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Building Partnerships: U.S. Community Foundations and Mexican Hometown Associations

Building Partnerships: U.S. Community Foundations and Mexican Hometown Associations. Prepared by: Julieta Mendez International Community Foundation 2006 Fall Conference for Community Foundations September 20, 2006 Boston, MA. Building partnerships: U.S. Community Foundations and HTAs.

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Building Partnerships: U.S. Community Foundations and Mexican Hometown Associations

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  1. Building Partnerships: U.S. Community Foundations and Mexican Hometown Associations Prepared by: Julieta Mendez International Community Foundation 2006 Fall Conference for Community Foundations September 20, 2006 Boston, MA.

  2. Building partnerships: U.S. Community Foundations and HTAs • Overview of CF-HTA Partnership Study • Review of the Mexican immigrant community in the U.S.: potential and challenges • Best practices & Lessons learned: how to cultivate a relationship for local development and diaspora giving. • Case Study: The International Community Foundation and Oaxacan Migrant Communities • Concluding remarks

  3. Objective of CF-HTA Partnership Study • To provide an understanding on the importance, potential and challenges that community foundations face when working with Mexican immigrant grassroots organizations.

  4. Mexican Immigrants in the U.S.Overview: Population Statistics 27 million Mexicans living in the U.S.

  5. Mexican Immigrants in the U.S.: Distribution of HTAs

  6. The Challenge Mexican HTAs in the U.S. The Potential • Communication barriers increase; • many are not native Spanish speakers. • Skeptical of government assistance • HTAs are, for the most part, informal and unincorporated. • Self-sufficient • Autonomous • Culture of strong civic participation • HTAs are philanthropic in nature

  7. Remittances & Philanthropy • $20 billion in remittances sent to Mexico worldwide, in 2005 • It’s estimated that 3% were for community based projects • Approx. 75% of remittances came from the U.S.

  8. Distribution of Collective Remittances 30% of migrants send money to family and for community based projects

  9. Key Study Findings How to cultivate a relationship for local development and diaspora philanthropy • Staff and board diversity • Flexible policies • Community foundations must take the first step: be proactive! • Building collaborative partnerships across institutions and across borders

  10. Key Study Findings • Community foundations must take the first step: be proactive and creative! • Establishing funds that promote Latino philanthropy and/or support Latino NGO and HTA development; • Get to know your immigrant community and its leaders; • Connecting HTAs to other sectors of the community and across-borders to help serve their needs, and effectively channel their remittances geared toward development projects; • Serving as a fiscal sponsor for the organization; • Engaging donors in a matching funds program for migrant-led and funded initiatives—locally and in community of origin.

  11. Key Study Findings • Building collaborative efforts across institutions • Hispanics In Philanthropy (HIP) led initiative: statewide funders collaborative • CFs building collaborative efforts across borders:

  12. Oaxacan migrants living in Canyons of San Diego County Set up a fund @ ICF to remit money to a community based project back home. …to support community based productive employment projects in their communities of origin The International Community Foundation (ICF) Engaging in Diaspora Philanthropy with the Oaxacan Immigrant Community

  13. ICF: Ties that Bind Us Initiative OAXACA • ICF embarked on its Ties that Bind Us initiative in 2002 • GOAL: To encourage economic and social development in the immigrants’ home countries to reduce the poverty and lack of opportunities that cause the need to migrate to the United States.

  14. ICF: Ties that Bind Us Initiative ICF has targeted its institutional resources on: grantmaking in migrant-sending communities, with emphasis on productive employment opportunities. Establishing strategic partnerships Commissioning research

  15. ICF: Challenges & Lessons Learned • Having a local and experienced NGO is critical but not easy to find; • Strong local leadership is also critical; • Internal politics inevitably arises; • Projects can be time/staff intensive; • Cross-border communications are key; • Migrant donors’ first priority is to send money directly to family members notcommunity based projects. • ICF’s key challenge is matching migrant donors’ community specific interests with viable projects and the right NGO to help execute program.

  16. For more informationContact: Julieta Mendez atJulieta@icfdn.org858-677-2913visit our website at www.icfdn.org

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