US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership to become independent

This summer, the Synergos Institute will formally hand over management of the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership (BPP) to its bi-national governing board. It will be constituted as an independent, 501(c)(3) organization in the US and an Asociación Civil in Mexico. Since its inception in 2002, it was anticipated that the Partnership would eventually grow out from under Synergos’s management to become an independent, locally directed entity.

This last year for the Partnership culminated in its ninth bi-national, cross-border learning conference in Mesa, Arizona in April, where more than 80 representatives of member border foundations and donor partners gathered to celebrate BPP’s accomplishments and hear details of its transition to independence. The BPP also invited representatives of Community Foundations of Canada, the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network and WINGs to share in its learning and provide input into its future plans.

Over the summer months, Synergos will continue its close collaboration with the new BPP board (co-chaired by Richard Kiy of the International Community Foundation and Karen Yarza of Fundación Comunitaria de la Frontera Norte) to ensure a successful transition. A new Executive Director is being recruited and $1.2 million in funding has been secured for the new entity over the next three years.

Source
Alliance, September 2008

For more information
Contact Michelle Jaramillo at mjaramillo@synergos.org or visit www.borderpartnership.org