Fundación Avina is a Latin American philanthropic foundation working towards sustainable development in Latin America by encouraging alliances between social and business leaders. The foundation is part of the Steering Group of the

Foundations Platform F20 Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

, an international network of foundations and philanthropic organizations.

Overview

Avina was founded in 1994 by Stephan Schmidheiny. Since 2013, its Chairman has been Sean McKaughan and its CEO has been Gabriel Baracatt. It is based in Panama, and has offices in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

;

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

;

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

;

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

; Bogota,

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

; Cuenca,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

; Asuncion,

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

; and

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Fundación Avina works in Latin America as a broker, co-investor and facilitator, leveraging its resources, local presence and relationships with thousands of allies to incubate and scale up shared strategies for change. It has worked with the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

on a joint "Centro Magis" programme of education. Its primary contribution to its allies is the promotion of collaborative action through services and financial support. Recent Avina activities include a series of projects with Xylem in Brazil's Semiarid, the country's northeast region, which is particularly vulnerable to

water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...

. Avina also shows important achievements in impacting businesses, which means making money while generating social and environmental benefits. With CAF (Development Bank of Latin America) Avina has subscribed to an Agreement of Understanding, through which they propose the establishment of alliances to foster development in Latin America. In Chile there is a joint venture between the Florida-based Advanced Magnet Lab, the Advanced Innovation Center of Chile, and Fundación Avina. This joint venture will utilize the country as a platform for the demonstration of innovative applications in energy efficiency and production. The ''Business Inquirer'' magazine, in an article titled "New business model to create bigger market?", defined Avina as "one of the leading promoters of Inclusive Markets". Avina also appears in a ''Forbes'' magazine article about Brazil's first

impact investing Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an a ...

venture capital firm. Civil society organizations and research institutions that form part of the Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG) in December 2012 published a 68-page book of maps and data called ''Amazonia Under Pressure'' The work behind the publication includes institutions such as the Norwegian Rainforest Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Fundación Avina and the

Skoll Foundation The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California, Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Billionaire entrepreneur Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 19 ...

Social Progress Index

The Social Progress Index, which ranked 50 countries by their social and environmental performance, was designed by Professor Michael E. Porter and The Social Progress Imperative, working in collaboration with economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and leading international organisations in social entrepreneurship, business, philanthropy, and academia including Cisco, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), Skoll Foundation, Fundación Avina, and Compartamos Banco.

Latin America Donor Index

The Latin America Donor Index is the result of a collaboration between Fundación Avina and the Office of Outreach and Partnerships of the Inter-American Development Bank, so non-profits and donors alike can identify potential allies. Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese,http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/ontheweb/otw.jhtml?id=362800024 the Latin America Donor Index features an index of donor organizations, and a resource library, including the latest trends in Latin America and the Caribbean.

References

External links

Official website in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fundacion Avina Organizations established in 1994