European Symposium on Enterprise Foundations

Among the events we are organizing to mark our 50th anniversary, we held a meeting to discuss the challenges facing corporate foundations and to debate their future.

With a full house and attended by experts and leading figures from major national and international business foundations, the symposium reached a series of conclusions about the future:

Among the key issues highlighted at the meeting were the independent nature and commitment to continuity of corporate foundations, making them key players in the response to the many challenges facing our society. Indeed, their role is becoming increasingly important, not only because of the substantial contribution foundations make to the economy (in Spain, foundations generate approximately 2.4% of GDP and employ more than half a million people), but also because they play a key role in education, talent, research, disability, culture, and other social areas, acting as agents committed to social cohesion and the fight against inequality.

Another key point is that these foundations now have modern governance models that ensure transparency, management excellence, and business independence. In addition, work is being done to improve how social impact is measured, with effective tools being used to communicate the results of their activities in a clear and responsible way.

In a changing world, corporate foundations excel in their ability to respond by driving innovation through emerging technologies with ethical criteria; promoting sustainability and a long-term vision; managing resources responsibly; and encouraging practices such as the circular economy.

In today’s world, corporate foundations have become one of the most effective tools for enabling companies to contribute to the public good. One of their main challenges is the need to define a common regulatory framework to support their activity in the European Union.  Because the goal is clear: working together will allow us to go even further.