Mexico Community Foundations: A Comprehensive Profile

Study Highlights

February 16, 2009

1

Study Goals

To generate a comprehensive picture of Mexican

community foundations, their financial and organizational

status;

To identify obstacles the community foundations face in

regard to carrying out their work.

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Definition of a Community Foundation*

A CF is a nonprofit organization that focuses its work in a

specific geographic area, serves the diverse needs of its

community, works toward generating a broad range of local

resources, is or clearly is seeking to become a grantmaker,

and is striving for permanence.

*Definition was developed at the funder/consultant meeting, January

16, 2008.

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Research Questions

What is the financial and organizational status of CFs?

How are they getting their development (e.g., capacity

building, funding) needs supported now?

What are their needs and what key obstacles do they face

in serving their communities and promoting social change?

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Who Participated: 21 CFs

Diverse methods for gathering information Classified into three groups

Conducted document review, in-person (site visit) and telephone interviews, electronic survey, financial information review, analysis and follow up

Benefited from high level of interest and participation 34 interviews of CF board and staff

11 interviews of experts

17 of 21 CFs responded to the electronic survey

14 CF submitted financial information (e.g., audited statements)

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COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS

Corporativa de Fundaciones, A.C.

Fondo Córdoba, A. C.

Fondo Estrategia Social, A.C.

Fundación Comunidad, A.C. (statewide)

Fundación Comunitaria Bajío, A.C.

Fundación Comunitaria Cozumel, I. A. P.

Fundación Comunitaria Frontera Norte, A.C.

Fundación Comunitaria Malinalco, A.C.

Fundación Comunitaria Matamoros, A.C.

Fundación Comunitaria Morelense, I.A.P.

Fundación Comunitaria Oaxaca, A.C.

Fundación Comunitaria Puebla, I. B. P.

Fundación Comunitaria Punta de Mita, A.C.

Fundación Comunitaria Querétaro, A.C. (statewide)

Fundación Comunitaria San Miguel

Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense, A. C.

Fundación del Empresariado Sonorense, A. C.

Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad, A. C.

Fundación León A. C.

Fundación Merced Coahuila, A.C.

Fundación Merced Querétaro, A. C. (statewide)

Area Covered by Mexican CFs

Morelos

Baja

California Sonora

Chihuahua

Coahuila

JaliscoMichoacán

Cozumel,

Quintana

Roo

Oaxaca

Puebla

Querétaro

Córdoba, Veracruz

DF

Matamoros,

Tamaulipas

Cd.

Juárez

León

San Miguel de Allende

GuanajuatoPunta de Mita,

Nayarit

Jalisco

Malinalco, México

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A Snapshot

Cutting-edge: Mexico has more CFs than any other Latin

American country

Growing philanthropy: The CFs have assets of over $300 million

pesos (2007 information from 13 CFs providing financial data),

more than the total assets of all CFs in Africa and Asia

Young groups: 18 of the 21 are under 12 years old; 11 were

incorporated between 1996 and 2000

Small staff: Total staff is 136 (for the 17 foundations responding

to the electronic survey). 127 are full-time (50 are FECHAC

staff)

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A Snapshot

FECHAC

offices and

reception area

FC Puebla

F Comunidad

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A Snapshot

FC Querétaro

FC Oaxaca9

CFs are Developing Working Boards

Boards show diverse representation both by professional affiliation and gender

66% are from business, followed by 14% from CSOs, 8% from academia, 4% from education, and other

61% are men; 39% women

Board members are actively involved in fundraising and contributing

16 (of 17) said that members give cash contributions

Half of these said that cash or land donations increased between 2005-2007

10 (of 17) donate office space

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Staff Face Challenging Work Conditions

Organizations are thinly staffed and pay is low.Almost 2/3rds have six or fewer staff

9 CFs said lowest pay levels were $3,000-$6,000 pesos/mo.; highest reported by six CFs is $8,000-$16,000 pesos/mo.

Executive directors are well educated and experienced, but receive low pay given their backgrounds and scope of their jobs.

Just under half receive a monthly net salary below $20,000 pesos/mo., although two reported salaries of above $40,000 pesos/mo.

¾ of the EDs spend 25% or more of their time raising funds

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CFs Act as Facilitators and Convenors

Promote and support capacity building programs for CSOs,

grassroots organizations

Foster the creation of networks of community-based

organizations

Engage in building bridges across organizations and sectors

Promote civic awareness

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Grantmaking/Operating Programs

15 of 15 respondents to the survey said they do grantmaking

Budgets for grantmaking are quite modest: 12 reported budgets

below $5 million pesos.

Main areas of interest are youth, education, women, families,

and children and health

Primary sources of funds for grantmaking are various kinds of

donor funds (e.g., advised, designated) and writing proposals to

foundations for regranting

Grantmaking is used as a means for modeling transparency

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Grantmaking/Operating Programs

CFs reported “operating” community development (7),

educational (6), health (2) and social service (1) programs, i.e.

they run their own programs

Several CFs have programs that are a hybrid, including both

operating and grantmaking characteristics (FC Oaxaca—micro-

region program, FC Puebla—development in the mountains)

There is an unfortunate tension/split among CFs over whether

CFs should operate programs vs. make grants

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Scaling up Philanthropy

Lack of homogenous financial information

Assets have grown over the last 3 years

For the 13 foundations reporting in 2007 the cumulative

total is $301.5 million pesos, a 29% increase from 2005

(FECHAC accounts for 75% of the assets)

10 CFs have under $10 million pesos in assets

11 CFs report endowment funds in 2007 totaled $27 million

pesos (more than double the 2005 sum)

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Developing a Local Base for Philanthropy

Total income (13 CFs reporting) in 2007 was $220.4 million

pesos, 39% higher than 2005

Nine report income of less than $10 million pesos

The overwhelming source of funds is domestic (Mexico), and

there is a significant reliance on individuals as the main source

of support

Resources have local origins—8 of 15 CFs report that 90% of

income comes from the city or state in which they are located

Less than 10% of the income is from international sources

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Summary of CF Status

CFs have made notable progress in institutional development in

a comparatively short period of time

CFs are building a base of local philanthropy

CFs have been making strides playing a role in strengthening

civil society

Beyond convening and facilitating CFs, in general have small

grant budgets to advance their work

CFs model transparency through their process of grantmaking

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Nine Major Hurdles to Furthering CF Development

1. Concept, roles, and potential of CFs not well understood or known

2. Lack of a shared and cohesive identity among the CFs

3. Prospective donors prefer to give directly to organizations/programs

rather than through an intermediary

4. Significant legal and fiscal impediments

5. Lack of operating support

6. Lack of a culture/ongoing support for endowment building

7. Grantmaking budgets are modest

8. Access to and quality of training and technical assistance for CFs are

uneven

9. CFs are building their own capacity while also building the capacity of

other nonprofit and grassroots organizations.

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Building a Field of CFs:Five Recommendations

1. Build a Sense of Community among CFs

2. Foster the Ability to Articulate Impact and Increase

Visibility

3. Foster Professionalization and Institution Building

4. Increase Resources

5. Create a More Favorable Systemic Environment

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