Interactions with & Perceptions of NGOs

As previously noted, another important factor that negatively affects charitable corporate giving along the border is the low level of outreach to these corporations from NGOs.

For instance, nearly 70% of respondents stated that they received less than six requests per year for charitable support from NGOs. Less than one-third of maquiladoras indicated that they received solicitations from NGOs at least once/month.

While only approximately 36% of maquiladoras indicated that they supported more than one-in-four of the requests that they did receive, it is also noteworthy that about onefifth of companies indicated supporting more than half of all requests made. When asked to select the primary reasons they had for NOT supporting a charitable request, only about 42% indicated that they either had no authority at the local level to make donations, or that they had no funds available. Of note, a similar number of respondents (about 43%) indicated that the decision to not provide support was related to the request itself – either the maquiladora could not confirm the credibility of the requestor, the request did not match the maquiladoras’ priorities for contributions, or that no formal request was submitted.

Related to the issue of potential NGO weaknesses, when asked to rate the sophistication of charitable requests generally made to their companies, only 29% of maquiladoras rated the requests as “high” or “very high.” Maquiladoras, however, do feel that they are receiving a fair amount of goodwill in their communities from their charitable activities: nearly 45% rated the amount of goodwill received as either “high” or “very high”. This positive feedback may also explain why nearly 15% of maquiladoras stated that they supported four to five NGOs on a regular basis, and another 17% of maquiladoras supported more than five NGOs on a regular basis.