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Coto strikes a deal
Non-profit giants will help minorities
By MARTÍN E. MARTÍNEZ / Vida En El Valle
(Published Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 09:00AM)
SACRAMENTO -- The state's largest nonprofit organizations will invest billions of dollars over the next 10 years to support minority communities in California.
That was the agreement reached last week among the 10 largest nonprofit organizations and Assemblymember Joe Coto, D-San José, who chairs the Latino Legislative Caucus.
The agreement came after he presented legislation, AB 624, that requested the 10 most powerful nonprofit organizations -- those with more than $250 million in giving annually -- to release private information about where they were investing money, members of the respective boards and the number of minority employees.
The organizations refused to release that information, but instead agreed to provide more financial support to minority nonprofits, which satisfied Coto.
"Finally that was what we were looking for, that these multimillion organizations support to the smaller ones, which generally serve minority communities, to invest in our people," said Coto.
Once the agreement was reached, Coto dropped his bill, which had already been approved by an Assembly committee.
Under the agreement, the foundations will work together over a multi-year period to make grants that provide capacity building support and technical assistance targeted to minority-led and grassroots, community-based organizations that primarily serve minority and low-income communities in California.
Coto decided to introduce this bill after the Berkeley-based Greenlining Institute released a 2006 study indicating that only 3.5 percent of the organizations that help minorities receive funds from the most powerful nonprofits.
"With these results we realized that there are huge disparities in our communities, whether Latino or African American, and why they have made less progress in areas such as health, education or development of their neighborhoods," said Coto.
He added that this new commitment will provide millions of dollars a year to small nonprofit organizations, which means great support and advancement for minorities in the state.
Coto was not able to specify the amount of funds to be invested over the next 10 years.
The Greenlining Institute indicated that the three largest nonprofits in the state -- the Hewlett Foundation, the Packard Foundation and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation -- have invested almost zero or no resources to support minorities.
A joint statement by three influential nonprofits -- the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ahmanson Foundation and the California Endowment -- described the important role they play in helping minorities face their challenges.
It also indicated that by the end of 2008, a package of activities will be announced in an effort to raise millions of dollars to help minorities..
Fred Ali, president of the Weingart Foundation, which supports the initiative to help minorities, described the agreement as unprecedented and is expected to help the development of minorities.
The agreement was welcomed by those who support the Latino causes in California.
Francisco Estrada, director of public policy for the nonprofit Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), said that the agreement opens up great opportunities of development for the Latino community.
"We hope that this agreement benefits the Latino community, where there are a lot of needs," said Estrada.
He added that generally Latino nonprofit organizations never receive government funds to survive and the only resources they receive come from companies that make donations and some foundations.
