Why Latinos Give: El Altruismo Encoded in Our Culture.
Latinos are an overlooked philanthropic force in America. We've been giving all along.
Several years ago, I helped to establish and manage a philanthropic fund created by a respected business leaders with strong sense of responsibility for the community. It engaged the private sector, international agencies, and individuals, and by philanthropy standards, was considered well-run.
Yet, when I examined the fund’s impact, the greatest source of support wasn’t wealthy families or governments.
The real support came from the diaspora: relatives sending money home, uncles wiring cash, and communities pooling resources—not for tax benefits, but from deep-rooted values.
What became clear to me was that the strongest philanthropic force in the room—informal, unrecognized giving within Latino communities—was being overlooked by the formal philanthropy world. This realization shaped my whole approach.
That is what brought me here. That is why FundRaiz exists.
Hoy por ti, mañana por mí. - Today for you. Tomorrow for me.
This is not just a saying. It is an entire operating system for how Latino communities have survived, supported each other, and built lives across borders, languages, and generations. It is the philosophy that drove the diaspora altruism, which I witnessed in that fund. It is the invisible architecture beneath the remittances, la ayudita, la limosna en la iglesia, the GoFundMe links shared in family WhatsApp groups at midnight.
It is, in every meaningful sense of the word, philanthropy.
And yet, when the formal giving world — the foundations, the donor-advised funds, the philanthropic advisory industry — draws its maps of American generosity, Latino giving is almost entirely absent from the picture.
92% of Latinos give regularly. Only 8% use formal giving vehicles. The generosity was never missing. The structure was.
According to research from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy donor behavior is shaped not just by capacity but also by identity, values, and trust. For Latino communities, those three elements are inseparable. We do not give because of tax efficiency. We give because of who we are and who we are responsible for. ¿Qué tal si donáramos por todas las razones?
What the Research Tells Us
In his landmark work on la generosidad humana, the philosopher and scientist Matthieu Ricard describes altruism not as an occasional impulse, but as a fundamental human orientation — one that exists across cultures and is strengthened, not diminished, by community and interdependence. He writes of compassion not as weakness, but as the most sophisticated form of human intelligence.
Latino culture has always known this, without needing to using the proper words.
The concept of familismo — the profound commitment to family and community that anchors Latino identity — is among the most well-documented phenomena in cultural psychology. It is also one of the most misunderstood by the formal philanthropy sector, which has historically interpreted community-directed giving as informal, and informal as unserious.
But informal does not mean unintentional. Unstructured does not mean reckless. And invisible does not mean absent.
Families who sustain wealth and meaning across generations are those who anchor their decisions in values, not just finances. They name legacy, purpose, and shared identity as the true infrastructure of lasting impact.
Latino families have been building exactly this infrastructure for generations. In kitchens, in churches, in community centers, in wire transfer receipts sent across borders. The infrastructure was always there. What was missing was someone to help formalize it, honor it, and amplify it.
My work has taken me across Latin America, Europe, and the United States over 20 years. In each of those worlds, I have seen a different relationship between wealth and generosity.
In Latin America, I saw giving as a way of life — woven into daily ritual, family obligation, and community survival. It was rarely called philanthropy, but it was always present. Solidarity is the natural exchange en las familias y en los barrios. Philanthropy that comes from the wealthiest individuals tends to be very limited, centralized, and mainly focused on supporting educational projects for the children of their employees, mainly expressed more as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility.
In Europe, I encountered the structured side of Latino giving—foundations, endowments, legacy planning, and systematic approaches to impact. Sophisticated, more rigorous, more organized, but sometimes distant from the cultural and emotional dimensions that make generosity meaningful.
In the United States, I found the gap between those two worlds at its most visible and its most costly. Here, Latino wealth is growing faster than that of any other demographic group. The Latino GDP in the U.S. now exceeds $4.1 trillion. An estimated $700 billion in wealth will transfer within Latino families by 2030. And yet the formal philanthropy sector has barely begun to understand, engage with, or serve this community.
We must consider that meaningful giving begins with values clarification. Before a donor ever thinks about a vehicle or a structure, they must first understand what they believe, what they love, and what they want to protect.
Latino generosity has always existed. The real issue is the structural gap in recognition and support. Bridging this gap will finally make Latino giving visible and valued.
FundRaiz exists to highlight and advance the main point: Latino giving is generous, strategic, and deserves greater recognition and support from the wider philanthropic sector.
It is for the family that sends money home every month and wonders if there is a smarter way to do it. Para el/la emprendedor/a who has built significant wealth and feels the pull of responsibility without knowing where to begin. For the professional who gives generously to everyone around them and has never once sat down to ask what their giving actually stands for. For the financial advisor who works with Latino clients every day and knows there is a conversation they are not yet equipped to have.
Every issue will bring you a combination of story and strategy, cultural depth and practical tools. Some will challenge the way you think about money and generosity. Some will give you something concrete you can do this week. All of them will treat you as exactly what you are: one of the most generous, values-driven, and underestimated communities in the US.
Because “hoy por ti, mañana por mí” is not just something we say.
It is something we live.
If this resonated with you —
Forward this now to one person in your family or network who embodies generosity but has never had a name for it. Together, we can elevate our tradition by sharing this message—help build the community we need.