Since it began 15 years ago, this initiative has distributed €5.3 million to the 137 winning NGO projects in Spain and helped around 650,000 people.
This year, almost €700,000 is set to be distributed. Each winning organisation will receive €46,118 thanks to contributions made by Banco Santander employees to the programme, whereby the Bank matches every employee donation euro for euro.
Madrid, 07 June 2023.
The Banco Santander initiative known as Euros From Your Salary is now in its fifteenth year, which it is marking by distributing almost €700,000 to the chosen organisations. Since its launch, this programme has distributed €5.3 million to 137 winning projects and has helped around 650,000 people.
This morning at the 15th Euros From Your Salary awards, Her Majesty the Queen, alongside Group executive chair Ana Botín, presided over the presentation of awards to the 15 initiatives chosen by the bank's employees in Spain, which were given at Palace of Duques de Pastrana.
Euros From Your Salary is one of Santander's most meaningful initiatives for the thousands of employees involved with social causes and who support NGOs that work on a daily basis to help society's most vulnerable people. This year, 230 associations took part by presenting their projects, with 30 being named finalists and 15 being declared winners, each winner receiving €46,118.
Her Majesty the Queen said, "Thank you for inviting me. One of the things that I value most about the privilege of being here today is that it allows me to see just how many associations and entities there are in Spain that are focused on social action and just how much strength there is behind it. With their hard work, sacrifice, effort, tremendous professionalism and good planning, they are achieving change and bringing new opportunities to those who had lost all hope. A huge thanks to those entities. I wish to congratulate the Bank's employees and its leaders on the Euros From Your Salary initiative, which is so wonderful and much needed. My congratulations also to everybody who is behind these entities, which is, ultimately, Spanish civil society together with the administration and the private sector".
Ana Botín, chair of Banco Santander, thanked the Queen for her involvement and her unwavering support for social causes, explaining that "the stories behind each of these projects serve to remind of issues and struggles of which are sometimes unaware. I am very proud of the initiative that we have developed at the bank because it enables us to give a face to the individuals who work each day to help others".
Botín also explained that the most vulnerable groups in society are now better positioned to make themselves heard thanks to the world being much more connected now, adding that the sensitivity "of companies, international institutions and governments towards the problems faced by society is essential".
Winners have been chosen in five categories: international cooperation; disability; social inclusion; health; and the elderly.
For international cooperation, the awards went to Enraiza Derechos, an NGO whose winning project will help 150 girls by supporting their education and preventing school dropouts in order to reduce forced marriage in Mozambique; Madre Coraje, which will improve health services supporting mothers and infants in the village of Chilauene (Mozambique) and surrounding areas; Tierra de Hombres, whose project will focus on setting up eight centres to meet the protection, information and psychosocial needs of displaced families in the provinces of Odessa, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy and Chernihiv (Ukraine); and NGO Xaley, which aims to enhance the synergy between schools and he community to support the education of girls and safeguard children in the Medina Fall neighbourhood, the most heavily populated in the city of Thiès (Senegal).
For disability, the awards went to Asociación Antares, which plans to launch a programme aimed at offering respite and promoting balance in order to improve quality of life for 50 families caring for people with intellectual disabilities by running adapted leisure activities; Afanías, whose project will be focused on providing the inclusive support required to enable 25-35 people over the age of 50 with intellectual disabilities to live in the community in the province of Guadalajara; and Fundación Capacis, a project aimed at supporting 30 young people with mild intellectual disabilities and learning disabilities in building their own futures.
For social inclusion, the awards went to Fundación Padre Garralda, which, through its Strada project, will help to empower 18 women who have experienced trauma; Adoratrices, which has designed a residential and comprehensive care project to help over 1,000 women who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced into prostitution, and who are at high risk of social exclusion; and Fundación Emet, which through its Ódos programme, guarantees emergency shelter for children, adolescents, and highly vulnerable women in Spain.
For health, the awards went to PorqueViven and Actays, which have presented a joint project to support 100 parents whose children have a serious or incurable neurological disease; NUPA, which will aid in the nutritional rehabilitation of 521 children who are unable to feed orally due to a rare disease: intestinal failure; and Fundación Vianorte-Laguna, whose programme is based on providing medical, therapeutic and psychosocial support to 14 children at the Paediatric Palliative Unit of Madrid's Laguna Fundación Hospital who suffering from late- or end-stage rare illnesses.
For the elderly, the awards went to Candelita, Centro de Promoción Personal y Desarrollo Colectivo, which will offer comprehensive support to older persons with mental health problems who are experiencing isolation and loneliness in Madrid; and Fundación Diversión Solidaria, whose music therapy project for elderly persons with early- and middle-stage Alzheimer's in the Community of Madrid aims to improve the quality of life of these individuals.
Each year, the winning NGOs become part of Santander's solidarity network made up of over 150 NGOs that the bank works with, including through volunteering initiatives, particularly pro-bono volunteering, in which the bank's employees make their knowledge available to the NGOs.
Euros From Your Salary is a reflection of the hope and solidarity felt by Banco Santander employees and an initiative that enables them to join forces with social entities that work each day to help the most vulnerable members of society.
Banco Santander stands firm in its commitment to the progress of individuals and society through its support for hundreds of social projects in the countries in which it operates, making a clear impact on some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by the United Nations.