Same DNA, Different Flavors: Introducing Focus Central America
There are 300 people in a hotel conference center talking about the importance of local leadership in philanthropy. Donors are having conversations about creating a culture that centers the needs of grantees. Grantee partners are meeting to discuss potential coalitions within the sectors of health, education, climate justice, and livelihoods. It sounds like a typical Segal Family Foundation gathering—but everyone is speaking Spanish, and the hotel is in Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá.
This is the scene at Focus Central America’s third annual Cumbre de Agradecimiento (Partner Appreciation Summit). The event is not so different from a Segal Family Foundation annual meeting…and that’s by design. Launched in 2021, Focus Central America is Barry Segal’s third foundation, and it has learned a lot from its older sisters, SFF and the U.S.-facing Focus for Health.
When Barry Segal was inspired to begin working in this new geography—in response to the migration crisis, record numbers of asylum seekers, and underage children being detained—he simply replicated an already-proven model. Focus Central America received guidance from Segal Family Foundation on due diligence for international grantmaking, safeguarding policies, and reducing reporting burdens for grantees. They also adopted the trust-based philanthropy model right out of the gate and started giving grants of $5,000–$30,000 to locally-led initiatives.
It took Segal Family Foundation several years of trial and error to fully realize that its special sauce was funding local organizations. Because of this groundwork, Focus Central America was able to prioritize localization and is already supporting over 120 organizations, 95% of which are locally-led. A mere four years in, their grantmaking staff is 100% Central American, with four program officers hailing from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras managing a budget of $3 million.
However, Focus Central America is not a carbon-copy of Segal Family Foundation. While SFF’s official language of operation is English with a side of French and peppered with Swahili, FCA conducts all of its work in Spanish. Fewer than 10% of their grantees have any English-speaking staff and the language barrier can sometimes hinder networking and introductions to English-speaking funders. And despite the easy flight from the United States, Central America is a rather overlooked region for reasons beyond language: a wave of anti-NGO and philanthropy laws have caused donors to fund elsewhere. The Council of Foundations State of Global Giving by U.S. Foundations: 2022 Edition tracked that American foundations gave $2.1 billion dollars to Latin America from 2016 to 2019, compared to the $8.4 billion directed to Sub-Saharan Africa in the same period. For this reason, Focus Central America is already serving as a major stakeholder in donor collaboratives such as RECARGA, a post-pandemic initiative to promote the recovery of education systems in Guatemala and Honduras. Focus Central America also recently joined Tinker Foundation and Tawingo Foundation to form the Latin America Funders Collaborative, offering connections and insights to spur more philanthropic giving to Latin America.
In Panama, there are approximately 40 donors attending the Partner Appreciation Summit. There are more opportunities for the donors this time, including special programming and a site visit day. There is no doubt that Focus Central America has grown rapidly and learned rapidly. Each year the attendance at their annual gathering has doubled, with 80 attendees at the inaugural meeting in Costa Rica and 160 participating last year in Guatemala.
Much like a Segal Family Foundation event, Focus Central America’s two-day event concludes with an awards dinner, recognizing exemplary local leaders, before the participants break into joyful dancing.
“To be here is a gift,” says Lucy Luna Guzmán, executive director of ASAPROSAR in El Salvador. “The work we do in rural communities is difficult, especially with today’s political climate. This conference is an opportunity for us to connect and share best practices, visions of sustainable development for the region. Together we can innovate and scale our dreams for a more prosperous Central America.”
