Describes the story of one of the first geographically focused foundations in Mexico, which was created by a group of international foundations (Rockefeller Foundation, International Youth Foundation, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Kellogg Foundation), and later joined by renowned businessmen and social leaders from Oaxaca, to respond to the social conflicts in the southern region of the country (i.e., Chiapas). FCO's experience offers an interesting view of cross-sector interactions between the business and social communities and of the strategic change from supporting rather isolated projects with limited interactions among actors to focusing on specific locations, explicitly promoting collaboration networks and social capital creation.

In 1997, the Mexican subsidiary of the Groupe Danone, a global actor in the food industry, decided to launch a cause-related marketing campaign jointly with a civil society organization. The chosen partner was the Friendship Home (Casa de la Amistad para Ninos con Cancer, I.A.P.), an organization engaged in providing free medical treatment to low-income children suffering from cancer. Through the campaign, called "Let's Build Their Dreams," the company donated a fraction of the price of each yogurt product sold over a period of time.

In the early 1990s, the Mexican Grupo Bimbo was a leader in the world food industry, operating in 16 countries. In November 1993, Papalote Children's Museum (Papalote Museo del Nino) was created in Mexico City. This civil society organization intended to contribute to children's intellectual and emotional development through interactive and educational games and experiments. Shortly after its creation, the museum entered into a collaborative agreement with Bimbo, and the company agreed to sponsor several exhibitions in exchange for brand exposure on museum premises. Eventually, both parties jointly developed new activities such as the Public School Sponsoring Program, which covered the expenses for low-income children's visits to Papalote Children's Museum. Through sponsorships, the company contributed to several museum programs, such as the "Mobile Papalote"--a traveling version of the museum touring other regions in the country.

Mexico City's Junior League, the Mexican chapter of Junior League International, was a civil society organization founded to promote volunteer work, women's potential, and community enhancement. Tetra Pak was the world's leader in multilayer packaging production. In the mid-1990s, parts of urban waste, such as multilayer packaging containers, were not recycled in Mexico. Every month, Mexico City alone disposed of 35 million containers of this kind, which took 35 years to disintegrate. In 1995, both organizations entered into a partnership to recycle these containers. They jointly launched a program called "Recyclable by Nature" and invited all parties benefiting from multilayer packaging to join, thus sharing the responsibility for their final disposal. The program included manufacturers, marketers, consumers, and even the local administration.