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Philanthropy in Spain and Portugal

Beth Breeze, Centre for Philanthropy at University of Kent; Maria Gutiérrez-Domènech, Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation;

In this report we explore philanthropy in Spain and Portugal with a focus on the knowledge, social attitudes and philanthropic behaviours in both societies. The first section of this report provides a panoramic perspective on the topic of philanthropy: what it is, who is involved, how has it changed over time, how does it relate to government and business, what is the distinctive role and contribution of philanthropy, and what are its weaknesses? This section explains that philanthropy plays a unique role in meeting needs that are not – or not yet – met by the State or the Market, and that enable donors to share their spare resources for the common good, to improve society, and to make things better and express solidarity with fellow citizens. Having noted that giving money, volunteering and helping strangers are all common activities across the world, but that there is a scarcity of robust and recent data on philanthropy in Spain and Portugal, the second section presents findings from a newly commissioned survey of the Spanish and Portuguese populations. This data demonstrates that philanthropic behaviours are commonplace and viewed positively, with some interesting variations across the two countries, and across people of different age groups, genders and education levels. The report ends with a discussion of the implications of this new knowledge for public understanding and five recommendations to advance the understanding and future development of philanthropy in Spain and Portugal.
Key points
  • 1
       The three most commonly mentioned words to define philanthropy in Spain and Portugal were help, love and humanity.
  • 2
       The three most cited philanthropic organisations in Spain were the ”la Caixa” Foundation, the Red Cross and Cáritas; in Portugal, these were UNICEF, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and the Red Cross.
  • 3
       Opinions about philanthropy are quite favourable in both countries, although there is some mistrust towards philanthropists. Those interviewed prefer that the government be responsible for meeting the needs of society, rather than charities.
  • 4
       Support for charities is common: 39% of those interviewed in Spain and 43% in Portugal volunteered their time; 59% in Spain and 65% in Portugal made at least one donation in the past year.
  • 5
       Health is by far and away the top priority in both countries: three-quarters of those interviewed deeming it an urgent issue. This is in line with the fact that health is also the cause that receives the most time and money.
  • 6
       Although respondents claim that the level of solidarity of society is not very high – an average of 6 – the actual figures for participation in a variety of pro-social acts show that people are more philanthropic in their daily lives than they perhaps think.

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