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.

Funders often struggle with exit strategies for projects they have supported over a number of years. In the case of BPP, funders and the grantee, Synergos, have been working together over the past two years to establish a well thought out plan to turn the Partnership into an autonomous 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. 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.

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

BPP has recently published a report called Building the Financial Vitality of Border Families. This is an examination of the unique role of community foundations in supporting and promoting family economic success strategies in the US-Mexico border region. To download, go to http://borderpartnership.hostcentric.com/press/english/20.html