Consuelo Castro
Ms. Consuelo Castro has a law degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and an International Relations degree from Universidad Iberoamericana.
Since 1994 Ms. Castro has worked with the Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía (CEMEFI) as Coordinator of the Legal Department. She is a board member of AFP Mexico City Chapter and Habitat for Humanity Mexico, and an advisory board member of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) based in the U.S.
She has actively participated in the promotion of legal and regulatory framework initiatives to promote philanthropy and citizenship values in Mexico. For a decade Ms. Castro has worked with groups presenting and promoting a draft bill entitled “Law of Promotion for the Activities Performed by Non Profit Organizations.” Alter presenting to the House of Representatives, the draft was finally enacted and published in February 2004. In the fiscal field, Ms. Castro has presented proposals and succeeded, for example, in obtaining local tax exemptions in Mexico City for organizations dedicated to poverty relief.
Part of the functions of the legal area of CEMEFI include helping persons coming from multicultural backgrounds to incorporate non profit organizations, get tax incentives and orientation on the compliance of their legal obligations.
Ms. Castro is a well-published author with such works as a 2005 booklet “Legal and Fiscal Issues of Civil Society Organizations,” collaborating with Laura Randall on the book Changing Structure of Mexico, and contributing a chapter on Mexico to the book Las Fundaciones en Iberoamérica, Régimen Jurídico (“Foundations in Iberoamerica, Legal Framework”). Further, she has written for “El Tercer Sector Iberoamericano: Fundaciones, Asociaciones y ONGs” (“The Third Sector in Ibero America, Foundations, Associations and NGOs”) and translated for BoardSource booklets on non profit governance on the following topics: Conflict of Interest, Policy Making, and Board Chair Role.
Her lecturing and international event participation includes: ICNL’s “Global Forum on Civil Society Law” in 2005; the “Annual Forum of the National Center for Nonprofit Boards” (NCNB), 2000; “Regulatory and Tax Reform, Philanthropy and Social Change in Latin America Workshop” organized by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organization, 2000; and the Workshop “Models for the Fiscal Treatment of Non Governmental Organizations” organized by Europhil and Kluwer International, 1998.
Ms. Castro has also served as a training consultant in more than 60 workshops on non-profit boards (good governance practices) in countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Peru.