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You are currently viewing Charity Insights, which explores the landscape from the perspective of social purpose organisations in this country.
Use the toggle below to switch to Donor Insights and view how and why individuals give.
El sector social colombiano enfrenta una tensión creciente entre una demanda cada vez mayor por sus servicios y las restricciones que limitan su capacidad para responder de manera sostenible. El financiamiento constituye uno de los principales desafíos para las organizaciones sociales: mientras las necesidades se profundizan, persisten dificultades para asegurar recursos suficientes, estables y diversificados. En Colombia, este reto adquiere una dimensión particular, puesto que persiste una brecha entre la voluntad de ayudar y la canalización de esos recursos hacia organizaciones sociales, lo que plantea un desafío para la capacidad del sector de movilizar recursos de manera sostenible.
Esta brecha está estrechamente relacionada con la confianza, la visibilidad del impacto y la capacidad de las organizaciones para comunicar de manera clara el valor que generan. El desafío no es únicamente ampliar las fuentes de financiación, sino también fortalecer las capacidades institucionales que permitan construir confianza, evaluar y reportar resultados y conectar de manera más efectiva las necesidades sociales con los recursos disponibles.
Es precisamente en este espacio donde la Asociación de Fundaciones Empresariales (AFE) concentra parte de su trabajo: fortalecer las capacidades institucionales de las organizaciones, promover una mayor rigurosidad en la medición y gestión del impacto y generar evidencia que facilite una mejor conexión entre organizaciones, financiadores y tomadores de decisiones. A través de espacios de construcción colectiva de conocimiento y datos, la AFE busca hacer más visible el valor que genera el sector y contribuir a cerrar la brecha entre resultados, confianza y movilización de recursos. Así, su apuesta trasciende el fortalecimiento individual de las organizaciones y apunta a construir un entorno más habilitante para la sostenibilidad, legitimidad y capacidad de incidencia del sector fundacional colombiano.
The Colombian social sector faces increasing tension between a growing demand for its services and the constraints that limit its capacity to respond sustainably. Funding is one of the main challenges for social organisations — while needs deepen, difficulties persist in securing sufficient, stable, and diversified resources. In Colombia, this challenge takes on a particular dimension, as a gap persists between the willingness to help and the channelling of those resources to social organisations, posing an issue to the sector's capacity to mobilise resources sustainably.
This gap is closely related to trust, the visibility of impact, and the ability of organisations to clearly communicate the value they generate. The challenge is not only to expand funding sources but also to strengthen institutional capacities that allow for building trust, evaluating and reporting results, and more effectively connecting social needs with available resources.
It is precisely in this area that the Asociación de Fundaciones Empresariales (AFE) focuses part of its work: strengthening the institutional capacities of organisations, promoting greater rigour in impact measurement and management, and generating evidence that facilitates better connections between organisations, funders, and decision-makers. Through spaces for the collective construction of knowledge and data, the AFE seeks to make the value generated by the sector more visible and contribute to closing the gap between results, trust, and resource mobilisation. Thus, its commitment transcends the individual strengthening of organisations and aims to build a more enabling environment for the sustainability, legitimacy, and influence of the Colombian foundation sector.
Overall, would you say the charity sector in your country is…
Which challenges are most pressing for your organisation? (select the top 3):
How did organisations find coping with this increased demand over the last 12 months?
Which, if any, of these actions have you had to take in order to cope with increasing demand?
The proportion of charities that receive each type of funding:
If you received no more donations or funding from today, how long could you continue operating using only your reserves, any investments or earned income?
How much of your funding is given as ‘restricted’ funds?
Geographically, where does your funding come from?
Aside from giving more money, how could funders empower organisations like yours to do more good?
Which of the following statements, if any, do you feel apply to funders?
Roughly speaking, how much time do you spend on each of the following?
Which of the following would you like to do a better job of engaging ?(select up to two)
How well does civil society in your country collaborate together for the greater good?
What are the barriers to developing your civil society network further?
How effectively do you do the following?
Does your organisation use a formal framework or strategy for capturing and measuring impact?
How trustworthy do you think the people of your country find the following types of organisations?
Overall, do you think the Government is a positive or negative influence on the charitable sector?
We believe that social investment, through family and business foundations in Colombia, transforms realities. For this reason, we connect, strengthen, make visible and protect the work of this type of foundation, guided by good practices of transparency and management.
AFE's 2025-2030 strategy is based on four key strategic roles that will guide its actions in the coming years.
1. We strengthen the articulation between AFE associates and external actors, optimizing resources and generating synergies, which allows us to increase financing opportunities and leverage capacities.
2. We promote high performance in the foundational sector through the creation of a standard of quality and transparency and the strengthening of capacities.
3. We position AFE as a key source of information on the foundational sector in Colombia for decision-making, through the centralization and dissemination of quality information.
4. We promote an enabling environment for members in the face of changes in the legal system that affect common interests.
We believe that social investment, through family and business foundations in Colombia, transforms realities. For this reason, we connect, strengthen, make visible and protect the work of this type of foundation, guided by good practices of transparency and management.
AFE's 2025-2030 strategy is based on four key strategic roles that will guide its actions in the coming years.
1. We strengthen the articulation between AFE associates and external actors, optimizing resources and generating synergies, which allows us to increase financing opportunities and leverage capacities.
2. We promote high performance in the foundational sector through the creation of a standard of quality and transparency and the strengthening of capacities.
3. We position AFE as a key source of information on the foundational sector in Colombia for decision-making, through the centralization and dissemination of quality information.
4. We promote an enabling environment for members in the face of changes in the legal system that affect common interests.
