Spain: are there philanthropists?

In Spain, philanthropy in its modern meaning as a strategic option that adopts forms and processes typical of business investment and identifies market niches where to develop is scarcely defined and rather confuse. Nevertheless, the eight Spaniards included in the Forbes list have their own Foundation, as is also the case of some of the 150.000 individuals with more than one million eur in real estate. But they have opted for a scarce personal commitment with the mission, a low visibility profile and in some cases lack of transparency. Society should call for founders to make a personal contribution and analysis that ensures that Foundations have clear aims and adequate resources.

This unclear situation is due to the fact that 95% of Spanish Foundations have neither capital nor resources, most of them having been created to catch funds or manage services externalised by the Spanish Administration or promoted by Administrations themselves to manage specific services.

A increasing number of enterprises are also creating their own Foundations, whose activities are focused on profitability, reputation and corporate marketing. They are obviously absolutely licit but nevertheless quite away of philanthropy, despite the attempts they sometimes make of claiming this approach.

Nevertheless, there have been some cases in Spain that are worth mentioning. Many years ago, the ?Fundación Barrié de la Maza? donated 41 million eur to build three technical institutes of architecture and engineering in Galicia, as a result from an analysis of the challenges that the regional economy was facing.

Another example is the ?Fundació Soler?, located in the Catalan town of Ripoll, which in 2000 devoted all its assets to improve training and the industrial prospects of a region seriously harmed by the textile crisis.