Fundación Bertelsmann transfers management of Ibero-American Network of Community Foundations to the Institute Comunitário Grande Florianópolis (ICom) in Brazil

Barcelona, 18 June — Fundación Bertelsmann has taken another step towards consolidating community foundations and their integration in the international movement of this type of foundation by transferring the management of the Ibero-American Network of Community Foundations and Community-like Organisations to Instituto Comunitário Grande Florianópolis (ICom) in Brazil. In times of great global economic challenges and with Latin America growing rapidly, this change is a further evidence of the increasingly close relationship between both continents.

ICom (www.icomfloripa.org.br) is a community foundation created in southern Brazil in 2005. It has detailed knowledge of social innovation and promotes community development by mobilising, coordinating and supporting investors and social organisations. ICom will be responsible for revitalising the Ibero-American Network of Community Foundations. Information and contact will be always available in Portuguese and Spanish.

Fundación Bertelsmann, which at the end of 2012 was coordinating a group of 12 Spanish organisations and one Portuguese, officially launched the Ibero-American Network of Community Foundations (www.fciberoamerica.org) in February this year. The international website, which currently has 32 members registered from Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil and Uruguay, is now managed by the Brazilian institute. Mexico is represented by more than 15 community foundations, including the organisation under which they are grouped: Comunalia – Alianza de Fundaciones Comunitarias de México (Comunalia Alliance of Community Foundations of Mexico).

This new management, effective from mid-May, will enable the members to share their experiences with other community foundations and to find solutions to common challenges, using local solutions for global problems.

Community foundations are organisations set up by citizens of a specific geographical area which work to improve the quality of life in their immediate surroundings. They do essential work for citizens in areas such as education, integration, entrepreneurship, local culture and employment, making them key agents in their areas of influence.

Download the press release here. Community foundations and the associations and organisations that support them around the world have long been a focus of WINGS. Learn more on our Community Foundations page.