Mr Viral
WEBWIRE – Friday, February 7, 2025
The philanthropic projects of footballer Iaki Williams, engineer Javier Martnez, environmental entrepreneur Antonio Barba, and Dr. Carlos Simns foundation have been selected at a national level for their leadership, innovation, commitment, and future projection.For the first time since the creation of the awards, along with the four national awards, the Regional Philanthropy Awards have been granted.CaixaBank Private Banking has celebrated the 7th edition of its Philanthropy Awards, created by the entity to support the philanthropic work of its clients and recognize the projects that stand out for their altruism, solidarity, and positive impact on society.
The awards were presented at an event at the Madrid Stock Exchange, attended by numerous awardees and/or their families, and Beln Martn, Head of CaixaBank Private Banking, accompanied by clients and a wide representation of the private banking sector in Spain. CaixaBank Asset Management also participated in the organization of the award presentation gala dinner.
Out of the 210 applications received, the jury selected four national awardees this year, each receiving a grant of 10,000. Additionally, for the first time since the creation of the awards, seven Regional Philanthropy Awards were granted, recognizing a total of 11 projects, one for each CaixaBank Regional Directorate (DT, in Spanish).
The four national winners of the 2024 edition are:
Iaki Williams (DT Ebro): Born in Bilbao, along with his brother Nico, originally from Pamplona, and aware of their origins and the hardships their family endured to achieve a prosperous future, they decided in 2020 to build a school in the country where their parents were born: Ghana. The school, Lead International School of Pokuase, is located in Greater Accra, an administrative region of Ghana, which also hosts the countrys capital, and serves children aged between 5 and 16. The school follows the British curriculum and offers academic programs designed to provide a comprehensive and high-quality education, including primary education, secondary education, and extracurricular programs. The Williams brothers have also acquired several buses to ensure that students living in remote areas can attend the school and provide scholarships for those whose families cannot afford the tuition.Javier Martnez (DT Madrid): After losing his wife in 2012, he decided, along with his three children and siblings, to establish a foundation to continue the work his wife had developed throughout her life, aimed at funding research on sarcoma cancer and training professionals. Years later, in 2022, determined to save the family home from collapse and give it a second life, Javier Martnez, an engineer by profession, promoted the creation of a community centre in the Quintana neighbourhood of the Ciudad Lineal district in Madrid. Today, the centre is a meeting point for development, dialogue, education, learning, dissemination, support for disadvantaged groups, and entertainment. It develops all kinds of charitable and solidarity activities and has become the main cultural and social reference in the neighbourhood in just two years.Antonio Barba (DT Barcelona): Antonio Barba has accompanied and advised the Espigoladors Foundation since its inception, an entity that emerged within his family through his daughter Mireia Barba. His great commitment and sensitivity to social and environmental causes have been crucial, providing financial support to the entrepreneur as the first believer in the idea and contributing his confidence in an ambitious and essential model in the current context. The Barba family, a large family committed to social causes, has opened new fields of influence and helped expand the model, providing emotional support and opening new contacts. The Espigoladors Foundation fights against food waste and the right to healthy and sustainable food in an innovative, transformative, and inclusive way, while empowering vulnerable groups. Concerned about food waste, the entity has reached agreements with producers and collects fruits and vegetables discarded from the circuit and channels them to free distribution points, recovering nearly three million kilos of fruits and vegetables.Carlos Simn Foundation (DT Valencian Community and Murcia): The jury highlighted the foundation for the personal, professional, and economic involvement of Dr. Carlos Simn in the promotion and development of the eponymous foundation. A reference in the field of womens health, as a doctor, researcher, and entrepreneur, Dr. Carlos Simn has dedicated his career to reproductive medicine, contributing to the advancement of the sector by changing practice. After leading the launch of Igenomix as a Valencian start-up to become a world-leading multinational in genetic services, since 2022 he has become a philanthropist focused on the social projection of scientific advances in the field. Throughout his career, his global influence, international network of contacts in the sector, and commitment to education and research in reproductive medicine have been decisive. The Carlos Simn Foundation is a non-profit foundation whose main activity is biomedical research in the field of reproductive medicine and womens health, aimed at clinical translation and education. Its main objective is to improve health, quality of life, and the quality-of-care services in this field. To achieve this, research, as its fundamental pillar, has a patient-centred approach and is based on the values of commitment and scientific excellence. It is a unique sustainable model that promotes the creation of start-ups from the outcome of research.Territorial Philanthropy Awards
The seven territorial awardees are:
In the DT Andalusia, Fundacin PRODE: The foundation, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024, was created as a family movement to dignify the lives of people with intellectual disabilities in the Los Pedroches region, Crdoba. Its model has been replicated in other territories of Andalusia, seeking to expand to more people and vulnerable groups, becoming one of the Andalusian regions with the best employment data for people with disabilities. The jury highlighted from its model the promotion of strategies for the participation of beneficiaries, based on a social economy and independent living. This initiative, consolidated beyond its rural scope for years, originated from the altruistic and humanitarian character of Emiliana Garca Ruizs father, who was the seed of its unique model. Currently, the entity has nearly a thousand professionals and stands out for promoting the right to independent living through various pilot projects of meaningful occupation in inclusive environments, autonomous housing, dual training, and social entrepreneurship.In the DT Balearic Islands, Fundacin Othman Ktiri: The jury highlighted the work of the Franco-Moroccan entrepreneur and financial investor based in Mallorca, Othman Ktiri, who founded the foundation bearing his name in 2018 to develop a series of initiatives and solidarity actions in the Balearic Islands and the province of Tinghir (Morocco), aimed at improving the conditions of vulnerable groups and promoting environmental protection, with more than 15,000 direct beneficiaries in Spain and a total of 8,000 in Morocco. Additionally, the Othman Ktiri Foundation is involved in community development projects, helping families in extreme vulnerability with basic necessities, technical and health assistance to improve their living conditions.In the DT Canary Islands, Fundacin Canaria para la Reforestacin, Foresta: The jury highlighted Foresta for the project Emplea Verde Gran Canaria: Employment with a Future Horizon, which it leads in alliance with the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, to provide specific training and employment to people with employability difficulty, while promoting the recovery of the islands natural heritage and forest masses, restoring ecosystems and enhancing biodiversity, helping to prevent future forest fires. Another significant factor is the environmental component of the project. The hectares worked and reforested, trees planted, ecosystems restored, and biodiversity recovered (aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 15) are benefits aligned with the foundations objectives. The project also stimulates the creation of a business fabric around the forestry sector to boost the islands rural areas, while allowing the reintegration of long-term unemployed, socially excluded groups, migrants, and other groups, improving their quality of life and preparing them to face the labour market. In its six years of existence, the initiative has consolidated as a future-oriented employment option increasingly consolidated with the ecological transition.In the DT Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, Fundacin Atrio Cceres: Hoteliers Jos Polo and Too Prez, motivated by personal experiences, have decided to bring musical training to all social groups and all ages, using music as a transversal tool. The foundation offers creative music programs for children, choir courses for seniors, and music therapy for people with disabilities. It also organizes the Atrium Musicae festival in Cceres, an international festival that offers concerts by renowned international artists. With an audience of over 2,800 people, it amplifies cultural and artistic dissemination, enriching the citys life. These numbers reflect a continued commitment to culture and social inclusion in the city, adding to the long trajectory of its founders. Through the hotel, the restaurant, and the Atrio Foundation, with its avant-garde cuisine rooted in the land and now with music, they provide invaluable value to the region of Extremadura, seeking to create unique emotions and experiences.In the DT Castile and Len, urea Jurez Galindo: The awardee is an active member of the Vern Foundations board, an entity that in 2015 built a school in the village of Camalote (El Progreso, Honduras) designed to provide technical training in glassmaking while offering formal education to young people excluded from the system due to lack of resources. Aurea Jurez, then director of La Real Fbrica de Cristales de La Granja, has a sentimental connection to the place and advocated for specialization in glass when the project was born to provide a trade, in addition to formal education. She used and continues to use all her knowledge to achieve excellence in training, something unthinkable there. Later, with the establishment and growth of La Escuela del Vidrio, specialisation in Hospitality arrived, and now, students do not lack job offers as soon as they complete their internships. Glassmaking, cooking, tourism, real experience in their own workshop, they receive orders, learn to present the product, design, and a long journey in which students receive and give back to their community. Over time, La Escuela del Vidrio y Hostelera de Honduras has become much more than just a school; it is a place where students feel safe and part of a community with their peers and teachers, keeping them away from gangs and where they grow personally and professionally. There, they have the responsibility and ability to build their future.In the DT Catalonia, Jlia Jov Naval: Julia Jov has been recognized for her pioneering role and long-standing commitment to combining paediatrics with Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI), contributing to the humanization of healthcare, person-centred care, and research on AAI. The awardee works as a paediatrician in a Health Center that in 2008 was a pioneer in this field. Driven by her concern for the increasing number of people at risk of vulnerability, she later founded the Ilerkan Association to promote non-profit initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life of people of all ages, especially those most vulnerable. Among her most notable projects is the Extracan project, providing emotional support with a therapy dog to minors during blood or dental extraction, or the Can Confident Project, aimed at minors during testimony in court. In all these projects, the well-being of the therapy dogs is always respected, contributing to their happiness. The jury also highlighted her achievement in involving professionals from different fields to be part of Ilerkan, forming a multidisciplinary team, allowing them to serve people of different ages and with different needs. Alongside practice, she has promoted the first accredited AAI Research Group that provides scientific bases for AAI through the research projects she has led.In the DT North, Enrique Garca Chilln: The jury highlighted him as a reference in activating and directing resources at his disposal to improve peoples lives and promote a fairer society with greater equality of opportunities. Garca Chillns philanthropic work is rooted in his family history, which he has professionalized over the years and given new impetus, maintaining intact his values and vision of generating a positive impact. His strategy is based on the one hand, on the Profand group, which develops its CSR through the Profand 4 Future sustainability strategy. On the other hand, through the creation in 2021 of the Garca Chilln Orlando Foundation, an initiative launched with his family. The projects developed by both the company and the foundation stem from Enrique Garca Chillns personal concerns and his constant interest in listening to communities around the world and providing solutions to their needs. Notable among their programs are support for football academies for underprivileged children, a playroom for children with cancer, fish donations to food banks and soup kitchens, collaboration in the construction of a residence for people with intellectual disabilities, and support for inclusive sports, such as the Paralympic parasnowboarder ngel Torres.CaixaBank Private Banking Philanthropy Awards
In its seven years of existence, the Philanthropy Awards have enabled CaixaBank Private Banking to be closer to its clients for everything they need, which also relates to their values and social commitment. The Philanthropy Awards have brought to light numerous and diverse initiatives throughout Spain to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people, advance in medical research, fight against climate change, or promote social cohesion, offering more opportunities for the future.
These awards are part of CaixaBank Private Bankings philanthropy service, unique in Spain. The entity offers clients interested in generating a positive impact on society through philanthropy personalised advice by creating each strategy for the specific cause to be addressed, the beneficiaries to be reached, the impact to be achieved, and the degree of involvement expected by the client. Additionally, the entity promotes the knowledge and dissemination of philanthropy by organising training events led by specialists from different fields, creating a research line based on academic studies and guides that contribute to analysing and making visible the context and best practices of philanthropy, as well as offering tools that guide its management.
CaixaBank Private Banking
CaixaBank”s private banking model consists of a team of over 1,100 accredited specialized managers, with an average experience of 15 years, and 75 exclusive private banking centres and 11 exclusive Wealth centres, ensuring that clients always receive close treatment.
In 2024, CaixaBank was chosen for the second consecutive year as the “Best Domestic Private Bank in Spain” in the Global Private Banking Awards by the British magazine Euromoney, recognizing excellence and best practices in private banking internationally. CaixaBank Private Banking has received Euromoney”s national top award six times in the last 10 years.
CaixaBank Private Banking”s value proposition offers different service models to adapt to the needs and preferences of each client, from those demanding comprehensive advisory services, whether independent or not, to those operating on their own initiative in managing their wealth through a platform with global investment capabilities in securities, funds, savings insurance, and other management products.
Integrated into the Private Banking value proposition, the Philanthropy service offers support in planning charitable concerns so that clients are efficient, reliable, and achieve their goals. The raison d”tre of the Philanthropy service lies in society, in the vocation of service to clients, and in CaixaBank”s DNA.
The service is organized into different lines and programs that include the promotion of Charitable Causes and other activities that stimulate and promote the culture of philanthropy, such as the call for these awards, dissemination, and personalized advice.
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