Border Area Corporate Foundation Trends and Funding to the U.S. – Mexico Border Region

In addition to the surveys administered to maquiladora managers and border nonprofits to assess the level of corporate giving in the region, a group of 76 U.S. corporate foundations and corporate giving programs16 were selected and invited to complete a questionnaire. From these only 7 organizations responded; a few more said they would answer and never did; some decline to participate; and others never responded. Although the seven responses that we received from the corporate surveys are not a statistically representative sample, the following assertions can be inferred by the reaction of the companies that did complete the survey:

1. There is a lack of interest to participate in joint social responsibility related and share information and best practices with other organizations.
2. Corporations have put in place internal policies that restrict participating and research projects conducted by external organizations particularly focus is their operations overseas.
3. Updated contact information is not easily accessible and widely nonprofits from Mexico seeking corporate funding.

Due to the lack of response received from the corporate sector, we decided information and reports that were available through the Foundation Center reported corporate giving by parent companies of the same 110 enterprises surveyed Mexican border, in order to identify key trends and data related to the amount financial resources that would likely be allocated to the border region.

As observed in Graph 6, education, community development, arts and health are the most frequently mentioned categories that are supported by corporate foundations. Referring to education and community development jointly, 57% of corporate foundations are interested in both areas; and few highlighted special interest in higher education[1].

The majority of corporate foundations support social initiatives in areas outside of their headquarters, and less frequently outside of their regional operation facilities. According to graph 7, it appears that corporate foundations claim to provide financial assistance with more frequency, than any other type of support.[2] In-kind contributions, consultancy services and volunteer support were also identified in their reports, but not with the same occurrence. Conversely, the information retrieved from maquiladoras show that most of them provide inkind services and voluntary time from their employees. This is due to financial constraints, proximity to local initiatives and the inexistence of an adequate fiscal framework.

Finally, when it comes to coverage and geographic scope, among those major companies with maquiladora operations in the border, 71% of their charitable giving was limited to support charitable causes in the United States, and 29% international. Mexico accounted for only 5% of their combined giving.[3]

[1]. Corporate Foundations and Corporate Programs administered independently. Corporate foundations and corporate giving programs were selected among the list of 110 maquiladoras participating in the study.

[2] The education level in the U.S. side of the border is below the national level; while in the Mexican side the average years of schooling is below 8.

[3] 52 out of 76 provide financial support according to their websites, and only 15 voluntary services.