Latina Giving Circle

Belen Gonzalez knows what she wants and she loves a challenge – a winning combo. With passion, purpose and gusto, Belen has brought together 20 women to contribute at least $1,000 each to create a funding pool that will be matched dollar for dollar, thanks to the Arizona Community Foundation, to create a grant fund of at least $50,000 to support nonprofits serving our community.

A social worker by training and at heart, Belen is currently a grants manager for the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, and has been involved in multiple strategic efforts to develop Latino philanthropy in the state. She hopes initiatives like the Latina Giving Circle contribute to change the perception of the Latino community from one of “takers” to one of “givers.” She’s not alone.

Tony Banegas, program officer at the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF), is spearheading the ACF’s Latinos Unidos initiative, which seeks to establish a permanent endowment to support strategic Latino philanthropy. “We at ACF are committed to providing support to make the Latinos Unidos Fund and the Latina Giving Circle permanent initiatives.”

Terri Leon, CEO of  Friendly House, is also a member of this group. “What is particularly appealing about the Latina Giving Circle is we will have the opportunity to come together and talk about the issues that are important to us and decide where to allocate our collective resources,” says Terri Leon. “That is where our strength lies, and how we will be able to have real impact in the lives of other Latinas. I think a lot of women don’t give money to causes because they are not asked. We often give of ourselves, our time, and our talent. Women tend to be good stewards of their earnings and care about how it is spent. We work hard for it. I find it rewarding to know that my financial contribution is making a meaningful difference in another’s life.”

Not your typical philanthropists:

Yesenia Ramirez

Yesenia Ramirez was born in El Salvador and lived there until age seven. Her family separated when her parents came to the U.S. and spent two years working hard to establish themselves before they were able to bring their children to permanently live in the country.

This was a defining moment in Yesenia’s life, one which has helped her put her personal experience in the context of the larger immigrant community. “This, I believe, is key to my experience as it is similar to many other immigrant families who separate when they come to this country. Some leave children behind as they come to the U.S. to seek a better life,” she points out.

Today, Yesenia and her parents own and operate several restaurants in the Valley. The 31-year-old entrepreneur keeps a busy schedule. She’s enrolled in ASU’s social work program and takes classes at the downtown campus. During the week she oversees payroll and other aspects of the family business; on the weekends she works at one of her restaurant locations. She’s also a single parent and takes care of a very active four-year-old son.

Despite her hectic schedule, Yesenia made time to call Belen after learning about the Giving Circle project through Latino Perspectives. Belen was pleasantly surprised when she got Yesenia’s call; they had never met. Belen had been asking friends, colleagues and acquaintances to join the Giving Circle. A proactive donor reaching out to contribute to a good cause, without being asked – every fundraiser’s dream!

“I decided to participate for several reasons. When I ran into the ad for the project, I had just decided that I wanted to begin working on some community-building activities. My goal is to one day set up my own nonprofit organization to help children.”

Karla Robles

Karla Robles, 26, is the youngest of the group. Like Yesenia, Karla contacted Belen to donate to the Latina Giving Circle.

During her college years, Karla dreamt of one day working up the ranks of corporate America. The larger the company the better, she figured. She landed her first job out of college with Hershey’s as a retail sales representative.

Robles was thriving professionally, but something was missing. “I was working day in and day out, but didn’t see the direct impact of my work.” While at ASU, she was actively involved with the Hispanic Business Students Association and Be a Leader Foundation (BLF), whose mission is to prepare, empower and mentor students to become college bound.

“Working with BLF students made me realize the intrinsic rewards of working in the nonprofit world completely outweigh the monetary compensations. Plus, I got to see the direct impact of my work on students’ lives.” The organization offered her a job. She became the first BLF paid staffer.

The challenging part was explaining to her parents she was leaving a corporate job to venture into the nonprofit sector. Parental expectations were high, particularly since Karla is the first in her family to graduate from college. She chuckles as she recounts the conversation. “And how many people work at BLF?” her mother asked. “I’ll be the first one,” she replied.

Since joining BLF, Karla hasn’t looked back. As for her parents, they now understand. Seeing Karla’s success multiplied by the success of the Be a Leader Foundation program is something to be proud of.