Country profile

Spain

Definition
Foundation Act 50/2002 defines foundations in Article 2.1 as non-profit organisations, whose assets are, according to the wishes of the founders, allocated permanently to the fulfilment of general-interest purposes. The foundation must have assets that are allocated permanently to achieve general-interest purposes defined by the founder. Foundations cannot pursue any private purpose such as giving benefits to the founder or the founder’s family.

Spain’s philanthropy profile

No data

Pool of assets

€17,594 million (2020)

Total expenditure

No data

Total employment

Spain’s foundations

10,511 (2020)

foundations

10,511 “active” foundations were provided by the Spanish Association of Foundations, these were noted as foundations that are functioning in some capacity. There was a total figure of approximately 15,900 foundations in 2020, the difference (about 5,400) being foundations that were not active and therefore not taken into consideration. Concerning information on financial data, this was obtained from a number of regional databases in Spain containing information on foundations, which covered data from the annual accounts of approximately 5,200 foundations. Financial data extrapolated from this smaller number of foundations in the sector offers a larger picture of public-benefit foundations in Spain than would be possible by using the smaller figure alone. A figure for income was also provided, but this was excluded as only assets are considered suitable for the study, the estimated figure for which being €17,278 million.