Types of Corporate/Maquiladora Support Received by NGOs

Despite the wide gap that exists between NGOs and corporate/maquiladora funders, it is important to recognize that some level of corporative giving is occurring along the U.S.-Mexico border region. While strong collaborative efforts between NGOs and corporations is still more the exception rather than the rule, there is a group of NGOs that are either beginning to or have already established efficient philanthropic relationships with U.S.-based corporations and maquiladora operations and their strengthened ties is paying off. FEMAP in Cd. Juarez and Hospital Infantil de las Californias in Tijuana are two cases in point. As mentioned in the previous section, although our sample size of NGOs does not give us enough statistical significance to assess an accurate level of corporate giving from the NGO perspective, it does allow us to explore the types of giving and confirm that the most common type of giving along the U.S.-Mexico border region continues to be in-kind donations.

Graph 12, shows that of the total NGOs that claimed to have received some type of corporate funding during the 2004 calendar year, 100% stated that they received volunteer and in-kind support of some degree. These findings reflect that the most common type of corporative giving along the border is in-kind and voluntary support, followed by financial support with 79%. Furthermore, we can also see that the most uncommon type of corporate giving is “employee matching fund” type contributions. There may be a number of reasons why this is so, among them, the fact that “employee matching programs” may be a relatively new concept in Mexican philanthropy.

Delving further into the level of inkind donations and volunteerism, we find that in-kind contribution levels are more predominant than volunteerism. In fact, by looking at graph 13, “Level of Volunteerism Support Received,” we find that as the number of volunteer hours/per year increase, the percentage of NGOs that benefit actually decreases. In fact, more than 50% of NGOs receive less than 100 hours of volunteerism a year. So, although

NGOs are receiving volunteer support from corporate and maquiladora funders, the results show that the level of volunteer support received is relatively low.

Conversely, in-kind donations show more consistency throughout. An increase in the value of in-kind donations does not dramatically affect the percentage of NGOs benefited. Again, this finding is in line with the maquiladora survey findings: two-thirds of maquiladoras reported that they provided some level of in-kind contributions to their communities in 2004. Hence, in-kind donations appear to be the most common form of corporate contribution along the border. This is not surprising. Given the nature of maquiladoras as “cost centers,” the financial contributions made by these maquiladoras in the border region are more limited except in those cases where companies have the support of a headquarters’ foundation or corporate giving program. As a result, the most readily available form of contribution that the maquiladora can donate becomes in-kind donations.

Furthermore, while there is no doubt that many of the forms of in-kind donations are valuable to the development of border communities, it is important to note that the term “in-kind donation” includes a wide array of products and materials, ranging from high tech equipment to disposable cardboard and wood frames that are used by citizens to build “shack-type” homes. Further research on the type of “in-kind donations” would be useful to assess the true monetary and social value of these contributions.

The less common form of corporate giving, after “employee matching gifts”, is “financial contributions.” Survey results on the level of financial support do not portray a significant pattern. We can see that while 32% of NGOs did claim to receive between $1,000 and $5,000, 26% claimed to have received more than $50,000 during the 2004 calendar year.

However, if we analyze these contributions as a percentage of the NGO’s annual budget, we find that while NGOs are claiming to receive financial support, the significance of this support relative to their annual budget is minimal. The financial support that half of the NGOs received constituted 10% or less of their annual budget. This demonstrates that while NGOs are receiving financial support that is provided, the amount does not correspond to the financial size and need of the organization, and hence the financial support may very well be yielding a very modest impact in the community.