Decision Making Authority

Another factor that must be considered by the philanthropic community is the amount of decision-making authority that local maquiladora management have over the types and levels of contributions. As seen in the graph below, local authority declines as the contribution levels increase. While this might perhaps be intuitive, the specific results yielded when local maquiladora operators were asked about decision-making authority relative to the types and levels of charitable contributions were revealing:

• Nearly two-thirds of maquiladoras appear to have local authority to provide contributions of up to US$1,000; nearly one-quarter have local authority to make donations between $1,000 and $10,000 in value; and nearly 10% state that they have local authority to make donations of over $10,000 in value – amounts that certainly are substantial for many NGOs in Mexico.
• Nearly two-thirds of maquiladoras are either unaware of appropriate policies or are unable to make contributions of greater than $10,000.
• Corporate headquarter decision-makers do not play a significant role in philanthropic activities of their maquiladoras. In fact, local or a mixed local/HQ decision-making appears to be at least equal if not the dominant way that contribution decisions are made.