A delegation from Caja Libertad, the second largest credit union in Mexico, visited various foundations and community development specialists last week in their visit to the U.S.
The delegation learned about state, national and international foundations and the impact the foundations have, which will help it establish its own foundation and expand the current philanthropic work they do.
Visitors included Caja Libertad's Paolo Lezama, executive director; Hugo Bustamante, president of the education committee; and Cesar Izurieta, executive vice president of marketing.
"We currently fund financial literacy programs, health and wellness activities, programs that help to keep our cooperative culture alive and numerous community reinvestment initiatives," said Bustamante. "But we think we can do more, through a separate foundation."
The group met with the Arizona CU System. Sandy Watts, marketing and communications director, said, "We discussed key topics like who decides how to spend funds and why, the grant request system, the organizational structure, legal status and their foundation's history." Watts also shared successes and challenges for foundations starting out. The group also toured Arizona Federal and Desert Schools FCU.
Kris Hoffman Ackley, the National Credit Union Foundation's director of donor relations, provided an indepth view of fundraising at a national level.
The group also met with Selfreliance Ukrainian American FCU, Chicago, where CEO Bohdan Watral and his staff discussed their community reinvestment activities.
