Introduction

Fundación Corona’s mission is to promote social development, quality of life, and equity in Colombia by building the capacity of diverse organizations. Its vision is to become a leader in the development of innovative, replicable, comprehensive, and sustainable models that improve quality of life, equity and development in Colombia.

The following principles guide the Foundation: 1) creating public goods, 2) not working alone, 3) mobilizing matching funds, 4) adapting to the needs of the country based on context analysis and evidence, 5) defined focus, 6) learning through pilots and risk-taking, 7) building knowledge, and 8) capacity building.

The Foundation has focused on the dual issues of removing barriers to social mobility through education to employment and fostering citizen engagement since 2014. It recently embarked on a strategic review process to validate and refine its theory of change.

A Brief History of Fundación Corona

Fundación Corona is a Colombian family foundation created in 1963 by the Echavarría Olózaga family to support the education and basic needs of their Corona organization employees.  In the 1970s the name and strategy were changed to Fundación Santa Elena, broadening its scope to employment, income generation, and entrepreneurship, but maintaining its work in education, housing, diffusion of sciences and culture, and supporting national social programs. Additionally, it became interested in public health issues caused by administrative or government performance problems.

In the 1980s, the Foundation strengthened its strategy while maintaining its core areas of work. Efforts in institutional development—particularly those aimed at improving performance, building alliances, and influencing public policy—led to the creation of schools and the provision of scholarship grants, some of which were managed through the Colombian Institute for Educational Loans (ICETEX). At the same time, the Foundation partnered with the National Learning Service (SENA) to create technical training schools that provided half a minimum salary for trainees. The Foundation also created the Entrepreneurial Development Fund as well as programs to foster democracy, peaceful coexistence, and early childhood development (Fundación Corona, 2023). In the late 1980s, the Foundation created software for the Ministry of Health which is the basis for today’s Health Excellence Organization. It also contributed to public policy guidelines under Law 100 of 1993 that created the Sistema de Seguridad Social Integral (Fundación Corona, 2023).

The 1990s was a very reflective period for the family and the board. The family and business leadership renamed the organization Fundación Corona. This change reinforced the Foundation’s identity and coincided with the consolidation of an independent team. Prior to that, the Foundation had no dedicated team and was guided by family members and Corona’s presidents.

The family and foundation leadership made a critical strategic decision in this period: the Foundation would not be an implementing organization, but a second level foundation focused on strengthening the capacities of others to generate greater impact. The family transferred assets to build Corona Foundation’s endowment. Since the 1990s, successive strategic reviews have consistently reaffirmed the positioning of the Foundation as a second-level organization dedicated to capacity building.

The Philanthropic Context of Colombia

Many family and company foundations were created in Colombia in the 1960s, and growth in the number and diversity of foundations has been exponential through the late 2010s. The Association of Family and Corporate Foundations, founded in 2008 to facilitate dialogue and collaborative exchange between philanthropic organizations in Colombia, currently has 90 members.

These foundations are not political; traditionally, they have been viewed as allies of the government as providers of catalytic and risk capital. In Colombia, 86 percent of foundations have partnered with the government, the highest percentage in Latin America (AFE, 2018). Generally, local stakeholders perceive foundations as entities that test innovative models, which can sometimes be challenging or disruptive. The country’s conflict has generated social needs that philanthropists have not ignored; in fact, these needs have prompted active responses. Under the most recent national administration, relationships between foundations and the national government have weakened but not dissolved, and at the local level they remain strong.

Historically, Echavarría Olózaga family members and Corona Foundation directors have had influence in public affairs, although they define themselves as politically neutral. In the 1990s, for example, Mr. Hernán Echeverría’s close relationship with the government and the presidency allowed for significant contributions to key policy debates, such as those surrounding Law 100 that created the social security system. The Foundation has recognized that its executive and technical teams must cultivate government relations to achieve effective advocacy. In recent years, several board members have been recruited after holding positions in ministries, secretariats, and public offices.

In recent years, the global philanthropic landscape has shifted, with major donors moving away from Latin America. This shift has increased demand for grant funding, while also encouraging the exploration of alternative social financing models. Despite the changes to finance for development, Colombia’s philanthropic ecosystem remains strong—capable of mobilizing matching funds, ensuring transparency, collaborating, investing in monitoring and evaluation, and maintaining accountability. Some large international foundations and innovative finance funders have seen an opportunity in Colombia as a social and impact innovation hub, and the private sector has increased social investments. Fundación Corona is well-positioned in this changing environment—not only because of the support it receives from organizations and the family, but also because its spirit of innovation, collaboration, and experimentation has enabled it to adapt effectively to challenging contexts.

 

Activities and Intervention Models

In 2013, with the support of Compartamos con Colombia, a philanthropic consultancy firm, the Foundation undertook a deep analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing Colombia. The process involved the Echavarría Olózaga family, public leaders, and allies. Based on the study findings, the Foundation refocused on promoting social mobility, the capacity for individuals to progress along the socioeconomic ladder.

An OECD study found that it takes 11 generations for a Colombian person born into a low-income family to access an average income level, implying a very low level of social mobility (OECD, 2018). Convinced that education is the best tool to tackle this challenge, Fundación Corona defined education for employment and citizen engagement as the two principal areas it would pursue.

The first years under this strategy (2014-2018) were invested in knowledge generation through research and practice by engaging in projects and programs, mapping existing solutions and capacities, and understanding barriers and gaps to overcome education to employment pathways and effective citizen engagement. Findings were integrated into two models that conceptualized and suggested ways to address major barriers to advance social mobility: the Inclusive Employment Model (Fundación Corona U. A., 2017) and the Participa+ Model for Citizen Engagement (Fundación Corona M., 2018). Both models established conceptual and systemic frameworks based on an understanding of the key barriers that hinder the progress of vulnerable populations and affect relationships between citizens, between citizens and institutions, and from institutions toward citizens. The models proposed ways to interpret these challenges and defined guidelines to address them. Rather than a set of steps to follow, the models are tools for assessing local system conditions to identify intervention points—called technical components—which reflect the main barriers where individuals or organizations face obstacles.

By disseminating these models as public goods, the Foundation raised awareness of key factors for promoting inclusive employment and meaningful civic participation. They served as a foundation for data analysis, agenda setting and influence at both national and local levels and guided the structuring and strengthening of projects and programs, as well as the design of innovative solutions (methodologies and tools) co-designed and available to all system stakeholders. Additionally, the models provided analytical guidelines, facilitated dialogue, and supported initiatives that influenced practices and policies on inclusive employment, open government, and related areas.

The Inclusive Employment Model

The Inclusive Employment Model was created with Fundación ANDI, the business guild foundation, and ACDI/VOCA. It is a conceptual tool that identifies actors, routes, moments, strategies, methodologies, and technical components that relate to the conditions that impede a person’s flow through education to employment trajectories. The model offers an integrated view of the system and to identify opportunities to dismantle the barriers that prevent hard-to-place populations from accessing and remaining in the job market. (See Annex 1 for an illustration of the model.)

Among the barriers are issues such as lack of access to training services, lack of basic and technical skills, absence of comprehensive socio-occupational guidance schemes, exclusionary selection processes, and discriminatory social barriers. Each component of the model is designed to understand and reduce or eliminate obstacles that arise during moments that influence a person’s effective transition to labor inclusion.

The model facilitates identifying and prioritizing actions at the intersections between four components and four stages, in which different actors of the system, strategies, practices, and policies interact and influence the trajectory from education to employment.

Citizen Engagement Model, Participa+

The Participa+ Model was co-designed by Fundación Corona and Movilizatorio, a civil society organization that mobilizes citizen power in pursuit of a socially and environmentally equitable world. The model is a strategic framework that addresses citizen participation in Colombia. It seeks to break down the barriers that discourage and constrain effective citizen engagement and those that undermine the legitimacy of democracy. It focuses on three types of interactions among diverse actors: citizen to citizen, citizen to government, and government to citizen. These are addressed through comprehensive and systemic technical components, allowing citizen participation to be viewed as a collective, political, and cultural endeavor that generates positive structural transformations:

1. Leadership: The development of individual and collective competencies that citizens use to foster more effective and pro-social interactions with other actors.
2. Advocacy: Focuses on social actors making use of innovative mechanisms to ensure that their proposals are considered by institutions, promoting a “virtuous circle of governance.”
3. Open Government: Encouraging public institutions to recognize the needs of citizens and share information freely, so that citizens and government can work together and make joint decisions.

See Annex 2 for an illustration of the model.

Activities

The models became the main tools for the Foundation’s technical team to develop categories of actions: knowledge generation, tool building, influence, and deployment.

The Foundation always works with allies to fulfill these tasks. Collaborators are diverse and vary depending on the skills needed for each activity: experts, consultancy firms, local or international organizations, implementing organizations, peer foundations, initiatives (programs or projects), guilds, academia, employers, public institutions (Planning, Education, Labour Ministries, local Town Halls, or their secretariats of education, Economic Development, Social Integration, administrative departments), and others have partnered with the Foundation. Partnership forms include providing funding and technical support (through directive and technical committees) to enhancing initiatives and systematizing processes towards social solutions that could be replicated or scaled (through the provision of consultants).

Knowledge generation: The Foundation built and shared the models as public goods, available to anyone interested in using them, and generated data to support and advocate for action. Some examples of different knowledge generation processes are described below:

• Recognizing that one of the main barriers of education to employment is the lack of consolidated data and analysis of education to employment trajectories, the Foundation and partners invested in the generation and publication of an annual National Report on Inclusive Employment. The report, produced through the Inclusive Employment Alliances, organizes available data under the structure of the Model, reflecting on persistent challenges and suggesting recommendations to decision makers. The report is presented at national and local events, and the data is analyzed, written and presented in collaboration with experts in each of the topics it analyzes.
• The Foundation also partnered with Fundación Luker to systematize their Universidad en tu Colegio Model, as it proved successful in pertinent skills development and had the potential to be replicated and transferred to other cities. The model has secured public funding for several years in Manizales, where advocacy efforts lead by Fundación Luker have been able to sustain public support over political transitions. Lessons from this experience and the model have allowed it to be presented and replicated in other regions of the country.
• The Foundation commissioned Fundación Ideas para la Paz to assess implementation of the Participa+ model in secondary cities in the Colombian pacific, Yumbo and Buenaventura. The goal is to identify any intended or unintended results in the cities, assess the interconnectedness of the technical components and the tools developed, and to identify recommendations for further implementers of the model. The findings were widely shared through socializing and learning events in late 2025, providing the lessons learned as a public good for any organization interesting in advancing citizen engagement processes.

Tools and capacity generation: Whenever the tools required to advance technical components are not available in the social sector or the market, the Foundation has joined efforts to develop them. Tools are conceived as public goods to be transferred and further developed by others, provided future users acknowledge the intellectual property from the developers and Fundación Corona.

One example is the creation of a vocational orientation methodology with Teach for Colombia, which has been widely deployed through different partnerships at no cost; both the guides and the methodology to build them are public goods. The methodology has been widely adapted and used to create sector-specific tools for vulnerable populations. For example, the Guides Mi Brújula provides orientation for education to employment trajectories in the digital economy, health and wellbeing, energy and electricity and construction and infrastructure. These guides were built with the Local Town Hall of Bogotá and involved many industry stakeholders to understand the possible education to employment trajectories they offer. They are used to orient youth in their decision-making processes. Since 2023, the methodology for socio-vocational orientation has reached on average 196 educational institutions and 24,400 students from 8^th to 11^th grade in 14 departments per year. Thirteen partners have replicated the model with guidance and training from the Vocational Orientation Program team.

Fundación Corona also takes risks to build and test innovative models to serve as demonstration projects that can be learned from and replicated by others, like the creation of the social impact bonds program. Under the program, More Pay by Results, the Foundation plays an intermediary role to create knowledge and build markets, under an alliance with the IDB Lab, SECO Swiss Cooperation, The Social Prosperity Department of Colombia, Fundación Bolivar Davivienda and Fundación Santo Domingo. Initially three impact bonds were deployed as pilots. Advocacy efforts were made to create the enabling conditions for the instrument in Colombia, where legal and financial rules needed to be adapted to allow its implementation. Social impact bonds were included in the National Development Plan 2018-2022, and a change in regulations generated enabling conditions, making the mechanism more viable to be used by other actors.

Currently, the program is focused on sharing and supporting other organizations to create market capacity and demand — Fundación Corona has turned down requests to directly implement social impact bonds. With the aim of growing its potential if the model is widely spread, the Foundation’s catalytic role is to be a market developer rather than a market player.

In recent years the National Planning Department, the Public Employment Service, Pro Antioquia and the Town Hall of Bogotá have adopted innovative finance mechanisms, such as results based financing, in topics like productivity, environment protection, health and education.

The success of the program has attracted interest beyond Colombia: the IDB lab has requested Fundación Corona to transfer the learnings and capacities to other Latin American countries like El Salvador, Honduras, and Perú.

Influence is one of the core tasks of the technical team. Aiming to generate awareness of system challenges and where actions could be pivotal in improving performance and outcomes, the Foundation shares knowledge on the models at multiple levels. Different tactics are used, including data gathering and analysis to generate evidence on the current state of the systems. For example, the National Report on Inclusive Employment provides data and analysis of major cities’ performance on inclusive employment. The report is shared through publication, events in main cities, and working sessions with decision makers and system stakeholders.

On the side of citizen participation, the Ciudades Cómo Vamos program has been widely replicated nationally and internationally, mainly in Latin America. The program focuses on advocacy, tracking quality of life indicators provided by local authorities, and subjective perception data gathered through a survey. The data is published and shared in public events in each city and provides progress analysis of the local implementation plans defined by local governments, holding them accountable to citizens and advocating for improving data availability, public planning, and performance.

To replicate the Cómo Vamos Model, there must be a founding alliance of four local institutions: academia, local media, civil society organizations, and the chamber of commerce. An alliance of these four sectors creates better relationships between local actors to mobilize advocacy efforts and guarantees the financing and resources needed to deploy the model. The first program, Bogotá Cómo Vamos, was created in 1998 by a national alliance between Universidad Javeriana (academia), El Tiempo (national press media), Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá (Chamber of Commerce) and Fundación Corona (a civil society organization).

There are 17 programs within the country’s main cities that account for 50 percent of the country’s GDP (DANE, 2023). The Cómo Vamos Program has been adapted to other topics like National Natural Parks and Rural Women Cómo Vamos.

Deployment: Fundacion Corona’s projects include multi-stakeholder initiatives implemented or led by other organizations or through teams administered by the foundation, territorial strategies, and national-level advocacy, with partnerships with public institutions, civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector. The Foundation participates in initiatives it administers (most of them are programs and knowledge platforms, some with collective impact purpose) and third-party initiatives. All initiatives have been designed and guided by the models.

The Foundation deploys its models through either bounded or comprehensive implementation. Bounded implementation refers to the development of a tool and its scale or replication from the technical components of the models, for example, the vocational occupational methodology. Comprehensive (or “integral”) implementation refers to a long-term vision developed in partnership with local actors using a systems approach. Examples include Activa Buenaventura, implemented with funding from a Global Development Alliance of USAID and 10 local partners, and the Global Opportunity Youth Initiative in Bogotá and Barranquilla that has a system approach to youth education and employment challenges.

 

Governance and Organizational Structure

In the 1990s, the family developed a governance protocol, governance structures for Organización Corona as a holding, and an organizational structure for Fundación Corona that remains today. The Foundation’s Board consists of nine members: five family members and four external members. This ensures generational continuity while incorporating external perspectives that enrich the Foundation’s vision, knowledge, and influence.

Over the past 15 years, a generational transition from the third to the fourth generation has taken place. In the present board committee, four family members belong to the fourth generation and one to the third generation. The family has assumed more active roles, not only as board members but also as chair and vice chair. Their responsibilities include strategic guidance, opportunity identification, family engagement, and alignment of the Foundation’s goals with the family’s vision.

The organizational structure has changed over time, but currently the Foundation is structured into four management units—two for projects, one for administration and finance, and one for human talent and administration. In 2022, under the territorial approach (discussed further below), two geographically focused roles were created within each management unit.

The Foundation’s team includes 32 staff members across project management, support areas (human talent, administration, and finance), and cross-cutting areas (planning and learning, transformation, and communications). In addition, there are 30 project staff members and more than 50 contractors who provide technical and operational expertise as part of the project and program teams. For a full organizational chart, see Annex 3.

The project management divisions are responsible for the implementation of the strategy with a systemic approach, engaging stakeholders, and developing influence efforts. They also provide technical knowledge and guidance to the initiatives in which the Foundation is involved. The Planning and Learning team ensures strategic alignment, monitoring, and knowledge management, while the Transformation and Communications team oversees communication strategies, narrative change, and cultural transformation. Meanwhile, the support teams guarantee the effective functioning of operations.

At present, the organizational model is undergoing an update aimed at aligning with the Foundation’s strategic priorities. The last major reorganization took place in 2011. The current review includes: 1) Structure (How the Foundation is organized), 2) Responsibilities (who does what), 3) Governance (How decisions are made), 4) Ways of working (how people collaborate and interact), and 5) Capabilities (People, processes and IT needed to function properly and execute the strategy successfully).

 

Funding and Funding Modalities

Fundación Corona operates with an approximate annual budget of 11,500 million COP (USD 3,000,000) for 2025. The Foundation relies on two main sources of income: returns from the endowment and donations from the Family or the holding company. It manages two portfolios: one in USD, primarily aimed at protecting and strengthening its financial sustainability; and another in COP, oriented towards fully leveraging the Foundation’s operations. Donations—received from the Corona Organization—are directed to the strategic and mission-driven development of the institution. Over the past three years, donations have increased significantly, and the Foundation expects them to increase in the next five years.

Since 2021, the Board and the Financial Committee have approved a budget and operational expenditure increase. This decision was made to deepen and catalyze the Foundation’s impact on the ecosystem, expanding both the scope of initiatives supported and the technical and operational capacity of its teams. Fundación Corona also invests in its staff: the high-level employees and contractors (most of whom have a master’s degree) are expected to pursue knowledge, innovation, and advocacy as primary agents of ecosystem building and network growth.

A key component of the Foundation’s financial strategy is its strong leverage policy. For the past decade, every peso (COP) invested directly by Fundación Corona in a program or initiative has mobilized between seven and nine pesos from other stakeholders. This model attracts resources and fosters collaboration, with the Foundation contributing not only financial leverage but also technical expertise, methodologies, and operational support. The leverage policy ensures local operators create alliances and partnerships with different stakeholders to guarantee the resources needed to deploy strategies sustainably and responsibly.

The Foundation supports the financial sustainability of programs, projects, and consulting exercises by investing resources such as money and in-kind contributions through technical support. Fundación Corona also co-funds initiatives, using its resources to mobilize additional funding. Initiatives can come from third party organizations or be created through alliances.

It also participates in grant calls on behalf of and alongside of the initiatives it supports, allowing them to maintain independence and autonomy in resource mobilization. When external funding from major donors—such as the Botnar Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), or the Aspen Institute, among many others—is secured, Fundación Corona acts as the anchor partner or as the manager of the resources. In this role, it receives, manages, executes, and supervises and is accountable for the resources while ensuring compliance with regulations and financial efficiency and aiming for impactful results.

Throughout its history, Fundación Corona has been recognized as a pioneer in financial innovation within the philanthropy ecosystem in Colombia, consistently taking bold risks. In addition to social impact bonds discussed previously, it has introduced mechanisms such as income share agreements funds, outcomes-based contracts and funds, and it is looking to start investing in impact funds from the endowments. More recently, the Foundation has advanced into blended finance through impact-linked finance, combining private and public resources. This approach requires strong trust among stakeholders as well as robust legal frameworks capable of meeting public accountability and oversight standards.

 

The Mainstreaming Journey and Its Drivers

The Echavarría Olózaga family committed to pursuing long-term impact through the Foundation and has focused on overcoming structural barriers since the 1990s. The family identified institutional development as the basis for progress (knowledge, processes, norms, and culture) and considers it the only way to advance systemic transformations that is inclusive, sustainable, and scalable. The creation of institutions such as the Development and Entrepreneurship Fund, the strengthening of ICETEX, and the promotion of initiatives like the Health Excellence Organization demonstrated the value of building institutional capacity. The Foundation’s leadership concluded that their resources and convening power would be much more effective and efficient if used to strengthen the capacities of existing organizations or create new ones, rather than directly operating programs.

Since the 1990s, the Foundation has dedicated itself to fostering capacities, creating programs, and developing knowledge of practices and models to share as public goods. (Fundación Corona, 2023). For example, in 1994, the Foundation partnered with multiple allies to conduct a study on the key factors affecting education quality. Addressing how to better support citizens’ local needs became a central focus, leading to the creation of the Civic Prize for a Better City and Bogotá Cómo Vamos—both of which were later replicated nationally, with the Cómo Vamos model even adopted internationally.

Fundación Corona has evolved from project-based programming to systemic, ecosystem-based strategies that are more effective drivers of achieving change at scale. In 2011, the Foundation integrated scaling by prioritizing the development of scalable, replicable, and sustainable models. Its current strategy centers on positioning itself as a catalyst for collective impact, pursuing a systemic approach as a key mechanism to ensure long-term sustainability and resilience, policy adoption, and replication of effective practices across different organizations and institutions. The Foundation also invests in collective knowledge production and is aligning its impact measurement frameworks with long-term systems change indicators.

Another major experiment in scalable implementation occurred when the Foundation adopted a “territorial strategy”: all components of the Inclusive Employment and Citizen Engagement models would be deployed simultaneously in select cities. Although Fundación Corona operates at the national level, it prioritized certain territories for concentrated work, including Bogotá, Barranquilla, Buenaventura, Yumbo, and Urabá. These areas were selected to advance social equity and allow for comprehensive implementation of the Foundation’s models. The hypothesis was that deploying both models (partially or comprehensively) would improve the system’s overall performance, forging new connections between local stakeholders, amplifying reach, and allowing the programs to support and sustain each other through complementary activities.

The territorial approach led to significant progress. For example, in Buenaventura, a coalition of ten organizations launched a six-year program that strengthened citizen participation. In Yumbo, the Foundation replicated lessons from this experience, while in Barranquilla, collaboration with Global Opportunity Youth Network and Nuestra Barranquilla has achieved notable progress in its first three years of implementation.

After 10 years of experimentation, learning, and knowledge generation, the Foundation has decided to adapt and reconsider the territorial strategy. However, their experience with a territorial approach has led to multiple insights. The first was that coming as an outsider (a Bogotá-based organization) to a new region to promote strategic objectives was very complicated: the Foundation needed first to understand local perceptions and needs, how to facilitate conversations with local actors, and recognize the capacities and strengths of local networks. Although Fundación Corona brought many innovations and trends from the global philanthropy landscape, in some cases it had challenges and implementation errors simply because it did not utilize the principles of systemic analysis. In some cases, having not adapted ideas to the local context, the interventions were not as effective in generating the social transformation they intended.

Initiatives such as Activa Buenaventura, the Global Opportunity Youth Network Bogotá and Barranquilla and Nuestra Barranquilla of the Our Cities Network, among many others, helped the Foundation understand the importance of working directly with local actors. It also led Fundación Corona to include young people in decision-making processes in governance structures and to treat the participants of the initiatives as stakeholders. This strongly shaped the Foundation’s understanding and perspective around how to achieve transformations sustainability and promote local ownership. It broadened the Foundation’s view of what sustainability truly means.

Lessons from the implementation of these models also revealed contextual shifts and limitations that require adaptations and strategic refinement for present and future implementation. For instance, the Participa+ model had to address democratic backsliding, disinformation, and threats to social welfare systems, while the Inclusive Employment Model needed to move beyond a linear approach that overlooked the realities of interrupted education pathways and the growing importance of skilling in a changing demographic context.

The Foundation continues to work with local allies to sustain significant results; however, it is taking lessons from the territorial strategy experience to re-focus on operational and strategic strengths.

 

Vision and Goals of Mainstreaming Scaling

Fundacion Corona’s revised strategy (2025) is that “If the youth opportunities system is activated through the development of shared agendas, capacity building, and the promotion of co-responsible leadership, it will be able to co-create – together with youth – more collaborative, adaptive, and effective ways of working, contributing to education, employment, freedom of choice and influence (advocacy) opportunities that are relevant, sufficient, equitable and leveraged by the youth.”

Fundacion Corona’s core operating hypothesis is that building system capacity is fundamental for long-term transformation and scale. Impact at scale is made possible when stakeholders’ capacities are enhanced and they can effectively influence decision making.

 

The Organization’s Role in Supporting Scaling

Fundación Corona works in collaboration with national and local governments, civil society, academia, the media, and the private sector, recognizing that Colombia’s challenges cannot be solved through isolated efforts. The Foundation emphasizes collaboration and shared responsibility as essential for achieving meaningful change. Its role is to act as a facilitator—fostering evidence-based dialogue, promoting the adoption of proven models, and strengthening civic infrastructure and governance. Sustainability is pursued through co-design processes, institutionalization of models, capacity-building for diverse actors, and promoting co-responsible leadership.

A core priority for Fundación Corona is to ensure that third parties can continue implementing activities independently in the long term. When critical gaps in the system are identified and no organization exists with the capacity to address them, the Foundation strengthens local organizations and has supported the creation of new ones.

Beyond the national level, Fundación Corona has consolidated key international partnerships that extend well beyond financial contributions. Through active participation in international calls for proposals and alliances, it has mobilized significant resources for systemic, long-term initiatives. These collaborations bring not only funding but also access to global knowledge, learning communities, and innovative practices. By engaging in international networks, the Foundation contextualizes global methodologies and adapts them to the Colombian reality.

Access to reliable information and data remains a cornerstone of collaborative action. Without shared data, information, and evidence, collective progress cannot be measured, nor can systemic gaps be identified. While achieving shared measurement has been difficult—due to organizational vulnerabilities around data sharing—the Foundation continues to emphasize its importance. Its new theory of change reflects this commitment, recognizing that many barriers to collaboration arise from the lack of information about the challenges faced by youth and other system stakeholders. Overcoming these barriers is essential for enabling co-creation, informed decision-making, system capacities coordination and effective advocacy.

 

Concrete Actions to Mainstream Scaling

Fundación Corona has taken several actions to institutionalize scaling in its strategy, key among them developing a cross-cutting strategy under an explicit systemic approach and defining operating principles that prioritize long-term change over quick results. Fundación Corona is deepening its mainstreaming of scaling in its new theory of change that reflects the transformations and actions it wants to pursue. This will lead to integrating scaling into design and evaluation criteria, creating internal learning and reflection spaces to monitor scaling pathways, and adjusting funding allocations to support replication and institutionalization.

Scaling has been integrated across many dimensions:

• Strategy, goals, and results metrics: Explicit goals linked to scale and systemic change are part of the strategy, with metrics tracking narrative and behavioral change, policy influence, institutional adoption, capacity and field building, and territorial coverage. It has strengthened MEL practices within its initiatives, integrating systemic mapping, participatory exercises, and collaborative workshops that refine ecosystem understanding and guide intervention design. One of the most persistent challenges has been promoting shared measurement frameworks with partners and public actors. To address this, the Foundation’s initiatives have developed processes to align metrics and indicators, created technical dialogue spaces, and reinforced monitoring capacities within its network.
• Analytical tools and frameworks: The Foundation invests in staff understanding and application of systemic approaches, practices, and tools. The Foundation’s technical team continuously monitors trends in global philanthropy through platforms such as SSIR, CIF, FSG, Impact Alpha, and alliances like OGP and the Global Steering Group on Impact Investment, as well as monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) communities of practice. Through these networks, Fundación Corona has gained exposure to methodologies such as trust-based philanthropy and systems thinking. These approaches have enriched its systemic perspective, strengthened its MEL systems, and informed its initiatives. By investing in knowledge management and monitoring, the Foundation has been able to engage in deeper and more meaningful conversations with its partners and programs. (It has not implemented specific scaling assessments or analytical tools, preferring to focus on systems thinking methodologies.)
• Funding criteria and instruments: Budget allocation prioritizes collaborative efforts, incentivizing local leadership to take on the efforts. The leveraged funds policy catalyzes investment, creates partnerships, and spreads risk, making interventions more sustainable.
• Organizational resources: Dedicated staff and flexible funds support technical development for staff through courses, international and national event attendance, and the freedom to experiment with new tools and frameworks to enhance thinking and implementation.
• Project design and evaluation: Projects and efforts are required to incorporate system practices (collaboration, shared-responsibility, power dynamics awareness, cultural and narrative change tactics) as well as the defined principles under the new strategy. In design and performance evaluation, system-reflective frameworks are being considered and piloted to assess results, focus on understanding pathways to success, and learning to adapt. For example, agenda setting, resources flows, how likely solutions are to be taken up by local stakeholders and their capacity to reach wide numbers, processes that led to results, stakeholder incentives, local ownership and commitment to sustain, and practice and behavior change coherent with the strategic intent are all elements considered in design and evaluation.
• Organizational culture and internal incentives: Learning sessions, shared leadership, and recognition of collaborative work promote a culture that welcomes learning, reflection, adaptation, risk-taking, and a long-term mindset – all of which support scaling.

All the above elements are being revised and consolidated to be more connected with the systems approach. Another key action underway is the revision of the operational model; the Foundation is currently assessing the capacities it has or will have to develop to advance its new strategy.

 

Results of Mainstreaming Efforts

Applying systems thinking, collaborative approaches, and advancing capacity building, the Foundation has focused on education and employment for vulnerable populations—including women, youth, and people with disabilities—who face discrimination and systemic barriers in the labor market. Fundación Corona has worked to change negative perceptions about hiring people with disabilities by engaging human resources teams, developing socio-occupational guidance methodologies, and diversifying employment practices.

By adopting a systems approach that facilitates impact at scale, Fundación Corona has been able to extend the reach of its initiatives and influence systems, stakeholders, practices, and secure public policy shifts. Several key achievements illustrate the impact of this strategy.

The Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN) in Bogotá has built a collaborative of more than 100 organizations, creating three pathways—Digital, Green Jobs, and Construction—that expand opportunities for young people. GOYN produces an annual ecosystem report that informs decision-makers and strengthens youth advocacy with participatory, evidence-based analysis. Its governance model, which includes a rotating presidency and a youth advisory group, has ensured strong participation and sustainability. This structure has already been replicated in GOYN Barranquilla, and the initiative is exploring replication at both the national and rural levels, with the goal of transferring leadership, knowledge, and capacities to other actors. In Bogotá, GOYN is supporting the local Town Hall in the development and implementation of an Opportunity Youth Policy.

The More Pay by Results initiative represents another significant achievement. Supported by international cooperation from Switzerland, IDB Lab, in partnership with the Colombian government, the National Planning Department, and major foundations such as Fundación Santo Domingo and Fundación Bolívar Davivienda, this alliance introduced innovative financing mechanisms with demonstrative effects at the national level. Its results have influenced public policy and legal frameworks, making the model viable for broader adoption. Cities such as Bogotá and Cali, the National Planning Department, the Public Employment Service, and Pro Antioquia have since implemented the approach. The current second phase focuses on capacity-building, market development, and transferring methodologies to enable additional replications across the country, as well as generating learning in different topics such as employment, productivity, environment protection, health and education.

The Nuestra Barranquilla program, part of the Botnar Foundation’s Our Cities network, has also demonstrated the power of systemic approaches. Through a rigorous process of youth engagement and active listening, the program identified priority agendas for young people, and it is currently aligning with other system stakeholders efforts. Its innovative participatory methods led to formal recognition by the city government, which invited the program to support the design of Barranquilla’s Public Policy for Youth. The program also intends to co-fund youth-prioritized solutions, encouraging broader stakeholder participation and investment.

Fundación Corona has also addressed structural barriers through scalable models and tools developed with its partners. The Cómo Vamos model has become a widely replicated methodology, filling a critical gap in the availability of quality information for decision-making, city planning, monitoring, and accountability. Today, thanks to Cómo Vamos, many of Colombia’s major cities benefit from reliable data to guide development plans and assess their implementation. Similarly, the Socio-Occupational Orientation methodology has become a key tool to support individuals during transitions between education and employment. Its adoption by other organizations has positioned it as a crucial mechanism for enabling informed decision-making at pivotal life stages.

Additionally, Fundación Corona has transferred its models regionally, fostering capacity throughout Latin America. As noted earlier, Pay for Results has been transferred to El Salvador, Honduras, and is currently strengthening capacities in Perú, with the support and request from the IDB. Another initiative, Pacto de Productividad, focused on employment inclusion of disabled people has transferred its experience to Chile.

Through these efforts, Fundación Corona has shown how scaling proven models, methodologies, and collaborative approaches not only expands reach but also builds systemic capacity, strengthens public policy, and ensures that solutions are embedded in local institutions for long-term sustainability. Both models have demonstrated replication across territories, policy integration, and sustained impact beyond Fundación Corona’s direct involvement.

Challenges include political turnover, fragmented collaboration, and shifting funding priorities. These have been addressed through adaptive strategies, trust-building processes, and long-term partnerships that transcend electoral cycles.

 

Future of Mainstreaming Scaling

Fundación Corona is in the midst of a deep strategic renewal aimed at making its work more effective, scalable, and systemic. Building on 60 years of experience—and a decade focused on citizen engagement and social mobility—the Foundation undertook a comprehensive review in 2024 with the support of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. This process combined international philanthropic frameworks with internal reflection, feedback from allies, and a review of lessons from past initiatives.

The outcome has been a sharper focus towards its strategic intent: “By 2030, the system of opportunities for youth in Colombia has taken significant steps toward improving its outcomes, incorporating responsible, collaborative, and adaptive practices, which co-create with youth, based on enabling beliefs, educational and employment, and free choice and incidence opportunities.”

To guide its role in the ecosystem, Fundación Corona has embraced two main functions: Campaign Manager and Field Builder. As Campaign Manager, it collaborates to study system dynamics, identifies leverage points, amplifies evidence, and mobilizes collective agendas. It will continue to support studies, create alliances, and amplify youth voices. As Field Builder, it strengthens system capacities through actor mapping, knowledge generation, pilot testing, and support for co-responsible leadership. Together, these roles ensure that solutions are embedded in system stakeholder practices and institutions and sustained over time.

The strategic review also reinforced core principles that will shape the Foundation’s culture and operations:

• Generation of Public Goods: All tools and knowledge are shared openly to promote replication and collaboration.
• Systemic Vision: Addressing root causes and interdependencies rather than symptoms.
• Shared Responsibility: Emphasizing collaboration, mutual obligation, and the recognition that sustainable solutions require joint efforts and contributions.
• Catalytic Innovation: Taking risks to test models in innovative finance and narrative and behavioral changes and inspire wider adoption.
• Continuous and Collaborative Learning: Fostering reflection, evidence-based practice, and trust-building across the ecosystem.

To operationalize this renewed vision, Fundación Corona is revising its organizational model, investing in its technical team, and refining monitoring and evaluation systems to integrate scaling and system thinking. It is also advancing the development of a new theory of change that focuses on the “Youth Education, Employment, Freedom of Choice, and Incidence Opportunities System.” This system approach clarifies the Foundation’s scope, defines actors in both areas of influence and impact, and provides a stronger basis for analyzing its portfolio.

 

Influence Actors

Impact Actors

●      Decision makers that support youth agendas: civil servants, multi-party bodies (Youth Councils and territorial planning) ●      Public institutions ●      Academia ●      Thinktanks ●      Training centers ●      Private sector ●      Unions and guilds ●      Civil society ●      NGOs ●      Initiatives and social alliances ●      Media ●     International cooperation and philanthropy

Young people between 14 and 28 years old, mainly urban: ●     Youth in secondary education or at the age of attending it ●     Disconnected: those who do not study or work or are in the informal sector ●     In transition to employment or income generation ●     With political participation: young people who can vote and be elected (Youth Councils from the age of 14; other processes from the age of 18) ●     Young leaders

 

Looking forward, Fundación Corona seeks to institutionalize scaling further by:

• Promoting changes in beliefs and perceptions to create enabling conditions.
• Creating accurate and high-quality open access information and knowledge to inform decisions.
• Embedding scaling into monitoring and evaluation systems.
• Expanding replication efforts.
• Strengthening leadership (either by Fundación Corona or others) in collective action platforms.
• Securing flexible funding to support innovation and adaptation.

Through these efforts, the Foundation is positioning itself as a systemic leader—building capacities, transferring knowledge, and fostering collaboration so that scalable solutions can drive long-term change for Colombian youth.

 

Lessons Learned for Other Foundations

Fundación Corona combines a strong local reputation with an endowment that allows it to test and pilot innovative approaches. Its perspective on scale is rooted in systemic transformation: rather than working directly with youth, the Foundation strengthens system actors—organizations, practices, processes, and norms—so that outcomes can ultimately reach more young people. This approach has allowed Fundación Corona to generate impact at greater scale, depth, and sustainability.

As a second-level family foundation, Fundación Corona has leveraged its position to learn continuously, build strong networks, and foster alliances that deepen understanding. Its experience underscores several key lessons for the philanthropic sector:

1. Leverage organizational assets while staying adaptive.

Fundación Corona demonstrates the importance of aligning strategy with institutional strengths, such as its reputation, credibility, knowledge, capacity and endowment, while maintaining a rigorous and ongoing understanding of a rapidly changing context. The Foundation’s ability to evolve its strategy, including its current systemic renewal process, illustrates the value of balancing internal assets with external realities. The Foundation has undergone a strategic review process multiple times throughout its long history, emphasizing the importance of regularly pausing, reflecting, and adapting to new circumstances and lessons learned.

2. Scaling requires intentionality and a clear change hypothesis.

Fundación Corona’s strategy is grounded in the belief that strengthening system capacities will produce broader, long-lasting outcomes for youth. Defining this hypothesis has given coherence to its efforts and ensured that scaling is not left to chance. Fundacion Corona also recognizes that scaling is adaptive and iterative and builds in mechanisms for reflection and course correction.

3. Prioritize sustainability and system resiliency over speed or visibility.

Systems change requires long-term efforts. Fundación Corona has focused on embedding solutions in institutions, strengthening leadership, and investing in system capacities, rather than chasing rapid but shallow expansion. Focusing on sustainability and resilience means that scaling should strengthen systems in ways that endure beyond any one organization.

4. Embrace the role of being “one among many.”

Fundación Corona explicitly avoids working in isolation. It seeks to share responsibility with other actors and views its role as complementary to theirs. This perspective requires openness, humility, and a commitment to co-constructed approaches rather than top-down solutions. Importantly, the Foundation uses its funding not only to support its own initiatives but also to multiply impact by catalyzing collaboration, enabling replication, and ensuring sustainability through shared ownership.

5. Relationships at multiple levels amplify impact.

Fundación Corona’s partnerships with both local actors and international networks have been central to its success. These relationships bring resources, diverse perspectives, and knowledge exchange that extend its influence well beyond its direct footprint.

6. Recognize the limits of being “local.”

Although Fundación Corona is a Colombian foundation, based in Bogotá, it has encountered the same challenges any organization faces when working in unfamiliar geographies within the country. Local legitimacy is not automatically transferable; foundations must remain attentive to territorial dynamics, histories, and relationships. This lesson also applies to international funders: national identity should not be assumed to equal local embeddedness.

7. Maintain political neutrality to support systems change.

A long history of political neutrality has enabled Fundación Corona to collaborate directly with governments across administrations. Its credibility as a neutral actor allows it to influence public policy and sustain reforms that outlast electoral cycles—an essential condition for systems transformation.

8. Invest in learning communities and networks.

Fundación Corona’s active participation in platforms such as the Scaling Community of Practice demonstrates the importance of peer learning. Such networks help foundations recognize that there are multiple pathways to scale, understand patterns of success and failure, and connect with like-minded actors. In some cases, these relationships can evolve into co-founders of systemic initiatives at the national level. Fundacion Corona actively encourages staff to participate in international forums and to follow international publications and literature on philanthropic issues.

Taken together, Fundación Corona’s approach shows that scaling is not simply about expanding programs but about strengthening the ecosystem itself. By leveraging assets responsibly, remaining adaptive, and fostering collaboration, foundations can achieve lasting systemic impact.