In August 2011 fourteen community foundations from all over Mexico formed Comunalia (Alianza de Fundaciones Comunitarias de México/Mexico’s Community Foundations Network). The first community foundation in Mexico was founded in 1996, and most of Comunalia’s members were set up at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s.

In 2009 these organisations saw the need and opportunity to work together, and started discussions in a collective effort to join forces and improve their work through unity and representation. The network was formalized during a meeting in Guadalajara, three years after the initial discussions, and Comunalia is now an association funded by annual dues paid by its members.

Comunalia’s main purpose is to strengthen and give visibility to the work of its members, increasing their impact and therefore contributing to a sustainable, equitable and participatory development in Mexico. The intention is to stimulate the replication of the community foundation model in the country and build partnerships with other actors (government, academia, civil society, etc.).

Comunalia is present in 15 Mexican states: Baja California, Chihuahua, Estado de México, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Nuevo Leon, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, Sonora and Tamaulipas and Yucatan. Comunalia’s members work on a number of issues, ranging from education, culture, local development, health, environment, housing, ecotourism, capacity building, communication and employment, to citizen participation, philanthropy and social responsibility.

Their constituencies include all of those facing social disadvantage – children, youth, women, men, indigenous peoples and people with disabilities.

Members

Corporativa de Fundaciones (Jalisco)
Fundación Comunidad (Morelos)
Fundación Comunidar (Nuevo León)
Fundación Comunitaria Cozumel (Quintana Roo)
Fundación Comunitaria del Bajío (Guanajuato)
Fundación Comunitaria Frontera Norte (Cd. Juárez, Chih)
Fundación Comunitaria Malinalco (Edo. de México)
Fundación Comunitaria Matamoros (Tamaulipas)
Fundación Comunitaria Oaxaca
Fundación Comunitaria Puebla
Fundación Comunitaria Punta de Mita (Nayarit)
Fundación Comunitaria Querétaro
Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense, A.C.
Fundación del Empresariado Sonorense
Fundación del Empresariado Yucateco
Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad (Tijuana, B.C.).

Governing body

Executive Director: Laura Trejo
President: David Pérez – Corporativa de Fundaciones
Beatriz Pineda Bours – Fundación Comunidad
Debbie Acevedo – Fundación Comunitaria Puebla IBP.
Diana Chávarri (Fundación Comunitaria de la Frontera Norte)
Luis Ruíz (Fundación Comunitaria Oaxaca)
Juan Carlos Ruíz (Fundación del Empresario Sonorense, A.C.)
Leslie Carrasco de la O (FECHAC – Fundación del Empresario Chihuahuense).