New York area newspaper The Journal News recently ran an article featuring HIP and the Westchester Community Foundation's partnership to develop individual giving to the growing Latino community in Westchester County. Through the Westchester community foundation's Apoyo Fund, HIP will be matching all funds raised by Westchester, which will then be used to provide grants to local Latino nonprofits in a similar structure to our Funders' Collaborative.
This partnership is one of HIP's two newly launched individual donor sites, which are run through our Strategic Donor Partnerships program, and is funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In conjunction with The Rose Community Foundation, HIP has launched a second Strategic Donor Partnerships site in Colorado.
Foundation seeks Hispanic donors to support local groups
By Ernie Garcia
The Journal News
(Original Publication: October 29, 2006)
The nation's Hispanic immigrants are expected to give away $45 billion in 2006, but most of it will go to their relatives, with little of it donated to nonprofit organizations.
The Westchester Community Foundation hopes to tap into the power of Hispanic giving with The Apoyo Fund, which raises money for local Hispanic organizations. As The Apoyo Fund begins its second round of fundraising, the Westchester Community Foundation seeks more Hispanic donors.
"Westchester County has many successful Latinos - some are first-generation, some second-generation," said Catherine Marsh, the foundation's executive director. "We would like to see them participate in organized philanthropy to get them to support the Latino agencies that are here."
As part of its search, Marsh's foundation will hold a "friend-raiser" brunch on Saturday to introduce local Hispanics to philanthropy in Westchester County.
"There will be a panel that will talk about how to do smart giving," said Marsh, whose foundation distributed $3.8 million to nonprofit organizations. "That's what we care about."
Marsh said a recent report by the Inter-American Development Bank on remittances illustrated how personal philanthropy is strong among Hispanics. The Washington-based bank estimated that Latin American migrants working in the United States would send around $45 billion to their families abroad.
The Westchester Community Foundation launched The Apoyo Fund in 2002 and began a collaboration with Hispanics in Philanthropy, which matched the initial $92,000 raised by Marsh's group.
The first round of grants went to four Hispanic social service agencies for capacity building, though Hispanic cultural groups are also eligible to apply for grants.
El Centro Hispano of White Plains received $25,000 to upgrade its technology and office equipment. Isabel Villar, El Centro Hispano's executive director, said the grant made a significant difference in the nonprofit's operations.
"We were able to computerize the entire office, and we are able to serve better the amounts of clients we are seeing," said Villar, noting that in 2005 her agency assisted 16,273 people.
One Hispanic group that could benefit from The Apoyo Fund is the Asociación Cultural Dominicana de Yonkers, a cultural group whose art contest at the Yonkers Public Library a couple of weeks ago attracted 89 children. Until recently, the group couldn't solicit donations because it did not have nonprofit status, said Minerva Guerrero, the group's vice president.
Guerrero was not aware of The Apoyo Fund, but she said the group was ready to seek grants and donations.
"We really need them to keep our art classes going," said Guerrero, adding that proceeds from the group's annual benefit dinner don't last all year. "Sometimes we can't keep the classes going because we run out of materials."