Dr. Jacqueline Butcher de Rivas has had many professional roles, but all are grounded in one key element of her resume: her role as a Junior League volunteer. A Past President of the Junior League of Mexico City, where she has been a member for many years, and a former AJLI board member, Jacqueline believes deeply in the power of the volunteer to help create lasting community impact and influence the tone of civil discourse.
As President and CEO of the Centro de Investigación y Estudios sobre Sociedad Civil (Center for Research and Civil Society Studies) as well as Vice-President and Research Chair of the Mexican Center for Philanthropy, she has conducted important research on the relationship between citizenship and voluntary service in Mexico. Her academic work on the editorial boards of publications like Prometeo, the Mexican Journal of Humanistic Psychology and Human Development. She has also participated in the Initiative of the Americas of the Council on Foundations and the Advisory Committee of the Global Status of Philanthropy for The World Wide Initiative for Grantmaker Support (WINGS).
As head of JB Consultores, an international firm that provides training in human resources both for the corporate and nonprofit sectors, Jacqueline has been committed to the professionalization of volunteerism in Mexico and has presented papers, articles and speeches advocating for voluntary action and civil participation in seminars throughout the world.
She has also taken leadership roles at the Mexican Center for Philanthropy (Cemefi), the International Society for Third Sector Research, and the National Mexican Health Foundation the Patrimonio de la Beneficencia Pública, a Mexican government organization designed to support non-government organizations, or NGOs, in Mexico.
The child of U.S.-born parents who relocated to Mexico when she was five, Rivas joined Girl Guides, her church choir, and her high school yearbook staff before joining the Junior League of Mexico City at the age of 18. “Volunteering helps you grow as a person,” she says. “You can go through the motions, but if you really live it, it changes you.”