Networking was a concept virtually unheard of in the 1970s. It was particularly alien to non-government organizations in the Philippines, at least, until the Association of Foundations (AF) came to be.
Established in November 1972, AF is the country’s first network of non-government organizations (NGOs). Its mission is to enable its member foundations to develop sustainable programs that serve their communities.
Through the years, AF has become a bridge to grant opportunities, capacity builder, data bank, consultant, and an advocate of key issues. It is committed to the constant growth and professionalism of its member foundations in their efforts to improve the quality of human life.
AF is the most experienced federation of foundations in the country, and perhaps the most heterogeneous in membership. Its well over one hundred member foundations come from all over the Philippines—from highly urbanized Metro Manila to the northernmost province of Batanes to the southern island of Mindanao. These foundations are involved in education, science and technology, health, art and culture, governance, social development and other special interests such as environment and micro-finance. The AF membership includes leading non-profit institutions, corporate foundations, and even small organizations based in remote rural areas. Such diversity is a clear reflection of AF’s pluralism, its multi-cause orientation being one of its main strengths and constant challenge as well.
In its early years, AF operated primarily as a clearinghouse of information among foundations. It also initiated the accreditation of member foundations in order to maintain the highest standards of integrity at a time when foundations lacked the esteem they deserved.
AF became the venue where people and foundations with expertise in specific fields shared their knowledge and experiences with those who were smaller or newer. With this, the National Science Development Board looked at AF member foundations as the dedicated few aiming for credibility in the highest degree.
As a result, AF also operated as an advocacy body dedicated to fostering a deeper public understanding of foundations as institutions of nation-building. It published the first-ever Philippine Directory of Foundations in 1974, followed by a four-volume edition in 1979 and subsequent updates backed by an electronic databank in 1990 and 1996.
In the late 70s, the role of AF expanded to include fund sourcing to ensure the survival of its member foundations. It was also at this time that AF actively lobbied for issues such as tax incentives and other policies that threatened to stifle the growth of non-government organizations. AF was determined to establish itself as a partner of government in the task of national building.
In the decade following the EDSA Revolution in 1986, AF mobilized a total of P25 Million for 45 projects nationwide. It put together the Philippine-Canadian Human Resource Development Program which prioritized capability building among member foundations. In 1992, AF hosted and managed the United Nations Development Programme Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme. AF also became a founding member of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), the National Coordinating Council on Local Government (NCC-LG), and the Federation of People’s Sustainable Development Cooperatives. In the same year, the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF), which advocates philanthropy among business corporations in the Philippines, began as a sub-sector of AF. Its international affiliations include involvement in the Asia-Pacific Advisory Forum of CIVICUS, a world alliance of civil society organizations. Today, AF is the only umbrella organization of Philippine foundations recognized by the Council on Foundations (USA).
After nearly 3 decades of trailblazing work, AF has truly made an impression on government and non-government institutions, in the Philippines and around the world.
