Annual Report 2021
International Community Foundation
Compassion • Inclusion • Inspiration • Receptivity
Letter from Jacqueline B. Meyer and Gustavo De La Fuente
Dear ICF Donors and Friends,
The International Community Foundation (ICF) works across borders to connect people, ideas, and smarter investments in the transformative power of community. During this past year, ICF’s mission was on high alert as COVID-19 deprived our most vulnerable communities of basic needs and services. We are proud of our team's response and actions. Our underlying strengths and resilience have become even more clear in this crisis.
Such underlying strengths include over 30 years of experience and ability to identify trustworthy grantees, a vast network of partners in the region, and long-standing relationships with local nonprofit organizations and community leaders at the border and beyond. Our amazing team, who have lived and traveled throughout Mexico and Latin America, offers unique cultural insights and first-hand knowledge of the communities, initiatives, and programs we support, not to mention the dedication to strengthening a community's ability to transform regions for themselves.
Because of our donors, ICF was able to grant $10.8 million to organizations in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This year's annual report shares stories of impact, partnership, and our team at work!
Thank you for allowing us to be partners, as our impact would not be possible without you. We would also like to thank Anne McEnany for 20 years of dedicated service at ICF and for leading our team as President & CEO for the last 6 1/2 years. We admire the many accomplishments that directly result from her leadership, including expanding our grantmaking from $7.7 million in FY2015 to $17.4 million in FY2020, but most importantly, her passion to help those in communities we serve.
We hope to have the opportunity to see you in person soon to introduce you to the incredible work of individuals and organizations dedicated to improving lives, communities, and ecosystems.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline B. Meyer Gustavo De La Fuente
Interim CEO Chair
Executive Committee
Chair: Gustavo De La Fuente
Executive Director
Smart Border Coalition
Vice Chair and Treasurer: David O'Brien
Financial Consultant and Author
Secretary: Gabriela Manriquez
Former Sr. Director, Government Affairs Latin America, Qualcomm Inc.
Emily Young, PhD
Executive Director,
The Nonprofit Institute at The University of San Diego
Board Members
Alejandra Mier y Teran
Executive Director
Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce
Yuri A. Calderón
President & CEO
Miller Calderón, Inc.
Atul Patel
Senior Vice President, Treasury
PriceSmart, Inc.
Donna Manning
Attorney
Former Vice President, Catalyst
Patricia Machado
President
American Sunglass Manufacturing, COO Augen Optics USA
Cheryl Hammond
Former Director of Sales for Latin America AT&T
Agustín Ceballos
Associate
Seltzer Caplan McMahon
Vitek
Jacqueline B. Meyer
Interim CEO
Marisa Quiroz
Vice President of Culture and Impact
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Leticia Martinez
Director of Philanthropy
Yamilett K. Carrillo Guerrero
Director, Nonprofit Innovation and Performance
Jackie Rivas-Landaverde
Grants Manager
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Julie Campos
Fund Manager
ICF Staff
Arden O. Martinez
Grants Assistant
Cynthia Duran
Marketing & Development Assistant
Apolonio Martinez
Program Assistant
Arden O. Martinez
Grants Assistant
Cynthia Duran
Marketing & Development Assistant
Apolonio Martinez
Program Assistant
Arden O. Martinez
Grants Assistant
Cynthia Duran
Marketing & Development Assistant
Apolonio Martinez
Program Assistant
Yamilett K. Carrillo Guerrero, Ph.D.
Director, Nonprofit Innovation and Performance
Jackie Rivas-Landaverde
Grants Manager
Julie Campos
Fund Manager
Arden O. Martinez
Grants Assistant
Cynthia Duran
Marketing & Development Assistant
Apolonio Rosas
Program Assistant
Elizabeth Corrow
Accountant
Andre Dungee
Finance Associate
Eliza Brennan
Senior Program Officer: Education & Migration
Paloma Aguirre
Senior Program Officer: Environment
McKenzie Campbell
Baja California Sur Program Officer
In Memoriam
Victims of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to leave a mark on people all around the world of all ages and from all walks of life. Our hearts go out to everyone who has lost a loved one, including many family members of our grantees and our colleagues and friends in Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Our ICF team is grateful for and salutes those on the front lines – the medical staff, emergency responders, caregivers and our partners on-the-ground who are leading the battle against COVID-19 and are putting their own lives at risk with selfless determination for the sake of saving lives.
Words from Our Donors
American Woodmark Foundation
Brenda Dupont, Chair
“I believe philanthropy in business is important as it strengthens both employee and community relations. It not only increases employee engagement and productivity, but it enriches the lives of both the giver and the receiver. With the help of ICF, we have been able to seamlessly extend our charitable giving internationally, into the communities where our employees live and work.”
Kid Spark Education
Paul Eichen, Founder and Board Chair
“My family and the organization we founded, Kid Spark Education, have been deeply engaged in disrupting the pattern of educational inequity in STEM education. We have developed an educational program and technology that is serving traditionally underserved student populations and their teachers in all fifty USA states. We would love to extend our work to help students, teachers, and schools in Mexico, but we don’t know how to navigate the cultural, language, and administrative differences between here and Mexico. ICF is helping us navigate this unfamiliar territory with their deep expertise and rich relationships.”
Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
Kelly Huber, Senior Director, Community Investments
“The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona is proud to work alongside the International Community Foundation. Our shared commitment to improve the quality of life in Mexico and support our borderlands has created a wonderful partnership and is key to our work to create a more equitable and vibrant community for all.”
Donor-Advised Funds at ICF
A Donor-Advised Fund is a charitable giving vehicle administered by a public charity like ICF. Created for the purpose of managing charitable donations on behalf of an individual, family, or company, it provides an easy, cost-effective way to support the causes you are passionate about in Mexico and other Latin American countries. ICF also offers Donor-Advised corporate funds to companies that want to inspire change in the communities and regions where they operate internationally.
Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, the Mexican Boxer with a Heart Filled with Philanthropy
Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez is undoubtedly one of the most recognized athletes in the world. While he currently holds multiple world championships, outside the ring, Canelo Álvarez remains connected to his Mexican roots and spares no expenses to support many causes and charities in Mexico.
Since opening a Donor-Advised Fund at ICF, Canelo has continued to show support and concern for improving the lives of communities in Mexico, especially those where children are involved. This year we have helped him support several low-income patients with cancer and blood-related diseases.
Canelo has also supported one of ICF’s previous matching grant campaigns in partnership with This is About Humanity and Fondo Unido – United Way México to create education spaces in 7 shelters in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico for children to continue their education during their migrant journey.
We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Canelo and look forward to providing more access to valuable resources to vulnerable children and families.
ICF's Programmatic Work
Nonprofit Resiliency Hub
A resilient and engaging civil society creates multiple pathways for sustainability, equity, and well-being in every community. Before the pandemic, it was estimated that 30-50% of nonprofit organizations failed or stalled in the critical period between their 5th - 10th anniversary. By helping organizations become resilient, we help them be better able to adapt and thrive, despite the pandemic's challenging conditions.
As nonprofit organizations are key to enabling the transformative power of our communities, ICF created the Nonprofit Resiliency Hub to support organizations. Through cohort training, 1:1 coaching, workshops, seminars, and online learning resources, ICF aims to support each nonprofit in charting its roadmap to become a resilient organization.
If you are a nonprofit organization, click the button below to assess your organization's resiliency. This 15-minute confidential survey will help your organization build its unique roadmap for resiliency. It will also help us identify the collective needs of our grantees to raise awareness with our broader donor community on the need to support capacity-building initiatives.
If you are a donor and want to support nonprofit organizations thrive and become resilient through ICF's Nonprofit Resiliency Hub, please email us (yamilett@icfdn.org).
Why is the Nonprofit Resiliency Hub important?
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92% of Mexican nonprofits have a medium to high vulnerability due to the pandemic.
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1 in every 5 Mexican civil organizations are highly vulnerable
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Pandemic's effect on the nonprofit sector highlights the risk of many closing doors within the next 12 months.
This data is based from the PULSOosc survey (https://pulsoosc.org)
PULSOosc - "Information from Organizations for Organizations"
Collaborative efforts are necessary for ICF to strengthen a community's ability to transform regions for themselves. PULSO osc is a collaborative effort between donor organizations and other nonprofit organizations. The first survey agreed upon and promoted by the allies of PULSO osc aims to identify, depict, and carry out a situational analysis of the effects and risks that the COVID-19 pandemic has generated on Organized Civil Society in Mexico, calculating its level of vulnerability.
The level of vulnerability provides updated and direct information on the status of organizations, their operational, response, financial capacity, and information capacity of the populations they serve to understand how well they have been able to resist, face, and recover from the effects of the pandemic. From the 1,504 organizations that responded to the PULSO osc survey in Mexico on the effects of the pandemic, results show that 92% of Mexican nonprofits have a medium to high vulnerability.
Such information, generated and shared by the same sector, establishes an opportunity for multi-stakeholder articulation, given that it provides a broad overview of the nonprofit sector and issues of common interest. It is crucial to listen and understand communities in Mexico, know their needs, and thus make strategic investment decisions and provide support; and in alliance, to be able to create strong and resilient civil society organizations.
Impact by the numbers:
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12 donor organizations and foundations are members of the PULSO osc alliance
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52.94% of the organizations that responded to the survey are using their emergency funds
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85% of the organizations saw their income decrease due to COVID-19
Circular Economies & Response to the Plastic Crisis
The Baja Peninsula is a natural wonder, home to unique and diverse marine and terrestrial ecosystems along its extensive coastline. However, that natural wealth is threatened as rapid growth and extremely limited waste management infrastructure result in trash, particularly plastics, leaking into pristine waters and being inhaled from burning dumping sites.
Local nonprofits and community groups throughout the Baja Peninsula, committed to the health of their communities and the wellbeing of the environment, have taken up the fight against the plastic crisis. They are banning together to reduce single-use plastics through the #Desplastificate campaign, monitoring and evaluating waste production and marine microplastics, collecting and repurposing recyclable material, influencing policy supporting waste reduction and integrated management, and incentivizing local circular economy solutions.
In addition to providing financial support, the International Community Foundation has been kindling this movement by helping these groups connect with each other and experts in the field to share knowledge, tools, and resources. To this end, ICF launched the first "Baja Peninsula Plastics Summit: Challenges and Opportunities Creating a Circular Economy in the Baja Peninsula" this spring, followed by a workshop series on using "trash" as building material.
“For the benefit of the environment and in a place with logistical disadvantages such as the south of the Baja California peninsula, we have to promote comprehensive waste management towards "Zero Waste" within the new paradigm of "Circular Economy" where " Waste becomes Resources."
- Juan Alex Miro Vazquez (Eco-rrrevolucion A.C)
Eco-rrrevolucion is dedicated to reducing solid waste and plastics with a circular economy and zero waste vision for Todos Santos and Pescadero in Baja California Sur.
Impact by the numbers:
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23,547 people engaged in the #Desplastificate campaign in Baja California Sur to reduce single-use plastics via workshops, forums, and social media
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42 families and 23 businesses joined the Todos Santos and Pescadero Zero Waste Alliance in community waste assessment supported by 18 volunteers
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$185,402 raised toward plastics and circular economies
Food Security in Northern Baja California
Food has the powerful ability to nourish and connect us as families, communities, and across borders. At the same time, decisions we make about food impact our health, wellbeing, ecosystems, and economic stability. The pandemic has exposed the fragility and inequality of today’s food systems and exacerbates food insecurity for the most vulnerable populations.
This is especially true in the state of Baja California, where the pre-pandemic poverty rate was 23.3%, and where migration, coupled with the pandemic, is intensifying food insecurity for children, single mothers, indigenous groups, refugees, and migrants along the U.S.-Mexican border.
In response, ICF has launched the “Northern Baja Food Security” initiative to support immediate food relief while finding ways to strategically strengthen the ecosystem of organizations working to create enduring access to food into the future. Through this initiative, ICF supports community-led food assistance programs, food banks, gardening and nutrition education programs and migrant shelters, and convening regional organizations and leaders committed to promoting food equity and justice.
Impact by the numbers:
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$209,000 USD granted to support food security in Baja California
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27 Food Security Related Grants
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19 Organizations supported
Uplifting Civil Society in Central America
Our Central American grantees have shown their resilience and commitment to improving the quality of life in their communities after facing many challenges, including COVID-19, increasing government oppression of local civil society, and two devastating hurricanes. ICF granted over $1.8 million to provide flexible support to 21 organizations in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in response to these challenges.
The main objectives of these grants were to address the push factors behind forced displacement and migration of families and youth from Central America, including inadequate education, lack of economic opportunities, food insecurity, and violence; allow continuity of high-impact projects by bridging gaps in funding that have been cut from US government and other bilateral aid sources, and develop local leadership and strengthen civil society.
Although philanthropic funding is not sufficient to catalyze nor sustain the systemic change needed to generate stability and economic prosperity in Central America, we know that successes at the community level are significant and critical to the long-term resilience of communities, and thereby mitigating the outward flow of people from the region.
ICF is firmly established and committed to achieving sustainable prosperity in Central America. Whether through direct grantmaking, capacity building and convening, participation in collaborative pooled funds, or uplifting our grantees to other regional stakeholders, ICF is well-positioned to play a profound strategic role in the long-term development of Central America.
Impact by the numbers:
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Over 50,000 direct beneficiaries
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5,343 SAT students in Honduras and Nicaragua have access to a high quality, skills-based secondary education.
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400 family gardens established in El Salvador, improving nutrition and livelihoods of an estimated 2,500 people.
