Many equity-focused philanthropies align their work around supporting the most vulnerable members of the communities they serve. But others, like the Latino Donor Collaborative (LDC), take a more top-down, research and communications-focused approach to the question of equity. LDC’s philosophy: Shine a light on Latinos’ successes to help move the needle on their agency in U.S. society.
LDC works to reframe big-picture perceptions of the significant — and in its view overlooked — contributions that successful, multigenerational American Latinos make to society, and to highlight their role in America’s social mainstream.
To do that, it operates in part like a think tank, building high-level reputation indices and networks that can translate to concrete corporate, economic and political clout.
Recently, IP spoke with Ana Valdez, executive director of LDC, about how the 12-year-old organization uses levers like research, communications and convenings to change public perception and lift the prospects of generations to come.
Here’s how LDC’s board-centric fundraising model, and its commitment to changing the way its constituency is valued and viewed, is contributing to the fight for racial equity in the U.S.
An insider and an outsider
Ana Valdez, LDC’s executive director, is a Mexican American who was born and raised in Mexico City. Prior to joining LDC, Valdez spent 25 years in top roles with the United Nations, the Clinton administration, Nielsen and Citibank.
“So many things converged in my life in order to be here,” she said. A media and marketing major in school, Valdez lived in Europe before moving to Washington, D.C. There, she saw how politics were “so segmented by the group you belong to.” After marrying her spouse, whose family immigrated to the U.S. in 1540, she came to understand the “community she knew as both an insider and outsider.”
“Friendly, high-level dialogue”
The Latino Donor Collaborative is on a mission to advance an accurate “perception, portrayal, and understanding of the important contributions American Latinos make to American society.”
It was co-founded a dozen years ago by Henry Cisneros, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and business leader Sol Trujillo. Based in Beverly Hills, California, LDC is led by an accomplished group of Latino national leaders who commit their time, money and energy to promoting “friendly, high-level dialogue” to discern the best ways to grow Latino revenue and market share. They tackle outreach in numerous spheres — media, advertising, corporate sector, the civil sector and politics — to confront stereotypes and empower Latinos by highlighting their contributions to American society.
Tapping its leadership
LDC’s leaders are its funders, a fundraising model that’s particularly vital to assuring the independence of its proprietary research. Valdez said LDC’s board of directors fund 100% of its operations. Each board member makes a minimum commitment of $25,000 a year. Local advisory network leaders give less per capita, but also play a critical role in funding LDC’s work. Total revenues in 2020 hovered around $600,000, with net assets of around $200,000. The lion’s share of LDC’s budget goes toward research, which ran at about $250,000 that same year.
That research shows there’s much work to be done. LDC began its work around the same time that Arizona’s notorious SB 1070 law went into effect, which required law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone they’d have a “reasonable suspicion” of being “illegal,” which pretty much always translated to Latinos.
“You could be arrested unless you could prove you’re a citizen, and public opinion was tolerating that,” Valdez said. “We asked ourselves why.”
Initial polling by Hill and Knowlton, backed by LDC, revealed that three-fourths of respondents said that Latinos are “takers,” and “associated with crime.” But where was that information coming from? Most respondents, the pollsters found, had never met a Latino person, and based their answers on the perceptions they formed watching TV shows and movies.
“We knew we had to change perception to [something] fact-based,” Valdez said.
Research
“We are a very specific nonprofit,” Valdez said. “We create data that shows how recent numbers only capture the immigrant and underserved part — missing Latinos who are creating and giving wealth.” The real story, she said, is far different. For example, Latinos bought more homes during the pandemic than any other part of the U.S. population.
To create an unbiased, fact-based narrative, LDC has forged research partnerships with major educational institutions like Cal State University, Stanford, Columbia and UCLA. On the think tank side, partners include Accenture, Bain & Company, the Boston Consulting Group and Warner Media.
Thanks to its leadership, LDC is self-funded and independent. “We commission it and pay for it,” Valdez said. The research itself is mostly economic. The LDC has developed more than 25 original research reports that demonstrate the significant economic impact of U.S. Latinos across all industries and levels.
“We are not about social justice or grassroots,” Valdez said. Instead, LDC helps demonstrate “the ways money is being left on the table by excluding Latinos.”
Communications and convenings
Communication is also an important lever. LDC has developed close partnerships with ad agencies and content creators to create realistic portrayals of Latinos in media, avoid stereotypes and show community impact.
Beyond that, LDC hosts intimate CEO-to-CEO opportunities to help c-suite decision-makers understand and respond to Latino communities.
LDC also creates councils to help “spread the word,” and has built an advisory network of local leaders that Valdez characterized as “very active and passionate.” Some convenings are open to the press, and some are not. An annual LDC convening also draws large numbers of business leaders.
Changing perceptions
Our vision, Valdez said, is “to be regarded and respected as the powerful community we are, driving wealth.”
Perceptions of Latinos have changed over time, but not enough. Valdez said that “a little bit more than two-thirds of respondents recently said they consider Latinos to be ‘contributors,’ but that 55% of Americans related Latinos with criminal records in a national poll. Almost 60% thought Latinos were ‘mostly poor,’ while the true [poverty figure for Latinos in the U.S.] hovers at around 15%.”
These entrenched misperceptions fly in the face of the data. Valdez said that measured as a single economy, Latino production in the U.S. is higher than that of entire countries like Brazil, Russia or Italy. A 2020 report showed that 2019 production equaled $2.7 trillion, equivalent to the economy of France.
Even as sensationalized stories and political stunts involving Latino immigrants continue to dominate headlines, LDC is making the case that losing sight of what this diverse and economically powerful population has already been bringing to the table in the U.S. would be both bad in two ways — bad for equity and bad for business.