International Grantmaking
To support the kind of organizations it later profiled intensively in its Puente Colorado series, the Cordillera Foundation decided in 1997 to offer international grantmaking, particularly to Mexico. The Foundation undertook its new dimension of service largely as a result of the US – Mexico Tax Convention, implemented on January 1, 1994. Specifically, the Convention waives expenditure responsibility for a US foundation when it grants funds to a Mexican 70-B tax-exempt organization, equivalent to a US 501(c)(3).
Since it launched its international grantmaking, Cordillera has never charged a fee for the services it provides. All expenses and overhead of the Foundation related to its grantmaking are covered by its board of directors, either through in-kind donations or cash contributions, or both.
In 2006, the Cordillera Foundation expanded its potential for international grantmaking beyond North America. Today, Cordillera seeks to meet a donor’s interest in supporting international grantmaking by partnering with one of the few organizations in the United States which undertake it. The United Nations Foundation in New York, the International Community Foundation in San Diego, and the Inter-American Foundation in Washington all are examples of potential partners, depending upon the geographic and programmatic interest of a donor.
For more than a decade, the Cordillera Foundation has accepted funds from a diverse array of donors. Through periodic action by its Board of Directors, the Foundation has established where to deploy those funds and in the process supported numerous organizations in North America – from orphanages to homeless initiatives, from migrant workers to college scholarships.
Profiled beneficiaries of Cordillera’s international grantmaking from the State of Puebla, Mexico, include:
IPODERAC home for boys
JUCONI program for marginalized families
Casa del Sol orphanage for abandoned or abused infants