The Círculo Ecuestre, together with the Impact and Sustainability Commission, organized a breakfast colloquium on Tuesday, June 16th at 9:00 a.m. under the title “De lo local a lo sistemático: tres casos para entender por qué importan las fundaciones comunitarias”, a session focused on the role of these entities as an instrument for social cohesion, territorial development, and collective impact generation, with the support of CaixaBank.
The session was presented and moderated by Elena de Carandini Raventós, businesswoman and president of the Raimat Lleida Community Foundation, who fostered the dialogue around the value of community foundations as collaborative structures capable of articulating shared responses to complex social challenges, connecting diverse actors around a single purpose of transformation.
The meeting brought together leading profiles in the field of philanthropy and community action, with the participation of Rosa Gallego, Director of International Relations and Community Foundations at the Spanish Association of Foundations; Julio Huerta, General Director of the Fundació Horta Sud and Technical Director of the Community Foundations Program; Òscar Esteban, General Director of the Fundació Tot Raval; and Anna Puixeu, Director of the Fundació Comunitària de la Vall de Camprodon.
Throughout the colloquium, the strategic role of community foundations as tools for territorial articulation, capable of channeling local initiatives towards models of greater systemic impact, was highlighted. In this regard, Rosa Gallego contextualized the international momentum behind the creation of this type of entities and the networking currently being developed by the Spanish Association of Foundations along with various international foundations and organizations.
For their part, the interventions of Julio Huerta, Òscar Esteban, and Anna Puixeu made it possible to address different territorial realities, ranging from the strengthening of the associative fabric and cooperation between social entities to rural development, local roots, and the generation of opportunities for young talent in local environments.
The colloquium concluded by emphasizing the importance of collaboration between citizens, social entities, the private sector, and public administrations as the foundation for developing stronger, more sustainable community ecosystems oriented toward long-term impact.