Grounded in Shifting Realities to Move Forward:
Seven Years of Collaborative Grantmaking
through Fondo Adelante
The massive change Puerto Rico has undergone in the past decade has resulted in the need for the philanthropic sector to reimagine how we advance equity on the island. From recovery to reconstruction and transformation, Filantropía Puerto Rico has led its efforts with the flexibility to shift our initiatives based on what the on-the-ground needs have been at each step of the way. Forward Puerto Rico Fund has been our main initiative to attend to these needs and contribute to the social sector over the years.
As an organization, Filantropía Puerto Rico has diverse roles in the social sector, we serve philanthropic entities while also holding close relationships with non-profit organizations. Developing a tool focused on participatory and collaborative grantmaking such as Forward Puerto Rico Fund has been a space for exploring and imagining new ways of doing grantmaking on the archipelago. We have pursued on-going contextual challenges in Puerto Rico as opportunities to rethink what are the most effective ways to support organizations financially. At the same time, we have been able to track the return of investment of our strategic partners’ contributions through results that built the field through systemic change.
Formed in 2017, Forward Puerto Rico Fund has been intertwined at times with the tumultuous historical events that have impacted Puerto Rico in the late 2010’s and first half of the current decade. Our initial interest in creating the fund came after the passing of PROMESA, a law that would deepen inequity on the island and threaten non-profit organizations’ ability to fulfill their missions moving forward. Our collective initially thought of Forward Puerto Rico as a collaborative fund that allowed them to join investment efforts, support more community-based organizations, and invest strategically in the context of increased austerity measures and a worsened economic crisis. Collaborative investments meant they could have a bigger impact their entities would not be able to accomplish individually.
With this backdrop, Forward Puerto Rico Fund has evolved and adapted throughout the last seven years to ensure that our grantmaking remains connected to the on-the-ground needs of non-profit organizations while also ensuring the most impactful investment for our strategic partners. Thanks to the vision and commitment of our funders and donors, the FORWARD Puerto Rico Fund successfully raised over 9 million dollars during the past seven years, enabling a significant impact on a hundred fifty four grants (154) to a hundred and eleven (111) unique community-based organizations. After many years of active listening, learning in strategic conversations, growing closer to the community, and collecting data, we want to share how our strategy for Forward Puerto Rico has pushed the boundaries of how grantmaking is done on the island. In this report, we also share what we think can become some of the best practices for the future of philanthropic investment in Puerto Rico.
2017: Launching the Forward Puerto Rico Fund
The Forward Puerto Rico Fund’s goal since it was launched in July of 2017 has been to develop grantmaking that builds the field. With this in mind, our investment has been focused on efforts that can lead to long-term systemic change. Through strategic partnerships to increase the amount of philanthropic investments, Forward Puerto Rico Fund was able to drive impactful solutions that extend beyond the capabilities of a single investor and changemaker. Since its beginning, Forward Puerto Rico Fund has been instrumental in advancing Filantropía Puerto Rico’s vision of creating a Puerto Rico with equal opportunities. Ultimately, addressing critical issues such as transparency, data generation, emergency relief, resilience, sustainability, energy, environment, housing, research and governance.
The impact of the FORWARD Puerto Rico Fund as a collaborative mechanism was amplified in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María. Both hurricanes devastated the archipelago, causing a huge socio-economic crisis. During the challenges that came after, this investment tool helped us to organize our resources, link our contacts, and align efforts for the recovery process.
During the fund’s first year, we disseminated $616,000.00 to twenty-four organizations supporting immediate relief and recovery during the months right after Hurricane Maria. A total of 24 emergency grants were disbursed between December 2017 and February 20181. The organizations reported that they collectively served more than 100,000 people affected by this emergency, and 40,000 families with more than one adult between ages 21-64. At least 1,148 people with disabilities received services related to their condition (medical, educational, psychological, etc.).
Other achievements include creating community kitchens and delivering more than 5 million pounds of food, over 100 alliances were established to coordinate efforts and better serve the communities, and over 200 humanitarian brigades supported the communities affected by the passage of the hurricanes2. In the context of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, these efforts were key for many citizens’ survival during a time when the government neglected the provision of basic human rights such as access to food, electricity, potable water, health services, and education.
Turning our attention to this historical crisis allowed us to learn one of the first lessons from our recently launched fund: philanthropic money would become key in sustaining equity in Puerto Rico in the years to come. Our fund was not exceptional in that the majority of the population had to rely on people’s money or any other source other than those of the government that would allow the stabilization of daily life. However, our fund was a part of this ecosystem of decentralized resources that would lay out a foundation for ensuring accountability and human rights during times of crisis at a big scale. Finally, and in addition to contributing to these areas, our fund also integrated a key component for transparency which was to publicly disclosing the flow of money in and out of the fund. This collaborative fund was established as a neutral and transparent resource to support a diversity of organizations on the ground.
2018: Grounded in Shifting Realities
In 2018, we reframed our vision and designed a strategic plan as an organization in response to the quickly changing socio-political landscape in Puerto Rico. Our new strategic plan aimed to maximize the impact of our resources, promote equity and social justice, and develop social investments and the capacity of community organizations. This restructuring process allowed us to bring more clarity to our strategy for Forward Puerto Rico Fund as well. As of that moment, we defined the areas of work we would support moving forward based on an assessment of the on-the-ground needs vis-a-vis our organizational objectives. This process became a research publication under the title of Puerto Rico: A New Reality. As a result, we directed our resources to organizations that were focusing on the following key areas:
- Promoting social justice and transparency in the distribution of public resources with particular emphasis on recovery funds provided by the federal government.
- Facilitating data analysis, informed public dialogue and debates on actual and potential impacts of new policies, particularly on vulnerable populations.
- Advancing the resilience and sustainability of the nonprofit sector by enhancing leadership, building fiscal and programmatic health, raising collective influence and voice, and enabling collaborations among organizations.
We extended invitations to organizations to submit grant proposals aligned with the fund’s new objectives after restructuring our grantmaking process. We distributed $2,179,000.00 between key organizations that were impacting systemic change and public policy, a support these organizations were receiving for the first time. The grant recipients included organizations such as Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico, which provides valuable access to information about laws related to the recovery funds received in Puerto Rico after the hurricanes. One of the main wins Ayuda Legal accomplished was to create public policy that expanded FEMA’s disaster recovery support to folks who didn’t count with a property title. Among many other successes, Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico garnered enough attention to advance narrative change work at a bigger scale and introduce concepts such as “recuperación justa” [fair recovery] into mainstream discourses to enforce access to funds, democratic participation and eradication of forced displacements. Another one of our grantees, Espacios Abiertos, strengthened civic participation in the social, political and economic processes and decision making in Puerto Rico. Espacios Abiertos developed “Proyecto de Empoderamiento Comunitario para la Recuperación y Sostenibilidad” [Community Empowerment for Recuperation and Sustainability Project (CERSP)], a curriculum that teaches step by step how grassroots communities can respond to and recover from disasters more effectively, including fiscal matters, funds management and engagement with the media to demand accountability. Finally, another grantee, Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Juventud, developed projects that brought visibility and included protecting children and young people in the context of crises. These are just a few exemplary cases of how even in the aftermath of disaster, we were able to do grantmaking that could have an impact in long-term systemic change3.
In addition to the individual grants catered to systemic change initiatives, we also designed an unrestricted grant. The Fondo de Reserva de Emergencia’s [Emergency Reserve Fund] main objective was to guarantee the stability of organizations during an emergency. This type of financial support for organizations is still very uncommon and innovative in Puerto Rico. Following from reserve fund models, the grant directed permanent economic resources to support the operational work of the organizations in order to give them security of continuing their mission even in the event that they were impacted by a social emergency.
2019: Building the Field by Funding Systemic Change
During 2019, we officially became Filantropía Puerto Rico, a philanthropy service organization that works as a convener to leverage the efforts of the philanthropic sector and attract resources to Puerto Rico4. Forward Puerto Rico Fund continued to be a central effort in the context of our newly defined mission. We had our first open call during this year and the main focus was on organizations creating innovative projects that closed the gap of structural inequities in Puerto Rico.
We mobilized $2,977,132.00 and disbursed 12 grants. Some of the supported organizations focused on systemic change projects that would have a direct impact on public policy. Cambio PR was able to design a simulation called Renewable Distributed Energy Modeling and Public Education that demonstrated that a hundred percent renewable energy plan is feasible, more reliable, and cost-effective to serve as Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Furthermore, the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo developed a permanent project aimed at promoting access to information and transparency in the recovery process called “Los chavos de María” which also won a national recognition award. Finally, one of the initiatives that had the greatest impact on research and public policy analysis was the Proyecto Hipatía of Taller Salud. This initiative promoted citizen participation, research on gender and racial issues, activism and political advocacy. Proyecto Hipatía promoted a decree by organizations that address violence against women in all its diversities, to Declare a State of Emergency for Gender Violence in Puerto Rico (Executive Order OE-2021-013).
Organizations such as Sembrando Sentido and HASER developed useful tools to strengthen and build the field. For example, Sembrando Sentido developed the initiative Contracts in Law, which focuses on evaluating and monitoring the governmental hiring process to ensure transparency and keep the public informed about possible risks with new proposed contracts. HASER created the Guía de auspicio fiscal, providing a landscape of how to support community based efforts through the model of fiscal sponsorships. As part of this effort, they led the first big scale convening on fiscal sponsorship in Puerto Rico and the materials from the fiscal sponsorship guides have also served as the foundation for training grantmakers on how to better support fiscally sponsored projects. Finally, Inversión Cultural, on the other hand, developed El Nido Cultural to offer capacity building for cultural entrepreneurs to strengthen the cultural ecosystem.
These are just a few of the projects we were able to support in 20195. While it was a socio-politically charged year, offering support under more stable circumstances allowed our grantees to develop tools and initiatives that have an impact in long-term systemic change. Ultimately these tools benefit philanthropic sector as well through the generation of data and high impact initiatives that can represent savings and a higher impact generated from investments long term.
2020: At the Crossroads of Ever-Changing Realities and Systemic Change Efforts
After its first three years, Forward Puerto Rico Fund was able to hone in and converge its ability to respond to emerging needs on the ground while also furthering its objectives through our regular grantmaking. During 2020, we had to split our efforts between offering support in the aftermath of the earthquakes that impacted the south of the island in late 2019 and our regular open call for initiatives that could contribute to long-term systemic change that began the year prior. The FORWARD Puerto Rico fund continued its impact through these main two efforts distributing $936,600.00.
To support earthquake recovery efforts, we had our first matching grants. We partnered with our members and matched their relief grants in order to expedite a more integrated and immediate response. We disbursed 10 grants for a total of $279,500. These grants were specifically dedicated to operational support during the aftermath of the earthquakes. Some of the impact areas supported by our grantees included psychological help, entertainment and arts healing, shelters for youth and housing assessments and technological assistance support6. Being able to match our members’ investment allowed for a quicker more impactful response as well as to amplify their efforts.
In addition to these efforts, we also awarded 65 grants. Fifty-one of these grants were stipends to participants of Colección de Voces y Datos. The other grants went to other organizations developing key public policy work in the context of the pandemic. Some of the organizations that advanced our grantmaking vision during this year included, for example, FURIA. This organization was able to systematize and promote civic participation in the community with our support. It has since emerged as a reliable and respected source about Puerto Rico’s legislature throughout the Sistematización y Creación Participativa Para la Resiliencia project, a space where information can be shared between communities and leaders from around the island. Further developing an interest in ensuring civic participation in democratic processes, another one of our grantees, Kilómetro 0, created a documentation and participation tool to collect data about police brutality in order to center the notion of public security in Puerto Rico.
Finally, Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Juventud designed an urgent agenda of the first 100 days for the incoming government in order to reduce child poverty in the next ten years. While these are some exemplary cases, we also supported organizations dedicated to areas such as the humanities, housing and governance during this year7.
2021: Fine Tuning Our Listening Practices
Our efforts in 2021 were dedicated to expanding the ways in which we listened to the needs of the social sector in order to optimize our grantmaking. With this in mind, we developed research that could help us better understand the impact of grantmaking in Puerto Rico and subsequently added a component for participatory grantmaking to our yearly call.
We developed Voices and Data Collection, a study that had been started with our grantees from 2020 and reunites the voices of sixty-nine social actors with the intention to be thought provoking and generate discussions about the issues that affect Puerto Rico. With this thematic series (focused on housing, environment, education, art and culture, and governance) we aspired to amplify the perspective of foundations and grantmakers that invest in the archipelago.
Following this project, we were able to launch one of our most valuable initiatives Learning to Listen, our first participatory grantmaking effort. This initiative was possible thanks to the intersectionality of our work and our continuous goal of implementing philanthropic practices that advance equity and justice. The philanthropic ecosystem urgently needed new practices to listen to the people most affected by the problems and thus devise fair and equitable solutions. To that end, and with support from the Fund for Shared Insight, we developed a participatory grantmaking process and tools that help grantmakers listen and share power with the people and communities they seek to support. As part of this process, the participants of the initiative were part of the decision making for grants distribution. During this year the FORWARD Puerto Rico fund distributed $1,344,000.00.
Most of the grants ($900,000.00) were from the initiative of the decision makers from the participatory grantmaking initiative Learning to Listen8.
Finally, we closed the year hosting an event to amplify the visibility of the FORWARD Puerto Rico fund. Our board of directors, our members and our grantees joined to celebrate the first five years of this strategic philanthropic investment tool. We shared the results of the external evaluation report that we conducted as a comprehensive evaluation and reflection of our goals throughout the FORWARD Puerto Rico fund.
Our key impacts for that year were:
- More donors increased their knowledge of and commitment to Puerto Rico.
- There was a growing civic demand for government transparency and accountability.
- NGOs were producing policy-relevant data to inform actions that promote equity and fairness.
- Stronger NGOs were implementing effective programs to benefit vulnerable groups.
2022: Co-creating Collective Strength
Our Estudio sobre el impacto económico y social de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro was published in 2022. This research brought visibility to the relevance, impact and leadership of the social sector in the advancement of equity in Puerto Rico. The study also informed our strategy to use Forward Puerto Rico Fund as a field building initiative. Through this research we learned that the needs on the island were ever-increasing and that an approach focused on systemic solutions rather than isolated projects was the way to move forward.
After five years since its initial creation, the FORWARD Puerto Rico Fund was once again an essential tool for disaster recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. The social sector continued to be at the center of Puerto Rico’s recovery infrastructure in light of governmental neglect and a lack of effective planning. In response to this lack of infrastructure and care for our island’s communities, we stepped up to serve as a liaison between philanthropic investment and on-the-ground needs as well as a platform to collect information about resources.
Additionally, we distributed $720,000 to support ten Centros de Apoyo Mutuo. As of this moment, we began supporting the creation of Mutual Aid infrastructure in Puerto Rico, not only as an emergency response, but with a vision of long-term sustainability. Through the Forward Puerto Rico Fund, we distributed $720,000 in 10 grants to Mutual Aid Centers in Puerto Rico. This grant was focused on supporting the network of Mutual Aid Centers, offering the same amount of money to all of them and also creating the space for them to deepen their support to each other. These organizations located throughout the island address key systemic issues for economic development and community well-being. Some of the issues they focus on are: agriculture, agroecology, environmental and energy sustainability, comprehensive health, and the provision of essential services such as food and transportation for the community. They also serve as a link between the community and public, private, and non-profit organizations that want to impact them.
2023 & 2024 : Moving Forward
The Forward Puerto Rico Fund allowed us to cultivate deep relationships with the philanthropic sector through the expansion of their strategic investments options. The collaborative tool has been supporting organizations that are moving Puerto Rico forward and promoting systemic change. In 2023, we mostly focused on continuing to support Mutual Aid Centers and deepening our listening practices. Through the exercise of continuing to listen to the sector, we have taken a pause to understand Puerto Rico’s new circumstances after overcoming consistent crises year after year. One of the main outcomes of this exercise was to transition Forward Puerto Rico from being just a fund to begin operating as a full initiative dedicated to building different tools to improve the social sector’s fiscal health.
Our goals in this new phase are the following:
- Attract funders to invest in long-term systemic change.
- Serve as a platform and vehicle for philanthropic-strategic investment in Puerto Rico.
- Connect local and international philanthropic organizations with community-based organizations in Puerto Rico.
- Visibilize the efforts of community-based organizations in Puerto Rico to continue promoting the growth of the social sector.
- Align and leverage philanthropy and offer a place to convene to look at the sector as a whole.
- Implement innovative philanthropic practices that advance equity and justice.
- Create and offer diverse financial instruments that strengthen the fiscal health of the sector.
Conclusion
As we look at this journey, it’s clear that our ideas have converged, guiding us toward an exciting evolution, the expansion of the FORWARD Puerto Rico Fund into a broader initiative we will now call ADELANTE Puerto Rico. The ADELANTE Puerto Rico Initiative reinforces our vision into a philanthropic-strategic investment tool designed to mobilize resources for systemic change and advance equity across Puerto Rico.
We remain committed to aligning strategic investments by leveraging resources, maximizing impact and enhancing the fiscal health of the Social Sector. To bring these ideas to life, we will convene a cohort of funders and community-based organizations in 2025 for an active dialogue on financial instruments and strategies to strengthen the operational health and sustainability of the entire sector. As you know from our history, our collective decisions are always informed by the most current and reliable data. In the meantime, we really want to emphasize that as field builders, we don’t just aim to contribute to the field – we are committed to the self-determination of the sector. We are energized and fully prepared to expand our mission! Driving the equity and systemic change that Puerto Rico rightfully deserves.
Key Lessons Over the Years
Over the past seven years, the FORWARD Puerto Rico Fund has gained key insights that have strengthened its impact and that will inform our next steps as we launch our Adelante Puerto Rico Initiative.
- Adaptability and Evolution: The fund has demonstrated the importance of evolving while maintaining a long-term vision. Beyond immediate relief, the fund has played a crucial role in sustaining innovative initiatives that result in lasting impact. This flexibility has responded effectively to the fiscal and environmental crises that Puerto Rico has faced, while its strategic adaptability has reinforced its commitment to sustaining and advancing systemic change.
- Strategic Alliances: As intermediaries within the sector, our deep understanding of local agendas has been instrumental in supporting funders seeking to invest in Puerto Rico. Strategic accompaniment not only maximizes resources but also significantly amplifies impact. We ensure that investments are aligned with on the ground realities, resulting in more effective and sustainable impact/results/outcomes.
- Collaborative Impact: The fund’s success in aligning efforts within the Social Sector is rooted in its unique ability to align visions across the sector. Over the years, we have cultivated deep-rooted relationships that allow us to connect directly with the field, strategically leverage investments, engage in active listening, collect actionable data and innovate collectively.
- Systemic Change Approach: We recognized that driving meaningful and lasting impact requires more than addressing immediate needs. This broader strategy has allowed us to tackle structural inequities and emphasize the importance of sustaining and strengthening fiscal and operational infrastructure, stressing out the focus from short-term response to long-term and strategic impact.
Forward PR Fund Timeline
Corporations $30,807 | Foundation $2,584,980 | Individuals $51,739 = $2,667,519
Immediate Relief Grants - Maria (15) $616,000
Corporations $16,718 | Foundations $3,518,480 | Individuals $427,336 = $3,962,534
Fondo Reserva de EmergenciaTransparency (4) $1,387,000 | Data Generation (1) $242,000 | Sustainability & Resilience (23) $1,230,125
Foundations $1,559,000 | Individuals $16,390 = $1,575,390
Transparency (1) $75,100 | Data Generation (8) $1,555,907 | Sustainability & Resilience (3) $420,000
Foundations $755,000 | Individuals $19,058 = $774,058
Colección de Voces + Datos, Earthquake Relief Matching Funds and Política Pública Proyecto de ProtecciónTransparency (1) $150,000 | Data Generation (54) $502,000 | Sustainability & Resilience (3) $284,500
Individuals $25,350 = $25,350
Learning to ListenData Generation (4) $458,000 | Sustainability & Resilience (20) $1,132,000
Corporations $87,775 | Foundation $770,000 | Individuals $4,161 = $884,852
Immediate Relief Grants - Fiona (10) $720,000
References
1 The grant recipients were the following organizations.
2 The grants also contributed to other organizational achievements such as: Purchasing and installation of 3,500 in residences within the impacted communities, vacant lots and public areas where rodenticide stations were found, 8,800 new trees were planted, mostly within protected areas, and 15 new artistic projects were created to encourage the design of spaces for respite, relief, and management of emotions related to the emergency.
3 For a full list of our grantees in 2018, please refer to Forward Puerto Rico Emergency Grants.
4 During our first 10 years of operations, we had been known by our original organizational name Red de Fundaciones de Puerto Rico.
5 Other organizations we funded this year include: Para La Naturaleza (Ciudadano Protector), Observatorio de Educación Pública, iCasa.
6 The specific organizations we supported were UPR PATRIA, Andanza, MAC, Fundación Música y País, Red por los derechos de la niñez, One Stop Career, Ponce NHS, Pathstone, and CMTAS.
7 Our other grantees during this year included: Espacios Abiertos, Movimiento una Sola Voz (MUSV), Sembrando Sentido, Nido Cultural, and all the participants of Learning to Listen.
8 The organizations supported during 2021 were: Apoyo Mutuo Agrícola fiscal sponsor of Vamos PR, Asociación de Comunidades Unidas Tomando Acción Solidaria (ACUTAS), Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Bucarabones Unido (CAMBU), Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Caguas Pueblo/ Comedores Sociales de Puerto Rico, Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Jíbaro Bartolo, Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Jíbaro Lares Pueblo (CAMJI), Centro de Apoyo Mutuo Las Carolinas, Comité Pro-Desarrollo Villa Cañona, Iniciativa Eco-Desarrollo Bahía de Jobos (IDEBAJO), and Red Regional de Apoyo Mutuo (RRAM).
