How Hispanics in Philanthropy Is Serving Latin America—with a Big Boost from MacKenzie Scott

Women’s rights march in Mexico city, 2021. Gender equity in latin america is one focus of hispanics in philanthropy. clicksdemexico/shutterstock

MacKenzie Scott’s giving may have a certain air of mystery about it, but her team’s message to Hispanics in Philanthropy was clear—your work is important and aligns with our values. We trust you to do the right thing in your own way, with no strings attached. And encouraging words from Scott herself: “She’d like you to do more, faster.” 

Hispanics in Philanthropy, a global network of grantmakers that strengthen the social and economic agency of the Latinx community across the Americas, was one of the “384 ways” Scott chose to address the economic fallout from COVID-19 in December of 2020, particularly among vulnerable communities with limited access to philanthropic capital. 

Absorbing Scott’s game-changing, $15 million gift has been a deliberate process that’s allowed HIP to deploy new resources to often-neglected needs like staff development and organizational infrastructure. It’s also allowed HIP to bolster an important part of its mission—on-the-ground work in Latin America, and especially Mexico.

While building a culture of giving among U.S. constituents is central to its work, the organization remains rooted in the places that Gracia Goya, HIP’s vice president for Latin America, called “part of its DNA.” Maintaining a global footprint is a necessary part of understanding “what is happening to Latinx communities in the U.S.,” and no response would be “complete if we don’t work with our communities in our countries of origin.” 

Here’s a look at HIP’s presence and programs outside of the U.S., and how it’s leaning on transnational strategies to strengthen and develop relationships that support its constituencies in Mexico and beyond. 

Leadership, influence and equity

HIP marshals philanthropic support behind the Latinx community for a mix of work that includes social justice and economic prosperity. It draws donors from traditional networks and institutions, as well as newer digital platforms, to build Latinx “leadership, influence and equity.” HIP offers a full spectrum of services like facilitating donor collaborations, helping donors identify causes to support, managing grantmaking programs, and administering donor-advised funds.

Donors range from large institutions to individuals. Institutional donors include the David and Lucile Packard, Robert Wood Johnson, and Marguerite Casey foundations. At the same time, crowdfunding platforms like the bilingual HIPGive give individual donors a chance to engage with programs and campaigns targeting a wide range of places and issues like gender equity in Mexico and the overall health and welfare of farmworkers. 

Annual contributions hovered around $5 million in each of the four years preceding the $15 million vote of confidence it received from Scott. The new funding is intended to last three years and allows paradigm shifts in the group’s budget. As HIP President and CEO Ana Marie Argilagos said at the time of the announcement, HIP would be boosting programming, leadership and infrastructure initiatives.

Programming includes a number of Latin America initiatives. HIP Latin America was able to expand its racial equity and racial justice work to include Indigenous communities. On leadership, the Líderes Mexico Fellowship Program, an HIP program that uses peer-based leadership development to tackle pressing issues across the Americas, expanded to Mexico. 

According to tax filings, HIP directed nearly $6.7 million in grants to North America outside the U.S., Latin America, Central America and South America last year. Around $6 million of that was deployed in North America. Central America and the Caribbean drew grants totaling nearly $600,000; South America accounted for the balance.

On the infrastructure front, Goya said the pandemic challenged the organization to “invest in ourselves” through staff development, dedicating resources she characterized as hard to find. HIP has also been able to build out its tech infrastructure with a new grantmaking system.

Part of its DNA

Gracia Goya said that maintaining the group’s connections in Mexico and Latin America has been especially important in recent years, as political violence, new tax laws and violence against women are “shrinking civic space” and impacting the philanthropic sector. Goya pointed to two growing concerns, one in in El Salvador and another in Mexico. 

In El Salvador, Goya said that the government of President Nayib Bukele came in with high popularity, while introducing changes to economic law that would reduce international engagement—and international philanthropy. If enacted, a proposed bill will require all parties receiving support from abroad to register as foreign agents, thereby restricting the agency of civil society and journalists, and the tenets of accountability and judicial independence. 

In addition to threatening “criminal responsibility” for any actions the state considers a threat to national security, the bill would impose a 40% tax on disbursements, transfers or any other transaction made or received by registered agents, including donations from abroad. 

Mexico presents a similar problem for nonprofits that operate with tax-exempt status—especially at the grassroots level. As previously covered in Inside Philanthropy, anti-money-laundering laws enacted in 2013 to protect the economy have restricted the ways civil organizations can operate there, driving many funders to use intermediaries or, in the case of corporate givers, turn to in-country subsidiaries.

In both cases, a critical part of HIP’s ability to support its constituencies requires understanding and navigating borders on both sides and engaging at a grassroots level.

Centered in Mexico

While HIP’s presence in Latin America covers almost the whole region, its office, and much of its work, is based in Mexico. 

Despite the administrative challenges posed by its tax-exempt laws, Mexico is a high priority for international philanthropy that’s drawn support from heavy-hitters like the Bill & Melinda Gates, Ford and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundations. MacArthur included HIP in the consulting process when it exited its work there in 2020.

Two examples of issues HIP tackles in Mexico are gender equity and migration. Its gender equity expertise has made HIP one of largest funders addressing those issues in-country, in partnership with other funders based in Europe and the U.S.

Goya explained that Mexico has one of the highest rates of femicide in the world, and characterized violence against women as a “huge and systemic problem.” HIP’s gender equity program takes aim at the ways gender-based issues intersect, taking into account the justice system and economic opportunity. 

Migration is another growing portfolio, as the number of people traveling up through the Americas has grown. To make sense of issues at the border, Goya explained the need to understand the complexities of who’s knocking at the door and why. HIP’s Migration & Forced Displacement Program serves migrants from across Central and South America, as well as Haiti and Cuba, providing support for almost 74 organizations in countries like Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.

Significant parts of its racial equity work have a Latin American focus, including a collaboration with RacismoMX that produced a COVID-19 impact disparity map, and Proyecto M, an HIP-led capacity building program for the displaced.

A digital movement 

About five years ago, HIP realized that a digital platform was an important part of its transnational toolkit. ”If we really wanted to advance our mission,” said Goya, “we needed to connect our communities using technology in order to democratize philanthropy.” 

With that in mind, it created HIP’s crowdfunding platform, HIPGive. Goya said the project was an important development in connecting donors with issues beyond their borders, saying, “Just 10 years ago, it was very difficult to find how to donate to Latin America.” Today, HIP’s donation per person averages $20 to $22.

Goya said the tool is not a money-maker for HIP, but instead provides a service connecting donors to curated programs and funding opportunities across Latin America. Each year, more than 50 projects use the platform to feature their work. 

It also boosts the group’s mission. For example, Goya said HIP’s #GOMujeres initiative helped create a digital movement that supports its gender equity work. “We have not only raised money but also awareness of the work of different organizations across Latin America.”

Since 2016, #GOMujeres has inspired more than 3,000 donors to direct $300,000 to 178 campaigns that improve the circumstances of women and girls across 14 countries. A country-specific #GOMujeresMexico campaign that ran during Women’s History Month raised more than $100,000 from nearly 2,000 donors to support 67 organizations.

Platforms also help build funding partnerships. “For example,” said Goya, “we partnered with the Kellogg Foundation to work on a special project in the area called #TierrasMayas, or Mayan Lands, which helps rural communities on the Yucatan Peninsula rebuild following COVID and tropical storms.

A trusted partner

Disaster relief is also an important part of HIP’s transnational work. 

In 2020, a year chock full of natural disasters, Central America experienced a one-two punch of powerful hurricanes. In a matter of weeks Hurricane Eta, a category 4 that landed in Nicaragua, was followed by Hurricane Iota, impacting the lives of 7.5 million people in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. 

HIP’s Central American Hurricanes Response Fund raised money to meet needs on the ground through partners like American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Guatemala, and Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario (ODECO), an Afro-descendant-led community development agency that provided basic assistance to impacted Hondurans. 

Goya said that HIP’s disaster relief work is a great platform for emergency response, but that its biggest contribution was creating tools that connect donors with work on the ground 24/7. It also established HIP as a trusted partner on vetting—filling a due diligence gap that Goya cites as a persistent contributor to donor hesitancy. 

Like many disaster relief funders, HIP’s main problem is capacity. Goya acknowledged that it can’t “tackle all that’s going on,” while staying consistent with its mission. As a result, they look for two criteria: geographical alignment, and alignment with issues like migration and gender equity. 

Doing more, faster

With expanded funding, we’re likely to see Hispanics in Philanthropy become a bigger force in global giving. That’s unique for an organization that in large part functions as an affinity group and a network of donors. The group is now able to build up its organizational infrastructure, while potentially pumping greater funds into its own grantmaking programs.

As large a donation as it is, Scott’s support may have an even broader impact by building awareness of HIP’s work and boosting its reputation. That could go a long way toward establishing a high level of trust for any number of new donors, further increasing its reach.

“It has been invaluable,” Goya said.