Brief History of the Funders' Collaborative
Founded in 1983 to promote stronger partnerships between organized philanthropy and Latino communities, Hispanics in Philanthropy has developed into a transnational network of grantmakers committed to strengthening Latino communities across the Americas. We have always championed a vision of inclusiveness that reaches across identity lines and have worked in collaboration with other organizations aimed at promoting social equity. Our joint work with fellow affinity groups has included conferences, workshops, and publications that touch on substantive issues such as education and immigration policy.
While these strategies were moderately successful in increasing the recruitment and retention of Latinos in the field of philanthropy, the level of philanthropic investment in Latino organizations remained stagnant at less than 1.5%, according to Foundation Center data. By the late 1990s, it had become increasingly clear that communities across the U.S. were experiencing a reality that was not accurately reflected in the practices of mainstream institutions: the growth of the Latino population. The continuing challenges facing Latino communities with respect to educational outcomes, income differentials, and health status required a more aggressive response from leaders both within Latino communities and in the broader society.
HIP’s leadership, which included senior staff and trustees from institutions like Ford, Rockefeller, MacArthur, Mott, and Kellogg, decided a new strategy was needed to increase philanthropy’s commitment to Latino communities. And in January 1997, Aida Rodríguez, who at the time was with The Rockefeller Foundation, brought to the HIP Board an idea that would forever change the organization: to create a funding collaborative that focused foundation and corporate dollars on supporting Latino nonprofits.
The Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities was created to address key issues of sustainability, growth and long-term development faced by Latino nonprofit organizations, while also cultivating the next generation of Latino leaders. Growing from one grantmaking site in 2001 to 18 today, from nine initial funders in 2000 to 159 now, we surpassed our initial five year goal of raising $16.5 million, and as of July 2007 have raised nearly $35 million. Capacity building grants have been made to 427 Latino nonprofit organizations to support projects such as the enhancement of their resource development capabilities, development of their board and staff leadership, and improvement of their governance structures. The Collaborative also focuses on educating funders about issues in the Latino community in the United States and Latin America, and has stimulated giving locally and nationally by implementing a matching-gifts program. This work has brought national recognition; the four Collaborative founders were presented with the Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking at the Council on Foundation’s annual conference in April 2003.
In the last five years, HIP and the Funders’ Collaborative have grown exponentially. With an eye toward the future, HIP has set new goals for the second phase of the Funders’ Collaborative: to raise 50 million in five years, to expand our work to new grantmaking sites while working with our existing sites, and to continue to strengthen Latino nonprofits and cultivate Latino leaders.