The Culture of Giving in Mexico WINGS meeting Sao Paulo, Brazil March 2016 Marilú Villalón Promotion Coordinator of Memberships and Services Mexican Center for Philanthropy (Cemefi)

The Culture of Giving in Mexico 1.National context 2.Nonprofit sector overview 3.What is Cemefi 4.The culture of giving in Mexico 5.Cemefi ´s Donors Forum 6.Present time and challenges

National context o Territory: almost two million square kilometers o Estimated population: 121 million o Rural population: 22% o 50% of the population lives in the 30 most populous metropolitan areas o Despite being among the top 10 national economies in the world, 43.9 million people live in poverty (36.7%), and 11.4 million of them live in extreme poverty (9.6%) o Concentration of extreme poverty in 180 thousand communities with less than 500 inhabitants o Just the 20% of the labor force pays taxes

Nonprofit sector overview o 29,466 - Civil society organizations (CSO) o 8,488 - Tax-exempt organizations o Each year the nonprofit sector increases 26% o Grant making foundations: o 85 - Corporate foundations, 31% o 57 - Corporate social programs, 21% o 71 - Independent and family foundations, 26% o 33 - Community foundations, 12% o 14 - Intermediaries (pass through), 5% o 14 - Operational foundations (funds only their own projects and programs), 5%

What is Cemefi Mexican nonprofit member association founded in 1988 with no political or religious affiliation Our mission: To foster and enhance the culture of philanthropy and social responsibility in Mexico and to strengthen the organized and active participation of society. o 1,514 members o 350 associates: o 88 grant making foundations, 95 associations, 132 corporations and 35 persons o 1121 affiliates: o 1111 civil society organizations, 10 persons, 30 consultants, 13 users

The culture of giving in Mexico o Important tradition on social help, mainly for humanitarian reasons, closely related to religious motivations o 192 million 500 thousand voluntary actions are performed in a year, expressed throughout the society in every level o 8 out of 10 Mexicans donate at least once a year o Giving habits in Mexico: o 77% gives to the poor, rather than through an organization o 82% gives to the church and other religious organizations o 91% reports that at least once, gives to an organization; o 79% prefers to give to a person in need, rather than to an institution

The culture of giving in Mexico o No tradition of institutionalized philanthropy o Not enough development of legal and fiscal frameworks that stimulate philanthropy o The government fear opening the door to real growth and consolidation of a strong wide civil society field o Strong debate on grant making effectiveness and transparency

Cemefi’s Donors Forum Group companies donors and foundations convened by Cemefi to share knowledge, experiences and methodologies; More than 20 participating institutions Mission: To strengthen the joint action of the donor sector to increase the effectiveness of donations and strategic impact on sustainable development. Donor motivations: o Social commitment o Values, recognition o Experience o Family impulse o After analyzing social reality

Cemefi’s Donors Forum o Most forum participants focus their donations in early stages of projects, achieving more results in the short term and optimizing the cost- benefit Evaluation ways: o Comparison between set goals and results o Cost-benefit analysis related to their investment

Present time and challenges o Focus on reallocating resources to interventions that generate social value and return o Gradual abandonment of welfarism to make way for social investment o Partnerships and collaboration between foundations and the government o Challenges in quantifying the investment o Difficulty specifying what counts and what is not counted

¡Gracias! Marilú Villalón