansive community members with low incomes and/or low wealth across California.”
-Crystal D. Crawford, Western Center’s Executive Director
Heather Masterton is Western Center’s new Director of Philanthropy. Heather is the driving force behind Western Center’s fundraising — planning and organizing Western Center’s development activities, and ensuring clarity and collaboration between the development team, leadership, advocates, and the finance department. She is based in Los Angeles.
Heather is a seasoned fundraising and communications professional with 26 years of experience working in the nonprofit field to ensure safe housing and a strong safety net for survivors of gender based violence. She holds a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) certification and has successfully secured over $40M to support transformative programming and policy change in the areas of gender, racial, and economic justice.
Prior to joining Western Center, Heather served as the Chief Strategic Engagement Officer at YWCA Glendale and Pasadena where she oversaw the Mission Advancement and Community Engagement teams, directed the organization’s fundraising and communications work, and co-led local policy initiatives, which included drafting and mobilizing support for the unanimous passage of Glendale’s historic Sundown Town Resolution and the establishment of the City’s first Tenant Landlord Ad-Hoc Committee. Her past leadership roles include: Vice President of Development for Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation, a national nonprofit focused on ending domestic violence and sexual assault, Executive Director of South Valley Sanctuary, a 57-bed domestic violence shelter program in Utah, and Director of Development for Peace Over Violence, LA’s first rape crisis and domestic violence support center.
Heather holds a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies and a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies with a Minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Heather is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and is a founding board member of the nonprofit, The Good Deed Corps, which works to eliminate barriers to voting through wrap-around voter registration and education campaigns in Texas and Georgia
Lawrence Haynes is Western Center’s first Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships, based in Los Angeles. In his role, Lawrence develops and implements strategic partnerships with corporations, foundations, and major donors on behalf of Western Center.
Lawrence is an experienced practitioner in advocacy, strategic partnerships, and program development. Driven by a passion for bringing people and purpose together, he takes pride in helping people actualize personal and professional growth. Lawrence’s passion for advocacy can be traced back to when he spent significant time assisting nonprofit organizations with structural changes, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and programming that amplified the need to address systemic disparities.
Before joining Western Center, Lawrence served as the Development and Community Engagement Coordinator at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. He worked directly with clients to forge new partnerships and served on the grant writing team, which helped to secure grants of up to $300,000. Lawrence also worked in financial services, where grant management was essential to his work, and spearheaded DEI initiatives for the company.
Lawrence has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, a Master of Science in Nonprofit and Association Management from the University of Maryland, and an Engineering Certification from the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences.
Cinthya Martinez is Western Center’s Development Coordinator, based in Los Angeles. Cinthya leads donor stewardship initiatives, manages vendor relationships, and provides event and graphic design support.
Cinthya is a resourceful and creative development and design professional with 15 years of experience. She has been in love with technology for as long as she can remember and is passionate about championing the vision of organizations and the stories of their clients, donors, and staff.
Prior to joining Western Center, Cinthya served as the Events and Development Coordinator for YWCA Glendale and Pasadena where she was instrumental in the promotion, donor management, and programming of their signature events: the Women for Racial Justice Breakfast and the Heart and Excellence Awards. She also worked to establish and maintain brand identity, develop social media content, ensure data integrity, and develop donor stewardship initiatives.
She began her career at Cal Poly Pomona’s MediaVision production studio where she worked for 7 years and discovered her love of video and audio production and editing. During her tenure at YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley, she evolved from volunteer to Social Media and Marketing Coordinator to Operations and Marketing Manager, and took on a leadership role in the transition to the strategic partnership with YWCA Glendale.
Cinthya holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California Polytechnic University, Pomona.
