Welcome

Alternativas y Capacidades was founded in 2002 with the mission of contributing to Mexico’s social development by strengthening civil society organizations and grantmakers, working towards a favorable environment for their professionalization, promoting their advocacy capacities and encouraging inter-sectorial collaboration.

Why?
There is a broad diversity of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Mexico, founded by citizens concerned with promoting the common good and solving the country’s most pressing problems. However, much work needs to be done:

- The number of CSOs, and grantmakers in particular, remains small for a country of Mexico’s size and wealth. There are only between 7,000 and 8,000 registered non-profit organizations. By comparison, Brazil (with similar wealth and twice the population) has 30 times more: 200,000 registered organizations. There are very few grantmakers, as well: only 125, according to the latest figures.

- The philanthropic culture is very weak: As church and government have historically been the institutions in charge of solving Mexico’s social problems, neither Mexican society nor its business community have felt compelled to invest time and money in these endeavors.

- There is a lack of understanding by public opinion and policymakers: Civil society and philanthropic institutions are not viewed as relevant development actors. Instead, they are perceived as a means of obtaining government resources or evading taxes.

We build the capacities of CSOs, donors and grantmakers, while promoting a favorable environment for their development