In 2005 the International Community Foundation, The Synergos Institute, Crossborder Business Associates, the Fundación Empresarial Sonorense, A.C., and El Paso Community Foundation undertook research of charitable corporate giving trends along the border:
- Provide an initial assessment of general levels of giving by Mexico's maquiladora industry to better understand their philanthropic policies
- Identify and describe specific cases of outstanding community participation within the maquiladora sector
- Assess some of the outreach efforts of non profit groups that are active in maquiladora communities.
Over 800 maquiladora facilities were contacted in six Mexican Border States, with 110 maquiladora facilities of Fortune 500 and major third country multi-nationals participating anonymously in the study. The sample set represents 8.2% of total maquiladora employment along Mexico's northern border. Additionally, 50 Mexican border area nonprofit leaders were surveyed to gauge their perceptions of corporate giving in the region.
Key findings include:
- With notable exceptions, for the vast majority of companies operating maquiladoras along Mexico's northern border, charitable giving is substantially lower in Mexican border communities when compared to contributions made to comparable nonprofits in the United States.
- Plants have limited authority to provide assistance
- Offering in-kind assistance is preferred over cash donations.
- Companies cited their desire to be a good corporate citizen and to build employee morale as the two primary reasons that they give to nonprofits organizations in the border region.
- A strong internal champion is a key determinant to a company's giving
- Companies with headquarters or regional office locations within close proximity to their borderoperations are more inclined to be strong advocates for specific charitable causes.
- A nonprofit's track record, brand, size and programmatic focus are key factors in funding
- Impediments to corporate giving include fiscal disincentives in the Mexican tax code, regulatory controls in the U.S. resulting from the US Patriot Act and weak communication channels between maquiladora plant managers and their corporate-giving programs or foundations.
- US companies and multinationals with the intent to remain in the border region are more inclined to give charitably in the communities where they operate than those companies and/or industrial sectors facing pressures to relocate offshore.
- Border corporate giving represents a larger share of charitable gifts among nonprofits located in major maquiladora centers (e.g. Tijuana and Juarez) than in smaller one.
- Some
- maquilas are collaborating to have a bigger impact.
What has become clear is that through a more cohesive and collaborative joint effort among corporations, government and civil society, more could be done to significantly increase corporate philanthropy along the border thereby improving the living conditions of the growing number of under-served people now living in the region. Without such collective action maquiladora oriented corporate giving along Mexico's northern border will remain inconsequential.
The text of this report is also available for online viewing at the International Community Foundation website.