Social Outreach

Our commitment to groups at-risk of exclusion is reflected in the continuity of our social action and international cooperation programmes.

The aim of Santander Ayuda is to partner with non-profit organizations that work to improve the lives of at-risk children and teens in Spain. Calls for submissions during the previous year focused on the educational progress of minors at risk of poverty and social exclusion.

Proposals had to pursue the following lines of action: learning support and academic and careers guidance; socio-educational support via recreational and leisure activities; and family orientation and guidance.

The results of the first edition were announced on 11 April 2025. The grants awarded to the chosen organizations made it possible to launch fifteen projects that benefited 2,162 people.

The submission period for the second edition began on 25 November 2025, and the results will be made public in April 2026.

Additionally, the Foundation grants the Santander Ayuda Award to initiatives with an innovative approach and high social impact. The award winners in 2005 were Asociación Estrella Azahara, Fundación Acción Social por la Música and La Torre de Hortaleza.

Fundación Banco Santander created this programme to support the digital transformation of non-profit organizations so that they can increase the impact and efficiency of their actions.

Santander Social Tech has three phases: training, advice and financial aid.

In the initial phase, employees of the selected organizations receive training workshops to strengthen their digital skills. Once they have completed this training, they are offered personalized advice to guide them through the digitalization process. Eight workshops were held in 2025 for a total of 141 organizations, seventy-two of which also requested advisory services.

Finally, organizations participating in the training phase can apply for financial aid to implement improvements in their digital development. In 2025, fifty-two of the organizations that participated in the training workshops offered during the sixth edition also received financial aid.

Santander BEST Africa aspires to contribute to the socio-economic progress of this continent by supporting women entrepreneurs and their communities in the sustainable tourism sector.

The programme promotes a network of inclusive businesses in Gambia, Senegal, Morocco and Mozambique, preferably led by women, related to tourism products or services. Beneficiaries receive technical and financial assistance to support their enterprises and are chosen based on their commitment to promoting jobs for women and social and environmental sustainability.

The twenty-four projects supported over the last year benefited 705 people, the majority of whom are at-risk women.

Additionally, in partnership with Fundación Santander Portugal and the Bank’s Sustainability and People and Culture Departments, the Foundation once again organized an awareness programme for volunteers to promote sharing knowledge and experiences with the female entrepreneurs of the Santander BEST Africa network. In 2025, sixty-one employees from the Corporate Centre, Santander España and Santander Portugal participated in this programme.

The foundation set up this programme to create quality jobs for young people trained in the contemporary arts and to drive the sustainable growth of cultural organizations.

To this end, it issues two consecutive calls for submissions each year: the first for organizations interested in hiring, and the second for candidates who want to fill those positions.

A panel of culture industry professionals chooses ten organizations whose activity is related to the visual arts, performing arts, cultural mediation and management, or communicative and participatory arts. Each receives a stipend that must be used to pay the new hire’s annual salary. Five of them may also be granted additional funds to keep the employee on for a second year.

The candidates participating in the eleventh edition of this programme began working in May 2025. The twelfth call for applications from interested organizations was issued in November of the same year, and the results were published on 30 January 2026.

The Foundation also arranged three encounters with organizations and three with the chosen employees so that both could create a labour network, trade experiences and suggest improvements to the programme.