Latin America

The Global Philanthropy Environment Index “Latin America” region includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. 

This report includes all sovereign countries of South America, except Paraguay, Guyana, and Suriname. Although technically part of North America, this report continues to include Mexico, and for the first time, the Central American nation of Costa Rica. Taken altogether, these 11 countries contain approximately 89 percent of the population of the entire Latin American region.  

We see a few countries actively promoting greater ease of operating and improved political and socio-cultural environments for the philanthropic sector, which result in an overall regional slight increase in these areas. The improved indicators would be much higher over the past three years were it not for a few countries where these areas have deteriorated immensely, such as Venezuela and Argentina.

There has also been an increased hostility in the region over cross-border flows, both coming and going. Increased regulations on outflows due to concerns of national interests as well as money laundering and trafficking have been adopted in more countries. Incoming flows are also more regulated, as governments increasingly see POs as adversaries.