The foundations and savings banks associated with CECA have been gathered in the headquarters of the Mediterranean Fundación, on 10 and 11 October, to debate on the Obra Social in Spain

The inclusion culture as tool social, the promotion of the financial education in the educational curriculums and the importance of establishing alliances have been the analysed topics

 

The sector CECA - made up of more than thirty foundations that they emphasise for its philanthropic company character and nine credit institutions - has celebrated his Executive Committee of Obra Social and Foundations on 10 and 11 October in the corporate headquarters of the Mediterranean Fundación in Alicante. This annual appointment gathers to the foundations and savings banks that integrate the association CECA to exchange good work experience programs, consider the stock carried out with regard to Obra Social and ponder on priorities of the sector for the next few months.

This year, the Committee has been focused in the work made by the working groups, with special attention to the development of projects of cultural character and the exploration of new lines of incomes that they allow financing more programmes of Obra Social. Similarly, the importance of the financial education has been emphasised, coinciding this Committee with the celebration of the Financial Education's Week.

 

Driving the social development via the culture

The opening of the Committee has been made by Luis Boyer, chairman of Mediterranean Fundación, company hostess, and Rafael Barbero, chairman of the Executive Committee of Obra Social and Foundations and Managing Director of Fundación Caja de Burgos, and it has included Rafael Simon, Fundación general secretary for Mediterranean.

Throughout the meeting, the attendees could visit the Wide open ”exhibition “, initiative that on the culture to the company via a carefully chosen selection of funds of major value from the File of the Fundación Mediterranean, from a current gaze, social, committed, educational and transversal. Similarly, and before the importance of promoting the financial culture between the young, attended the lecture “Pending issue: the financial education in the compulsory education ”, given by Elisa Chuliá, investigator sénior of Social Studies of Funcas. Throughout its intervention has explained the Survey Funcas 2024 on FinancialCulture and Education, whose results confirm that 90% of families Spanish with children in the GCSE believes necessary to increase the weight of the financial education in that school child phase.

Between the outstanding topics of the agenda, special emphasis has been put in the work developed by the working groups. On one hand, advances reached in the generation and cultural contents operations have been analysed and, for another, has been pondered on the valuation of the various programmes and activities that companies of the sector CECA develop in each of the areas of the Obra Social.

The Committee has underlined the big role of the culture as element transformer of the company and promoter of the social cohesion. Keep, promote and spread the culture is an unchanging commitment of the companies associated with CECA, looking for promote the social inclusion. In fact, Culture and Assets is the area of the Obra Social that more impact has in the company. Almost three of each ten initiatives of the Obra Social of the sector CECA are focused on promote the culture and the heritage conservation, having reached in the last ten years to 128 million payees. From 2014, the investment of the Obra Social in this addition area nearly 1,483 million euros; which is equivalent in 2023 at 77% of the appropriation budget to museums in the General Budgets of the State.

Similarly, CECA and its associated companies are aware of that the alliances are fundamental, for this reason they consider that the collaboration between the private public sector and sector is a lever of cooperation essential to promote projects transformers that practice a positive impact in the company. Low this premise, representatives of the foundations and savings banks visited the headquarters of the County Council of Alicante.

The meeting has had the share of representatives of CECA and Funcas, as well as of a broad share of the foundations and savings banks partners: Fundación Mediterranean, Fundación Caja de Burgos, CATTLE RANCHES, Fundación CAI, Fundación “la Caixa ”, Fundación Caja Navarre, Fundación Circle, Fundación Caja Extremadura, Fundación Ibercaja, Fundación Ávila, Fundación La Caja de Canarias, Fundación Unicaja, Fundación Caja Rioja and Caixa Ontinyent.

 

Obra Social of the sector CECA, unceasing work in pro of the well-being of the company

The Obra Social boosted by the companies associated with CECA has been consolidated as an actor key for the educational progress, scientist, cultural, economic and social of Spain. As a social largest investor private of our country, has demonstrated its essential role and its unceasing work in favour of the well-being of the company and the equal opportunities of vulnerable groups.

In 2023, the companies associated with CECA as a whole allocated more than 851 million euros to Obra Social's projects, an increase of 6.37% with respect to the previous year; of the total of the investment, 58.8% was set aside for specific groups. This financing was dedicated to promote 80,964 activities that they reached to more than 30 million payees, in the areas of Social Action, Education and Research, Culture and Assets, Local Development and Creation of Employment and Sport, Leisure and Environment.

In the last decade the Obra Social has had a big role. Thus, from the publication of the Act 26/2013, of 27 December, of Banking Savings Banks and Foundations, the investment destined has reached 7,823 million euros, with 930,002 developed activities and an annual average of payees of 31,632,304.

 

The sector CECA supports the financial education with more than 6,000 activities in 2023

The improvement of the financial culture of the company, especially of the people more vulnerable, is a shared commitment for all the companies associated with CECA (association of savings banks, banks created by they and foundations), including: CaixaBank, Kutxabank and Cajasur Bank, ABANCA, Unicaja, Ibercaja Bank, Caixa Ontinyent, Colonya Pollença and Cecabank. A proof of this are the 17.9 million euros that destined are had in the last six years to financialeducation programs, of which 12.79 millions correspond to the ‘Programme Funcas of Stimulus of the Financial Education (Funcas Educates)’.

This investment has allowed the development and strengthening of the financial education in Spain, benefiting to various groups and contributing to the sustainable development. For the year 2024, the resource of Funcas Educates has reached the 2.5 million euros.

Nowadays, the financial education is more significant that never. The companies associated with CECA, aware of it, offer the company numerous programmes related to this field, which promotes the stability of the financial system, the financial inclusion and the social cohesion. In 2023 6,362 activities were completed, which an increase has supposed of more than 50% with respect to the previous year.