Delia de la Vara
Senior Vice President, Development and Strategic Initiatives
UnidosUS
Delia de la Vara is UnidosUS’ Senior Vice President for Development and Strategic Initiatives. In her 20+ years with UnidosUS, she has held various roles helping the organization achieve its mission of creating opportunities for Latinos in the U.S. and honing her expertise in nonprofit capacity-building, leadership and organizational development, partnership development, fundraising, marketing and brand management, community outreach and engagement, communications, and event production.
Delia is a member of the UnidosUS Executive Leadership Team, responsible for implementation of institutional priorities. She contributes to strategic, organization-wide initiatives; efforts to test and explore new initiatives; strengthened messaging and visibility, and leadership discussions on the future growth and operations of UnidosUS.
Currently, Delia’s core responsibilities include leading fundraising efforts for the UnidosUS core operations through creative strategies that leverage UnidosUS community impact with strategic funding partnerships. She also leads the UnidosUS 50th Anniversary Campaign for Equal Opportunity, a signature fundraising initiative to raise $50 million to mark UnidosUS legacy of contributions, as well as, affirm and structure its ability to be a valued resource to the Latino community and the country in decades to come.
Most recently, Delia led a 3-year initiative that resulted in the organization reaffirming its mission and work, and the launch of an historic name change in anticipation of the organization’s 50th anniversary.
From 2006-2018, Delia served as Executive Producer of the ALMA Awards®, the only nationally broadcast English-language entertainment television special celebrating Latino contributions to film, television, and music. Delia led efforts to relaunch the ALMAs under the leadership of the then-new CEO, Janet Murguia. She is also collaborating with colleagues in the Communications and Marketing team to reimagine UnidosUS future work to impact and influence the entertainment and media sector through stories that accurately reflect the Latino narrative, recognize Latino accomplishments in front of and behind the camera, and demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion.
In previous roles with UnidosUS, Delia served as Vice President of Affiliate Engagement overseeing the nationwide community-based network of over 250 Affiliates and implementing the organization’s regional strategy to strengthen relationships and engagement with the network. She served as Vice President of Strategic Communications where she was (and continues to be) responsible for generating the largest source of unrestricted revenue for the organization and managing an $8M budget.
She also managed the 30-member Corporate Board of Advisors, helped create the Affiliate (Advisory) Council and played an instrumental role in the organization’s 2005 re-branding initiative. Delia began her career with UnidosUS in 1998 in Affiliate Relations.
Prior to joining UnidosUS, Delia worked at the City of Phoenix Mayors Office in Arizona and the Monterey Regional Water Pollution and Control Agency in California.