Social enterprises and their eco-systems : a European mapping report : updated country report, Spain.
Date: 2017-01-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: European undertaking, Spain, cartography, entrepreneurship, financial aid, investment, legislation, regulation, report, social economy, social impact, social policy

Social enterprises and their 
eco-systems:  
A European mapping report 

Updated country report: Spain 

2016 

Social 
Europe 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion 
Directorate E  
Unit E1 

Contact: Risto Raivio 

E-mail:  Risto.Raivio@ec.europa.eu  

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Social enterprises and their 
eco-systems:  
A European mapping report 

Updated country report: Spain 

European Commission 
Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion  
Directorate E 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This report provides an overview of the social enterprise landscape in Spain based on available information as 
of  July  2016.  The  report  updates  a  previous  version,  submitted  by  ICF  Consulting  Services  to  the  European 
Commission in 2014. 

The current report has been prepared as part of a contract commissioned by the European Commission to TIPIK 
communication  agency  to  update  the  country  reports  for  seven  countries.  The  research  work  has  been 
conducted  under  the  supervision  and  coordination  of  Euricse  and  the  EMES  European  Research  Network.  The 
revision of the report was carried out by Millán Díaz-Foncea and Carmen Marcuello (University of Zaragoza) and 
Rocío  Nogales  (EMES).  The  authors  acknowledge  useful  research  assistance  and  comments  from  the  national 
stakeholders and the valuable input from EU level project coordinators (Carlo Borzaga, Barbara Franchini and 
Giulia  Galera)  and  comments  from  Jacques  Defourny,  Fergus  Lyon  and  Marthe  Nyssens  as  members  of  the 
advisory board.  

LEGAL NOTICE 

This  document  has  been  prepared  for  the  European  Commission.  However,  it  reflects  the  views  only  of  the 
authors,  and  the  Commission  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  any  use  which  may  be  made  of  the  information 
contained therein. 

Citation:  

“European  Commission,  Directorate-General  for  Employment,  Social  Affairs  and  Inclusion  (2016):  Mapping 
study on Social Enterprise Eco-systems – Updated Country report on Spain” 

Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers  
to your questions about the European Union. 

Freephone number (*): 

00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 

(*) 
boxes or hotels may charge you). 

The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone 

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). 

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016 

ISBN: 978-92-79-61644-0 

doi: 10.2767/046856 

© European Union, 2016  

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.  
For any use of photo which are not under the European Union copyright, permission must be sought directly 
from the copyright holder(s) indicated.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ....................................................................................... 7 

LIST OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................... 8 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 9 

1. 

2. 

BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................... 11 

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ROOTS AND DRIVERS ............................................................ 12 

2.1.  Defining social enterprise borders ................................................................. 14 
2.1.1.  The EU Operational Definition of Social Enterprise .................... 14 
2.1.2.  Concept and legal evolution of social enterprise in Spain ........... 14 
2.1.3.  Fiscal framework .................................................................. 20 

3.  MAPPING ............................................................................................................ 22 

3.1.  Measuring social enterprises ........................................................................ 22 
3.2.  Social enterprise characteristics .................................................................... 23 
3.2.1.  Sectors of activity ................................................................ 23 
3.2.2.  Target groups ...................................................................... 24 
3.2.3.  Regional differences ............................................................. 25 

4. 

ECOSYSTEM OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN SPAIN ..................................................... 29 

4.1.  Key actors ................................................................................................. 29 
4.2.  Policy schemes and support structures .......................................................... 30 

4.2.1.  Support  measures  aimed  at  all  enterprises  that  fulfil  specific 

criteria ............................................................................... 31 

4.2.2.  Support  measures  aimed  at  social  economy/non-profit 

organisations ....................................................................... 32 
4.2.3.  Support measures specifically aimed at social enterprises ......... 33 
4.3.  Networks ................................................................................................... 37 
4.4.  Research, education and skills development ................................................... 39 
4.4.1.  Research projects and educational resources ........................... 39 
4.4.2.  Recent conferences, seminars and events ............................... 41 
4.5.  Financing ................................................................................................... 42 
4.5.1.  Demand for finance .............................................................. 42 
4.5.2.  Supply of finance ................................................................. 43 
4.5.2.1.  Public providers: .................................................... 43 
4.5.2.2.  Private providers: ................................................... 44 
4.5.2.3.  Ethical bank ........................................................... 45 
4.5.2.4.  Social economy banks ............................................. 45 
4.5.2.5.  Social and solidarity economy banks ......................... 45 
4.5.2.6.  Crowdfunding platforms .......................................... 46 
4.5.3.  Market gaps/deficiencies ....................................................... 47 

5. 

PERSPECTIVES .................................................................................................... 48 

5.1.  Overview of the social enterprise debate at the national level ........................... 48 
5.2.  Constraining factors and opportunities........................................................... 50 
5.3.  Trends and future challenges ....................................................................... 52 

2016 

5 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6. 

ANNEXES ............................................................................................................ 55 

6.1.  Operational social enterprise definition .......................................................... 55 
Illustrations ............................................................................................... 59 
6.2. 
6.3.  Reference list ............................................................................................. 64 
6.3.1.  Literature ............................................................................ 64 
6.3.2.  Websites ............................................................................. 68 
6.4.  List of consultees ........................................................................................ 70 
6.5.  Summary of Legal Regulation ....................................................................... 70 
6.6.  Comparative  overview  of  the  legislative  framework  for  Social  Integration 

Enterprises, Social Initiative Cooperatives and Special Employment Centres ...... 73 

2016 

6 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 

Table 1. Fiscal benefits according to legal forms 
Table 2. Number of estimated social enterprises in Spain, 2004-14 
Table 3. Main sectors in which entities of the social economy operate (based on data on 
the top 15 entities within each group) 
Table 4. Number of estimated social enterprises by region (2010)* 
Table 5. Mapping of social enterprises in Spain 
Table 6. Social enterprise ecosystem in Spain 
Table 7. General public policies to promote the employment and competitiveness of 
cooperatives and worker cooperatives by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security 
Table 8. Public institutions for the assignment of employment integration enterprises and 
special employment centres for social initiative at the regional level 
Table 9. Public policies promoting social enterprises 
Table 10. Public policies by the national government to promote WISEs (2015) 
Table 11. Public policies to promote the achievement of the social mission of WISEs 
(2015) 

Figure 1. Evolution of the relationship between the concepts of social economy and social 
enterprise in Spain 

2016 

7 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

LIST OF ACRONYMS 

CEE - Special employment centre for social initiative (Centro especial de empleo) 

CEPES - Spanish Confederation of Entities of Social Economy (Confederación Empresarial 
Española de la Economía Social) 

CIS - Social initiative cooperative (Cooperativas de iniciativa social) 

COCETA  -  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives  Association  (Confederación  Española  de 
Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado) 

EI - Employment integration enterprise (Empresa de inserción) 

FAEDEI  -  Federation  of  Associations  for  the  Professional  Integration  of  Communities  at 
Risk of Exclusion (Federación de Asociaciones Empresariales de Empresas de Inserción) 

FEACEM  -  Business  Federation  of  Associations  of  Sheltered  Employment  Centres 
(Federación Empresarial Española de Asociaciones de Centros Especiales de Empleo) 

INFES - National Institute for the Promotion of the Social Economy (Instituto Nacional de 
Fomento de la Economía Social) 

REAS  -  Network  of  Alternative  and  Solidary  Economy  (Red  de  Economía  Alternativa  y 
Solidaria) 

WISE - Work Integration Social Enterprises (in Spain this includes CEEs and EIs) 

2016 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The  evolution  and  situation  of  social  enterprises  in  Spain  are  inevitably  linked  to  the 
wider  framework  of  the  social  economy.  Although  other  marginal  roots  also  exist  in 
relation  to  advocacy  associations,  social  innovation  approaches  and  the  contribution  of 
social entrepreneurs, Spain has a long tradition of social economy organisations involved 
in  income
generating  activities  for  social  rather  than  commercial  purposes.  In  fact,  the 
term  ‘social  economy’  is  more  recognised  by  practitioners  and  society  than  ‘social 
enterprise’, although an intense debate is emerging. 

-

Currently,  there  is  a  dialogue  in  Spain  between  two  ways  of  understanding  social 
enterprises and how they stand between the traditional forms of social economy and new 
business models that balance economic and social aims. One position understands social 
enterprise as part of the social economy, while the second considers social enterprise as 
a new field. A recent evolution in the conception of social enterprises fits between these 
two  positions,  reaching  a  common  point  whereby  the  concept  of  social  enterprise  could 
be  integrated  into  the  social  economy  framework  as  the  result  of  the  expansion  of  its 
borders. Such a perspective is in line with the resolution of the Spanish Parliament, which 
understood  Law  5/2011  on  the  Social  Economy  to  be  the  legal  framework  for  social 
enterprises in Spain. This law offers a legal framework for all entities that form the social 
economy, such as those that traditionally belonged to the social economy, as well as for 
all other model of enterprises whose economic activity is based on the principles of social 
economy.  These  principles  are  in  accordance  with  the  working  definition  of  social 
enterprise in Annex 1, although the latter is characterised by an emphasis on the general 
interest and the participatory governance of these organisations. In all, Law 5/2011 has 
the flexibility to become the legal framework for social enterprises in Spain. 

Some  specific  business  models  can  be  characterised  as  social  enterprises  in  Spain. 
Firstly,  those  with  a  long  tradition  in  the  provision  of  social  services  and/or  goods  and 
services to vulnerable people which apply a method of production with a social objective, 
and  which  are  regulated,  sometimes  as  specific  legal  forms,  and  other  times  via  social 
qualification of liability companies. These models are social initiative cooperatives (CIS), 
work  integration  social  enterprises  (WISE)  –  which  include  two  sub-models,  namely 
employment  integration  enterprises  (EI)  and  special  employment  centres  of  social 
initiative (CEE) – and some associations and foundations with economic activities.  

Social  initiative  cooperatives  have  been  regulated  since  1999  by  the  national  law  on 
cooperatives that includes this model as a new type of cooperative. It is also included in 
regional  laws  on  cooperatives,  although  in  some  cases,  more  than  a  new  type  of 
cooperative,  the  ‘social  initiative’  is  a  qualification  of  worker  cooperatives.  Likewise, 
WISEs  are  ruled  by  specific  regulations  at  national  and  regional levels  which  have  been 
updated  regularly  to  better  fit  the  circumstances  of  these  organisations.  Law  31/2015 
qualifies  as  EIs  those  liability  companies  whose  social  objective  is  the  integration  and 
employment  training  of  people  experiencing  social  exclusion  as  a  way  to  access  the 
ordinary  employment  market.  This  law  specifies  that  these  entities  provide  services  of 
general  economic  interest.  Similarly,  the  CEE  is  the  designation  for  those  liability 
companies  whose  aim  is  to  offer  paid  employment  and  provide  personal  and  social 
services  to  disabled  people.  Therefore,  there  is  specific  legislation  that  regulates  social 
enterprises  in  practice  –  even  though  it  does  not  mention  the  term  specifically  –  which 
connects with the tradition of legislation in other neighbour EU countries (e.g. Italy). 

In  addition  to  these  models,  other  types  of  cooperatives  (not  only  social  initiative 
cooperatives)  could  be  defined  as  social  enterprises.  It  is  worth  noting  that  some 
innovative  businesses  search  for  social  performance  in  a  way  that  is  difficult  to  fit  into 
previous models. They can be considered as emerging forms of social enterprises, and in 
this  sense  it  may  be  necessary  to  formulate  a  specific  normative  regulation  for  these 
social enterprises to promote and develop them and to expand the scope of the previous 
models. 

2016 

9 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

In  2010,  the  last  year  with  complete  data,  there  were  1 193  social  enterprises  in  Spain 
according  to  available  sources  (508  CISs,  193  EIs,  and  492  CEEs).  Andalusia,  Catalonia 
and  the  Basque  Country  are  the  regions  with  more  entities,  as  well  as  the  Valencian 
Community in the case of CISs. They carried out their economic activity mainly in sectors 
such as cleaning and both personal and social services.  

In Spain there is a certain amount of ongoing debate about social enterprises. The main 
discussion topics revolve around the position of social enterprises in relation to the social 
economy,  the  level  of  constraint  on  profit  distribution,  the  source  of  funding  to  be 
considered  a  social  enterprise,  the  need  to  create  a  social  enterprise  label  and  the 
economic role of these  organisations. In all, these issues point toward the wider debate 
of  whether  social  enterprises  can  best  be  understood  as  an  innovative  institutional  tool 
for  a  new  system  of  social  welfare  or  as  an  excuse  to  justify  the  withdrawal  of  public 
authorities from the provision of certain services. 

2016 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

1.  BACKGROUND  
Social  enterprise  as  a  new  phenomenon  can  be  traced  to  the  tradition  of  the  different 
entities comprising Spain’s social economy and to non-profit organisations (NPOs), such 
as  associations  that  do  not  engage  in  economic  activities.  Spain’s  long  tradition  of  a 
social economy includes different types of organisations, such as cooperatives, voluntary 
bodies  and  foundations,  as  well  as  other  NPOs  that  have  long  taken  part  in  income
generating activities for social rather than commercial purposes.  

-
An  example  is  the  so
called  sociedades  de  socorro  mutuo  (literally,  ‘mutual  relief 
societies’,  which  largely  correspond  to  the  modern  concept  of  ‘mutual  insurance 
organisations’)  which  emerged  in  the  19th  century  as  precursors  to  a  social  security 
system.  These  societies  aimed  to  respond  collectively  to  individual  needs  or  risks,  for 
example by providing health insurance or tackling unemployment. This collectivist aspect 
represents  one  of  the  main  characteristics  of  the  social  economy  in  the  country,  which 
contrasts  with  the  impulse  of  the  social  entrepreneur  with  a  more  individual  dimension 
that has been attracting a lot of interest in the Spanish context recently. 

-

On  the  other  hand,  the  economic  context  across  history  has  paved  the  way  for  the 
emergence of social entities in Spain. The economic situation in the 19th century and the 
beginning  of  the  20th  century  in  the  rural  field  caused  the  emergence  of  agrarian 
cooperatives  and  their  credit  sections  and  savings  banks  which  favoured  the  financial 
inclusion of its members. Likewise, the industrial crisis of the 1970s (which coincided with 
the political process of Spain’s transition to a democratic form of government) resulted in 
high  levels  of  unemployment  and  public  spending  cuts.  Subsequently,  civil  society 
organisations,  as  proto-social  enterprises,  emerged  in  response  to  unmet  demands  for 
social  services  and  to  solve  unemployment  problems.  In  practice,  during  this  period, 
different  institutional  arrangements  emerged  that  would  be  grouped  in  the  social 
economy  sector  and  create  the  basis  for  social  enterprises  in  Spain:  work  integration 
social  enterprises,  among  others.  The  social  and  economic  crisis  suffered  in  Spain  in 
recent  years  has  caused  the  flourishing  of  new  models  of  business  to  try  to  satisfy  the 
economic,  social,  environmental  and  cultural  necessities,  among  others,  of  their 
communities.  This  has  been  an  important  stimulus  for  emerging  social  enterprises, 
sometimes linked to legal innovations that allow for better development of these entities. 

In  order  to  understand  the  Spanish  situation  it  is  worth  noting  the  decentralised 
administrative  system  in  the  country.  Such  distribution  results in  a  high  diversity  in  the 
public  policies  promulgated  in  the  regions,  which  affects  their  social  and  economic 
development as well as the capacity for  creation and consolidation of social enterprises. 
This  effect  is  examined  in  the  following  sections,  mainly  in  the  figures  of  social 
enterprises and in the origin of legislative proposals on this field across the regions.  

Finally, the high level of institutionalisation of the social economy in Spain requires that 
any  new  organisational  model  active  in  the  social  field  uses  this  socio-economic  sector 
with a strong relevance to the Spanish reality as a reference framework. 

2016 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

2.  SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ROOTS AND DRIVERS 
Social  enterprises  have  originated  mainly  from  two  sources:  one  stemming  from  the 
social  economy  with  deep  historical  roots,  and  the  other,  with  more  recent  historical 
roots, related to their evolution from advocacy associations which are not included in the 
social  economy  sector.  Focusing  on  the  former,  cooperatives  have  a  special  relevance 
both  to  the  development  of  the  social  economy  and  to  the  current  process  of  the 
institutionalisation  of  social  enterprises.  They  were  regulated  by  the  1986  law,  which 
gave some features to cooperatives that are now used in the working definition of social 
enterprises.  Likewise,  the  following  updated  laws  on  cooperatives  have  included  new 
types  of  cooperative  that  fit  this  working  definition  better.  A  key  example  is  the  social 
initiative  cooperative  (cooperativa  de  iniciativa  social  [CIS])  (National  Law  27/1999), 
following the examples  of  some  other  EU  member states, such as  Italy (1). Additionally, 
the latest regional laws on cooperatives include new types that presuppose an evolution 
to social enterprises due to their economic activities (housing cooperatives under cession 
of  use)  and  the  agents  involved  (public  service  and  entrepreneurial  initiative 
cooperatives).  

Second, this period of industrial crisis also witnessed the emergence of two types of work 
integration  social  enterprise  (WISE)  –  those  targeting  people  with  disabilities  (sheltered 
workshops),  named  ‘special  employment  centres  for  social initiative’  (centros  especiales 
de  empleo  [CEE]),  and  those  targeting  socially  excluded  groups,  named  ‘employment 
integration  enterprises’  (empresas  de  inserción  [EI]).  WISEs  were  different  from 
cooperatives  because  they  were  not  mutual  self
help  organisations  but  were  aimed  at 
integrating  those  who  were  systematically  excluded  from  the  employment  market (2). 
The  two  types  of  WISE  could  be  considered  social  enterprises  in  Spain  although  they 
were created 20 years before this term appeared.  

-

Third, associations and foundations are other  organisations that form the roots  of social 
enterprises in Spain. They evolved from being devoted to cultural, educational and other 
non-economic  activities  to  carrying  out  relevant  economic  activities,  and  in  many  cases 
promoting  the  enterprises  mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph.  In  this  sense,  the 
decade  of  the  2000s  also  witnessed  a  significant  development  in  the  recognition  and 
profit  entities  (associations,  foundations  and  Non-Governmental 
regulation  of  non
Organisations – NGOs). A more favourable fiscal framework for these types of entity was 
laid down in 2002 by Law 49/2002 on the fiscal regime of non-profit entities and on fiscal 
incentives  for  patronage (3).  In  the  same  year,  a  new  law  1/2002  was  issued  for 
associations, replacing the pre-Franco Law that had been in effect since 1965. Similarly, 
for foundations, a new law 50/2002 was promulgated in 2002 replacing laws dating back 
to  the  19th  century.  In  both  cases  of  social  enterprises,  these  revisions  allowed 
associations and foundations to develop economic activities under better conditions.  

-

All  of  the  above-mentioned  organisations  were  included  in  the  umbrella  term  of  social 
economy  during  the  1990s,  causing  the  concept  of  social  economy  to  be  more  widely 
recognised  than  that  of  social  enterprise.  The  recognition  of  this  concept  results  from 
three  main issues: first, the formation of the  National Institute for the Promotion of the 
Social Economy (Instituto Nacional de Fomento de la Economía Social [INFES]) in 1990; 
second, the Ministry of Employment and Social Security’s publication of a white paper on 
Spain’s social economy  in 1992; and third, the collection and publication of statistics on 
worker-owned companies and cooperatives from 1993 onwards.  

(1) 

Ibid. 

(2)  Vidal, I. (2001) Social enterprises as a response to employment policy failure, in Borzaga, C. and Defourny, J. (Eds). The 

Emergence of Social Enterprise, London, Routledge. 

(3)  Available at: https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2002-25039. 

2016 

12 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

This institutionalisation process was also based on further legislative initiatives aimed at 
giving an impetus to certain segments of the social economy being transformed into new 
forms  of  enterprise,  such  as  Law  39/2006  on  the  Promotion  of  Personal  Autonomy  and 
Attention to Persons in a Situation of Dependency, and Law 44/2007 on the Regulation of 
Work  Integration  (Social)  Enterprises  (WISEs).  However,  the  main  achievement  in  this 
process  was  the  creation  of  the  Law  on  Social  Economy  (Law  5/2011),  which  was 
introduced with the aim of recognising and supporting the social economy as a separate 
economic  activity  sector  that  would  require  substantive  public  promotion  and  support. 
Following this example, this legal framework has also been developed in other European 
countries, such as Portugal (2013) and France (2014).  

In  summary,  in  Spain,  the  social  economy  concept  has  achieved  public  recognition  and 
has  been  explicitly  regulated  by  law.  In  contrast,  the  social  enterprise  concept  has 
received  less  public  recognition,  with  inadequate  development  of  explicit  regulation. 
However,  even when social enterprises are not recognised by a  specific law, it does not 
mean  that  there  is  no  legal  framework  for  organisations  that  could  be  defined  as  social 
enterprises. Similar to other countries, such as Italy, in which the law does not explicitly 
refer  to  social  enterprises,  the  characteristics  of  these  enterprises  are  grouped  under 
other legal forms, most of them mentioned previously. In fact, social enterprises can be 
included in the general Law on Social Economy. This issue is developed in more depth in 
the next section.  

Finally,  as  mentioned  above,  in  addition  to  the  two  main  roots  of  social  enterprises  in 
Spain, the current economic crisis and the ensuing public fiscal austerity, as well as the 
high unemployment rate and cuts in welfare state provision, represent recent drivers for 
the  creation  of  social  enterprises  in  Spain.  These  factors,  combined  with  new  elements 
from  the  supporting  structures,  such  as  social  entrepreneur  programmes  and  private 
initiatives for encouraging social initiatives, seem to have acted as impulses for emerging 
new  forms  of  social  enterprises,  where  entrepreneurs  engage  in  economic  activities  but 
with  clear  social  aims  and  within  a  participatory  decision-making  process.  All  of  them 
represent a movement of new civic attitudes towards co-responsibility and the resolution 
of  common  problems,  coming  from  the  private  sphere (4).  In  this  regard,  the  transition 
from  traditional  sources  of  funding  for  associations  and  foundations  (public  funding  and 
donations)  to  new  sources  of  funding  (e.g.  crowdfunding)  is  currently  underway  in 
parallel with the engagement in economic activities to achieve their social aims and make 
them  sustainable  over  time (5).  In  this  sense,  another  consequence  of  the  crisis  is  the 
shift in  attitude  of  Spanish  social investors  towards  the  type  of  projects  for  investment. 
Over  the  last  few  years,  new  initiatives  by  investment  funders  which  are  interested  in 
international  cooperation  and  environmental  activities  have  been  created,  following 
requests from clients of private banks. In the beginning, clients were looking for returns 
in social or environmental terms. They are currently shifting their focus to groups at risk, 
such  as  unemployed  people  or  people  with  disabilities  who  have  been  severely  affected 
by the economic crisis.  

In short, there are two types of social enterprise drivers in Spain – one whose roots are 
intense 
based  on  the  social  economy  sector,  with  a 
institutionalisation  process,  and  the  other  in  response  to  the  recent  economic  situation 
and  its  consequences,  with  the  solution  promoted  by  social  entrepreneur  programmes 
and clients of private banks. We focus on these different support groups in the following 
sections in order to explain their influence on the situation of social enterprises in Spain. 

long  tradition  and  an 

(4)  Social Innovation Europe: Social Innovation in Spain. Available at: 

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/socialinnovationeurope/social-innovation-spain. 

(5)  Salinas, F. and Rubio, M.J. (2001) Tendencias en la evolución de las organizaciones no lucrativas hacia la empresa social. 

CIRIEC-España, Revista de Economı́a Pública, Social y Cooperativa, No 37, pp.79-116. 

2016 

13 

 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

2.1.  Defining social enterprise borders 

2.1.1.  The EU Operational Definition of Social Enterprise 

This  report  draws  on  the  organisational  definition  as  included  in  the  Social  Business 
Initiative of 2011 that was further operationalised by the Mapping Study (EC, 2014). As 
defined by the Social Business Initiative of 2011, a social enterprise is ‘an undertaking:  

•  whose  primary  objective  is  to  achieve  social  impact  rather  than  to  generate  profit  for 

owners and shareholders; 

•  which uses its surpluses mainly to achieve these social goals; 

•  which  is  managed  by  social  entrepreneurs  in  an  accountable,  transparent  and  innovative 
way,  in  particular  by  involving  workers,  customers  and  stakeholders  affected  by  its 
business activity’. 

This definition arranges social enterprise key features along three dimensions:  

• 

• 

• 

the entrepreneurial dimension, 

the social dimension, 

the dimension relating to governance structure.  

Provided that the pursuit of explicit social aims is prioritised through economic activities, 
these  three  dimensions  can  be  combined  in  different  ways  and  it  is  their  balanced 
combination  that  matters  when  identifying  the  borders  of  the  social  enterprise.  Building 
upon  this  definition,  a  set  of  operational  criteria  has  been  identified  by  the  Commission 
during a previous step of this study (see Annex 1 for more details). 

2.1.2.  Concept and legal evolution of social enterprise in Spain 

In  Spain,  there  is  no  formal  definition  of  what  constitutes  a  social  enterprise,  and  this 
concept  has  scarcely  been  used  in  public  discourse,  policy  and  society  in  general. 
However,  the  situation  is  changing,  and  the  concepts  of  social  enterprise  and  social 
entrepreneurs  are  gaining  in  importance.  The  media  have  already  reported  about  this 
new reality and related concepts (6), discussing social entrepreneurs who aim to improve 
society  while  carrying  out  economic  activities.  In  parallel  to  this  evolution,  the  social 
economy  concept  still  prevails  in  the  public  discourse,  the  academic  field  and  public 
policy, starting with the enactment of Law 5/2011 on Social Economy in 2011. 

There  is  a  conceptual  debate  in  Spain  about  the  relationship  between  the  concepts  of 
social  economy  and  social  enterprise (7).  During  the  emergence  of  the  social  enterprise 
concept  in  the  country,  competition  was  observed  between  1)  organisations  supporting 
social  economy  and  2)  social  enterprise  support  organisations  and  other  advocacy 
associations  that  were  not  included  in  the  social  economy  sector.  The  former  felt  that 
only forms such as cooperatives, WISEs, mutual insurance organisations, foundations or 
associations  (all  related  to  the  social  economy  field)  could  be  defined  as  social 
enterprises. The latter often preferred not to be linked to the traditional social economy 
and perceived themselves as comprising an innovative field with new rules. 

However,  a  relationship  between  these  terms  can  be  observed,  as  revealed  in  the 
preceding  paragraphs.  In  other  words,  social  enterprises  could  refer  both  to  the 

(6)  El País (2013): ‘Social entrepreneurs with soul’. Available at: 

http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2013/02/24/actualidad/1361743315_132277.html. 

(7)  There are differences and similarities between both concepts. In the annexes, working definitions of social enterprises and 
social  economy  can  be  found  for  comparison.  Likewise,  there  are  several  documents  referring  to  this  topic.  One  of  the 
latest  is  Nogales,  R.  (2016):  ‘On  the  concept  of  social  enterprise  in  Europe’;  a  document  drawn  up  for  GECES  on 
14/4/2016, 
http://dobrarobota.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/GECES-Rocio-Nogales-Note-On-the-
concept-of-social-enterprise-in-Europe-for-GECES-140416.pdf. 

available 

at: 

2016 

14 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

traditional  forms  of  social  economy  with  some  qualities  and  to  those  new  business 
models that balance economic and social aims (8). Figure 1 presents this evolution. 

Figure 1. Evolution of the relationship between the concepts of social economy 
and social enterprise in Spain 

Source: Own graphic based on the comments of the expert panel. 

This  evolution  in  the  relationship  between  the  terms  ‘social  economy’  and  ‘social 
enterprise’ could be observed in the evolution of the legal framework in Spain. Regarding 
the  latter  perspective  of  understanding  social  enterprise  as  a  new  field,  a  regulatory 
initiative  was  proposed  to  the  Spanish  Parliament  in  2013,  with  the  support  of  those 
advocacy associations of social enterprises that were not included in the social economy 
sector  but  were  related 
innovation  and  social 
entrepreneurship (9).  The  initiative  pursued  the  establishment  of  a  legal  form  of  social 
enterprise called Sociedad Limitada de Interés General (literally, General Interest Limited 
Company)  and  mainly  focused  on  the  creation  of  a  legal  framework  to  access 
investments  of  those  enterprises  with  ‘social  goals’.  This  initiative  was  inspired  by  the 
Social  Business  Initiative  guidelines  of  the  European  Commission,  with  the  objective  to 
increase  the  visibility,  credibility  and  recognition  of  social  entrepreneurship.  However, 
this initiative was not approved by the Spanish Parliament, stimulating a national debate 

the  ecosystem  of  social 

to 

(8)  We  thank  the  panel  of  experts  in  this  study  for  their  comments.  They  were  very  helpful  in  observing  this  new 

understanding of the relationship between the concepts of social economy and social enterprises. 

(9)  Available at: http://www.upsocial.org/es/emprenedoria-incidencia-politica/noticia/promotores-de-referencia-del-

emprendimiento-social-apoyan. 

2016 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

about whether social enterprise should be developed within the framework of Law 5/2011 
on Social Economy and according to the Commission’s strategy and directives (10). 

The resolution of the Spanish Parliament indicated Law 5/2011 on Social Economy to be 
the legal framework of social enterprises in Spain, in line with the new concept presented 
in  Figure 1.  This  law  builds  a  legal  framework  for  all  entities  that  form  the  social 
economy.  This  law  does  not  create  (or  regulate)  a  new  legal  entity  type  (the  social 
economy entity) but simply groups together (for identification and promotional purposes) 
entities with specific legal forms that existed previously (Article 1). However, it stipulates 
that  all  entities  included  in  this  sector  should  follow  values  based  on  certain  principles, 
such  as  the  supremacy  of  the  person/social  goal  over  capital,  the  distribution  of  profits 
that  are  not  according  to  capital  provision,  devotion  to  social  sectors  and  independence 
from public power (Article 4) (11).  

Moreover,  Law  5/2011  clarifies  entities  that  have  traditionally  formed  part  of  the  social 
economy, such as cooperatives, mutual insurance organisations, WISEs and associations 
and  foundations  engaged  in  economic  activities,  among  others.  However,  the  law  also 
includes  in  social  economy  ‘all  those  enterprises  whose  economic  activity  is  based  on 
principles presented previously’ (Article 5).  

Following  Fajardo’s  (2013)  position,  according  to  these  previous  arguments,  the  social 
enterprise concept could be integrated into the framework of social economy, even as an 
extension  of  the  borders  of  social  economy.  In  fact,  regarding  the  principles  of  social 
economy (in accordance with the working definition of social enterprise in the Annex) and 
the broader view  of the legal forms  of  social enterprises included in this sector, it could 
be concluded that Law 5/2011 has the flexibility to become the legal framework of social 
enterprises  in  Spain.  Social  enterprises  can  use  the  legal  framework  of  social  economy. 
In this way, even if they are not recognised by a specific law, they can be included in the 
general law on social economy.  

Furthermore, if the traditional legal forms established in Law 5/2011 could be defined as 
social  enterprises,  it  would  qualify  those  cooperatives,  mutual  insurance  organisations, 
foundations or associations that fit the working definition of social enterprise, introducing 
the  field  of  social  enterprise  into  the  traditional  borders  of  the  social  economy  (see  the 
dark  green  area  intersecting  the  central  circles  of  Figure 1).  When  new  organisational 
forms  (using  different  legal  forms  of  traditional  ones  that  are  explicit  in  the  law  for  the 
social  economy  sector)  are  defined  as  social  enterprises,  they  expand  the  borders  of 
social economy, enlarging the scope of this sector as an evolutionary trend within it (see 
Figure 1). 

Certainly,  the  use  of  two  different  terminologies  (‘social  enterprise’  at  the  European 
Union and at the international level and ‘social economy’ at the Spanish level) could lead 
to  confusion  and  an unsatisfactory  interpretation  and  implementation  of  Law  5/2011  on 
Social Economy. The Spanish Confederation of Entities of Social Economy (CEPES) shared 
the  idea  about  the  social  enterprises’  need  to  work  towards  greater  visualisation  and 
clearer  articulation  to  better  represent  their  values,  interests  and  goals  in  order  to 
achieve  a  stronger  socio-economic  impact.  This  approach  would  not  only  strengthen 
social  enterprises  but  would  also  produce  economies  of  scale  and  synergies  among  all 
entities  forming  the  social  economy.  Indeed,  this  need  is  accentuated  by  the 

(10)  Available  at  http://www.europapress.es/epsocial/rsc/noticia-rsc-economia-congreso-rechaza-tramitar-ley-apoyo-empresa-

social-voto-contra-pp-20140923200836.html. 

(11)  Article 4: a) Primacy of people and social purpose over capital, as embodied in autonomous and transparent, democratic 
and  participatory  management,  which  takes  priority  over  making  decisions  based  on  people  and  their  work  and 
contributions  [of]  services  rendered  to  the  entity  or  function  of  social  order,  in  relation  to  their  capital  contributions;  b) 
Application of the results of economic activity mainly based on the work and service provided or activity by the partners or 
members and, where applicable, the social order of the entity objects; c) Promotion of internal solidarity and society that 
promotes  commitment  to  local  development,  equal  opportunities  for  men  and  women,  social  cohesion,  placing  people  at 
risk of social exclusion, employment generation and stability, the reconciliation of personal, family and professional life and 
sustainability; d) Independence from the government. 

2016 

16 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

decentralised  territorial  model  of  Spain  although  the  debate  about  the  borders  of  social 
enterprise in Spain is still ongoing (12). 

Spectrum of social enterprises in Spain 

There are several models of social enterprise that can be found in Spain: 

a)  Social initiative cooperatives (operating in sectors of collective interest). 

b)  WISE-type  enterprises,  including  two  organisational  models  –  employment 
integration  enterprises  (EIs)  and  special  employment  centres  of  social  initiative 
(CEEs). 

c)  Associations and foundations that carry out economic activities. 

d)  Cooperatives pursuing general interest goals.  

e)  Emerging forms of social enterprises. 

a) Social initiative cooperatives (Cooperativas de iniciativa social, CIS) 

Cooperatives form a heterogeneous group of economic entities and are described by Law 
27/1999 (13). This national law recognises 12 types of cooperatives, as follows: workers’, 
consumers’,  housing,  agricultural,  cooperatives  of  common  exploitation  of  the  land, 
services’,  fishermen’s,  transport  workers’,  insurance,  healthcare,  education  and  credit. 
The  law  also  includes  a  new  form  named  the  social  initiative  cooperative,  following  ‘the 
social  demands  of  solidarity  and  the  new  activities  carried  [out]  for  resolving  the 
unemployment  problems,  [which]  includes  new  types  of  cooperative[s]’  (Preface  of  Law 
27/1999  on  Cooperatives).  The  law  revises  the  previous  ones  and  includes  these  new 
types  of  cooperative  as  constituting  an  evolution  in  the  specifications  of  the  concrete 
characteristics  demanded  by  the  current  ones  for  cooperatives.  In  fact,  the  inclusion  of 
the social initiative cooperative is the first recognition of a new type  of cooperative that 
fully complies with the social business initiative definition and the operative definition of 
this project. 

The law defines social initiative cooperatives as ‘those cooperatives that being non-profit 
and  independent,  mainly  engage  in  either  the  provision  of  welfare  services  in  health, 
educational, cultural or other activities of [a] social nature, or in the development of any 
economic activity [whose] object is the employment of people suffering from any kind of 
social exclusion and, in general, satisfy social needs not met by the market’ (Article 106).  

In addition to the national level, in Spain, autonomous community members can develop 
their  own  legal  framework  for  cooperatives  in  their  region  and  are  thus  able  to  expand 
the types of cooperative (the latest regional law on cooperatives includes cooperatives of 
housing  under  cession  of  use,  entrepreneurial  initiatives,  and  public  services,  among 
others). All regional laws on cooperatives refer to social initiative cooperatives; there are 
a variety of focuses. While some regional laws respond to the national law and establish 
the  social  initiative  cooperative  as  a  new  type,  other  regional  laws  consider  it  a  special 
type  of  worker  cooperative,  and  several  regional  laws  use  the  concept  of  a  non-profit 
cooperative to refer to it, without a specific legal mention in the law.  

Furthermore,  each  autonomous  community  uses  different  classifications  for  this  type  of 
cooperative,  including  social  initiative  cooperative,  social  welfare  cooperative,  social 
integration  cooperative  and  social  cooperative  among  others.  We  use  these  different 
categorisations  as  equivalent  terms  in  this  report.  All  of  these  different  denominations 

(12)  Academic  discussions include contributions from Salinas and Rubio (2001), Chaves and Monzón (2012), the special issue of 
CIRIEC-España(12),  Revista  de  Economía  Pública  Social  y  Cooperativa  (2012),  Díaz-Foncea  et  al.  (2012)  and  Díaz-Foncea 
(2012). 

(13)  Law 27/1999, on Cooperatives, of 26

July 1999, https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1999-15681. 

2016 

17 

 
 
                                           
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

are  used  as  equivalent  in  the  Spanish  context.  Illustration 1  (Annex 6.2)  provides  an 
example of a social initiative cooperative. 

b) Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) 

In  Spain,  WISEs  include  two  models  of  organisation  –  one  targeting  socially  excluded 
groups,  designated  employment  integration  enterprises,  and  the  other  targeting  people 
with  disabilities  (sheltered  workshops),  designated  special  employment  centres  of  social 
initiative.  Both  of  them  are  a  qualification  of  those  commercial  businesses  satisfying 
some specific characteristics that are described below. 

Employment integration enterprises (Empresas de inserción, EI) 

Employment  integration  enterprises  are  typically  set  up  as  cooperatives  or  limited 
companies  created  by  foundations  or  associations.  In  their  employment  structure,  they 
must have more than 30 % of workers in the employment integration process during the 
first  three  years  of  activities  of  a  given  entity,  with  this  share  rising  to  50 %  from  the 
fourth  year  onwards.  These  EIs  typically  work  with  groups  such  as  the  long-term 
unemployed,  former  drug  addicts  who  are  in  the  process  of  rehabilitation  and  social 
reinsertion or unemployed prison inmates and former inmates, among others. In Spain, a 
law on employment integration enterprises was enacted in 2007, which was expanded by 
Law  31/2015  to  support  the  social  economy.  Moreover,  autonomous  communities  have 
some laws in this regard. A typical EI, with a long trajectory, is presented in Illustration 2 
(Annex 6.2). 

Special  employment  centres  for  social  initiative  (non-profit  qualification)  (Centros 
especiales de empleo, CEE)  

These  entities  were  initially  established  by  Law  13/1982  for  the  social  integration  of 
people  with  disabilities.  They  perform  productive  work,  participate  in  commercial 
operations and aim at providing remunerated positions and adequate personal and social 
services  for  workers  with  disabilities  (who  must  constitute  at  least  70 %  of  their  staff). 
These  centres  seek  to  integrate  the  highest  possible  number  of  people  with  disabilities 
into  the  open  employment  market.  Illustrations 3  and  4  (Annex 6.2)  provide  two 
examples. 

c) Associations and foundations engaged in economic activities 

Other  social  enterprises  can  choose  the  legal  form  of  foundations  and  associations 
performing  economic  activities.  Their  mission  is  to  pursue  a  common  general  interest 
instead  of  an  individual  one.  They  are  engaged  in  many  economic  activities  (social 
services, care giving, education and fair trade, among others); in this case, profits have 
to  be  used  in  line  with  their  statutory  purposes.  An  analogous  situation  applies  to 
associations. Illustration 5 (Annex 6.2) presents an example of a foundation as a holding 
group of social enterprises. 

d) Cooperatives pursuing general interest goals 

According  to  the  different  characteristics  of  social  enterprises  stated  in  the  working 
definition  of  this  project,  cooperatives  other  than  simply  social  initiative  cooperatives 
could  be  considered  social  enterprises.  They  have  two  origins;  one  is  from  new 
cooperatives  in  sectors  such  as  cultural,  fair  trade,  rural  and  sustainable  development, 
among others, which are currently being developed. The other is related to cooperatives 
with a long tradition which had been developing their activities in a way that could also fit 
the  proposed  definition  of  social  enterprises.  Usually,  all  of  these  focus  on  carrying  out 
their  activities  with  particular  environmental  and  social impacts  and  on  the  participative 
process in their management. 

In  this  sense,  it  is  noteworthy  that  Law  27/1999  on  Cooperatives  also  includes  the 
recognition  of  the  ‘non-profit  organisation’  quality  of  those  cooperatives  that  ‘manage 
services  of  collective  interest  or  of  public  provision,  and  those  that  carry  out  economic 

2016 

18 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

activities  driving  the  employment  integration  of  people  at  risk  of  exclusion’  (First 
additional disposition). Additionally, they have to explicitly include in their statutes their 
non-profit  aims  and  the  constraints  of  the  distribution  of  surpluses,  including  through 
cooperative  returns  such  as  wages  in  the  case  of  worker  cooperatives.  Most  of  the 
regional laws on cooperatives also include this sub-type of cooperative.  

Illustration 6  (Annex 6.2)  illustrates  these  new  cooperatives  pursuing  general  interest 
goals in the sustainable development and renewable energy fields. 

e) Emerging forms of social enterprise 

Some  businesses  that  are  unrelated  to  the  traditional  grassroots  of  the  social  economy 
but  are  linked  to  advocacy  associations  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  perspective  of  social 
enterprise  or  other  movements  can  also  fit  the  working  definition  used  in  this  mapping 
study.  This  category  of  emerging  forms  of  social  enterprises  is  included.  These  are  in 
sectors  such  as  culture,  social  innovation,  rural  development  or  Corporate  Social 
Responsibility  (CSR)  consultancy,  among  others,  and  use  legal  forms  different  to  those 
that are traditionally related to the social economy (including liability companies).  

This  category  also  includes  the  new  process  of  engagement  between  the  administration 
and  civil  society  which  could  be  transformed  into  new  forms  of  social  enterprise.  One 
emerging  movement  promotes  communitarian  cooperatives  with  the  support  of  public 
institutions, focusing on the public-community relationship and following the meaning of 
the  public-private  relationship  in  other  businesses.  A  concrete  case  of  this  new  type  of 
cooperative is the Valencian community, named a ‘public services cooperative’, in which 
the  public  administration  can  become  a  member (14).  This  active  involvement  of  public 
administrations  in  social  enterprises  has  caused  them  to  become  promoters  of  social 
enterprises  as  well.  Box  7  focuses  on  an  employment  integration  enterprise  with  its 
special characteristic of being promoted by a local administration. Although employment 
integration  enterprises  have  been  explained  earlier  in  this  section,  the  characteristics  of 
the promoter featured in Illustration 7 (Annex 6.2) allow the entity’s definition as a new 
emerging model of social enterprise.  

Marks, labels and certification schemes 

Spain does not have a formal certification scheme, marks or labels for social enterprises. 
However, some experimental schemes have been developed. 

One of them, from the demand side, was the small-scale certification scheme run in 2013 
by  FAEDEI,  the  National  Federation  of  Employment  Integration  Enterprises.  FAEDEI 
established a certification scheme for enterprises that fulfilled the following criteria: 

• 

• 

buying products or services from employment integration social enterprises; 

helping  with  job  placements  for  people  who  have  previously  completed  training  in 
rehabilitation centres. 

This initiative also aimed to raise awareness of the added value to society brought about 
by the associations belonging to FAEDEI. However, for several reasons this initiative did 
not gain enough traction to continue running after 2013. The emergence of Law 31/2015, 
which  raises  the  provision  grants  to  enterprises  that  hire  people  with  disabilities  and  at 
risk of exclusion, was a real incentive for businesses. In addition, not all businesses want 
to publicise the fact that they hire people who were previously at risk of exclusion, so the 
cost-benefit analysis for FAEDEI to develop this label was not positive enough to continue 
beyond 2013. 

(14)  Despite  the  large  number  of  academic  publications  on  this  new  type  of  cooperative,  we  have  been  unable  to  find  an 

illustration of a public service cooperative. No public administration has yet to explore this cooperative model. 

2016 

19 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

2.1.3.  Fiscal framework 

Social initiative cooperatives (Cooperativas de iniciativa social, CIS) 

CISs are regulated, like other cooperatives, by national Law 20/1990 on the fiscal regime 
of cooperatives. According to this Law, CISs can obtain a reduction in the general tax for 
businesses  under  some  specific  conditions  related  to  the  demonstration  of  the  general 
interest  of  their  economic  activities.  In  the  case  of  CISs,  due  to  the  recognition  of  their 
non-profit  mission,  their  profits  could  be  exempt,  or,  when  they  are  not  exempt,  taxes 
apply to only 10 % of their revenues. Likewise, they could be exempt in all agreement or 
business  operations  they  carry  out  and  receive  a  reduction  of  95 %  on  the  Economic 
Activities  Tax.  Finally,  as  non-profit  and  general  interest  organisations,  the  same  tax 
benefits as associations or foundations created by local authorities apply to CISs.  

Special  employment  centres  for  social  initiative  (non-profit  qualification) 
(Centros especiales de empleo, CEE)  

CEEs are based on the general legislation of liability companies, which is the basis of this 
model.  However,  their  focus  on  disabled  people  leads  to  the  application  of  special  tax 
benefits  linked  to  the  hiring  of  these  people.  In  concrete  terms,  a  direct  subsidy  is 
applied together with a reduction in the annual business tax for each new worker hired, 
as  well  as  a  subsidy  for  adaptation  of  the  workplace.  There  are  also  some  exemptions 
applied  in  the  annual  business  tax  and  the  tax  of  consumption  as  a  result  of  the  non-
profit mission of the activities carried out by these organisations. 

Employment integration enterprises (Empresas de inserción, EI) 

This model of social enterprise is based on the general legislation of liability companies, 
which  is  the  basis  of  this  model.  However,  regarding  its  social  characteristics,  the  Law 
44/2007 on Employment Integration Enterprises explains that they can obtain reductions 
in  social  security  contributions  for  workers  at  risk  of  exclusion  (Law  4/2013  states  that 
the reduction is of EUR 1 650 per worker and year when they are less than 30 years old). 
Other tax benefits are subsidies for economic compensation of the labour costs supported 
due to the integration process, and some subsidies for investment focusing on their social 
goal.  Likewise,  other  regional  subsidies  apply  for  different  concepts:  hiring  integration 
workers,  technical  support  workers,  specific  technical  support  for  their  economic 
activities,  and  investments.  These  concepts  and  the  amount  included  under  them  vary 
between regions (15). 

Associations and foundations engaged in economic activities 

The fiscal framework for foundations and associations with economic activity is similar to 
that of other commercial businesses. However, both of them can obtain fiscal exemptions 
from  the  annual  business  tax  and  other  taxes  according  to  Law  49/2002  of  the  Fiscal 
Regime  for  non-profit  organisations  and  the  fiscal  incentives  for  fundraising.  This  Law 
also promotes donations to these entities with tax exemptions for the donors. 

Cooperatives pursuing general interest goals 

The  fiscal  framework  is  national  Law  20/1990 on  the  fiscal  regime  of  cooperatives.  This 
Law  applies  some  tax  exemptions  in  the  annual  business  tax  in  specific  conditions. 
Likewise, when the cooperatives are qualified as ‘non-profit organisations’, the same tax 
regime as for associations and foundations is applied to them.  

Emerging forms of social enterprise  

There  is  no  specific  fiscal  framework  for  these  new  models:  it  is  the  same  as  that  for 
commercial businesses except in the case where one of the legal forms employed above 
is used.  

(15)  Specific information on regional tax subsidies: http://www.faedei.org/images/docs/documento60.pdf. 

2016 

20 

 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 1. Fiscal benefits according to legal forms 

Fiscal benefits 

Social initiative cooperatives 

•  With  the  recognition  of  their  non-profit  mission,  their  profits 

Special employment centres 
for social initiative (CEE) 

Employment integration 
enterprises (EI) 

could be exempt or apply to just 10 % of revenues. 

•  Reduction of 95 % in the Economic Activities Tax. 

•  Same  tax  benefits  as  associations  or  foundations  by  local 

authorities. 

•  Direct subsidy and reduction in the annual business tax for each 

new disabled worker hired. 

•  Subsidy for adaptation of the workplace. 

•  Some  exemptions  applied  to  the  annual  business  tax  and 

consumption tax due to the non-profit mission. 

•  Reductions in the social security contributions of workers at risk 

of exclusion.  

•  Subsidies  for  economic  compensation  of  the  labour  costs 

supported due to the  

integration process. 

•  Subsidies for investment focusing on their social goals. 

•  Diverse regional subsidies. 

Associations and foundations 
carrying out economic 
activities 

• 

• 

Exemptions  are  related  to  the  non-profit  nature  of  these 
organisations. 

There are also some tax exemptions for donors. 

Cooperatives pursuing 
general interest goals 

•  Similar fiscal regime to cooperatives in general. 

•  When  they  are  qualified  as  ‘non-profit  organisations’,  the  same 

tax regime as for associations and foundations is applied. 

Emerging forms of social 
enterprise 

• 

- No specific fiscal framework. 

2016 

21 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

3.  MAPPING 

3.1.  Measuring social enterprises 

There is no institution responsible for systematically collecting data on social enterprises 
in  Spain,  so  gathering  aggregate  figures  is  made  quite  complicated.  In  fact,  the  only 
available statistics are for those  social enterprises that have a specific legal form (CISs, 
EIs,  CEEs,  associations  and  foundations).  Likewise,  where  statistics  are  collected,  they 
vary  according  to  the  different  scope  applied;  for  example,  the  Spanish  National 
Statistical  Institute  (Instituto  Nacional  de  Estadística,  INE)  only  gives  data  about 
cooperatives  in  general,  without  separating  social  initiative  cooperatives,  and  the 
Yearbook  of  the  Third  Sector  compiles  data  on  associations  and  foundations  as  broadly 
conceived,  including  those  entities  that  engage  in  activities  related  to  rights  advocacy, 
citizen  participation  and/or  social  needs  (only  the  latter  entities  would  normally  be 
recognised as social enterprises).  

On the other hand, entities representative of each model of social enterprise are grouped 
in  the  Spanish  Social  Economy  Employers’  Confederation  (Confederación  Empresarial 
Española  de  la  Economía  Social,  CEPES),  as  the  third level  of  representativeness;  these 
statistics  are  the  most  comprehensive,  and  general  numbers  can  be  extracted  to 
estimate  the  scale  of  the  social  enterprise  sector  in  Spain  as  identified  by  operational 
definition (Table 2). 

Table 2. Number of estimated social enterprises in Spain, 2004-14 

Social Employment 
Centre for social 
initiative 
Employment Integration 
Enterprises1 
Social Initiative 
Cooperatives2 

Associations3 

Foundations4 

2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014 

309 

760 

606 

700 

413 

440 

492 

490 

470 

450 

450 

5 

60 

60 

108 

150 

154 

193 

200 

203 

205 

206 

571 

578 

587 

599 

604 

566 

508 

- 

- 

- 

- 

2 900  2 900  3 501  4 001  4 500  5 001  6 073  6 059  6 636  7 212  7 092 

- 

- 

- 

12 

13 

16 

65 

46 

55 

64 

107 

Source: Based on statistics from the Spanish Confederations of Enterprises of Social Economy – from CEPES 
(http://www.cepes.es/social/estadisticas&e=entidades_evolucion) and representative entities in each type of 
social enterprise; (this data must be seen as an estimation). 

Note 1: FAEDEI (2014). 

Note 2: Data  on  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives  comes  from  the  Report  about  Social  Initiative 
Cooperatives  elaborated  in  2010  by  the  Spanish  Confederation  of  Workers’  Cooperatives 
(Confederación Española de Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado, COCETA). Although the scope of the 
report  is  not  very  comprehensive,  since  there  is  no  specific  census  of  this  type  of  cooperative,  it 
does include as social initiative cooperatives all those cooperatives operating in the sectors linked 
to social services. 

Note 3: According  to  CEPES,  this  data  refers  to  associations  related  to  disabled  people  and  is 
obtained from the representative entities of this sector (the Spanish Committee of Representatives 
of  Persons  with  Disabilities,  Comité  Español  de  Representantes  de  Personas  con  Discapacidad, 
CERMI;  the  Spanish  Solidarity  Economy  Network,  Red  de  Redes  de  Economia  Alternativa  y 
Solidaria,  REAS;  and  the  Business  Association  for  Disability,  Asociación  Empresarial  para  la 
Discapacidad, AEDIS). 

Note 4: The 2004-06 data for foundations related to social enterprises is unavailable. 

In  addition  to  the  data  about  entities,  there  is  an  important  lack  of  data  available  for 
other  figures,  such  as  annual  turnover,  number  of  employees  and  characteristics  of  the 
workforce.  In  short,  there  is  an  information  gap  in  this  topic,  and  further  reports  and 

2016 

22 

 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

research  are  necessary  to  fill  it.  Next,  we  show  the  available  data,  collected  from 
different  sources,  regarding  Social  Employment  Centres  for  Social  Initiative  and 
Employment Integration Enterprises for 2014. 

There  were  450  Social  Employment  Centres  for  Social  Initiative  (Centros  Especiales  de 
Empleo,  CEE)  in  2014  (source:  CEPES),  employing  59 559  workers  with  disabilities 
(source:  FEACEM) (16)  The  predominant  legal  form  is  the  limited  company  (39.3 %), 
followed  by  associations  and  foundations  (30 %),  corporations  (12.3 %),  cooperatives 
(9.7 %) and employment societies (3.5 %); 68.62 % of their revenues came from sales 
(source: CIRIEC-Spain). 

Regarding  Employment  Integration  Enterprises  (EIs) ( 17),  there  were  206  of  these  in 
2014, with 4 783 workers (inclusion and non-inclusion workers). The total percentage of 
income  from  the  sales  of  products  and  services  represented  83.41 %  of  turnover,  while 
the  percentage  of  total  government  assistance  to  operating  income  was  16.59 %. 
Likewise, the majority legal form adopted by the EIs was that of the limited partnership, 
which  comprised  80.7 %  of  the  total.  The  predominance  of  the  commercial  business 
compared to other legal forms represents a response to the regulation of these entities, 
as  well  as  to  regional  regulations  that  promote  the  adoption  of  commercial  forms  for 
registration and access to public subsidies for inclusion.  

Data for other models of social enterprises is not available and cannot be included in this 
report.  However,  the  increase  in  the  total  number  of  social  enterprises  in  Table 2  gives 
some indications of the positive trend in these entities. 

3.2.  Social enterprise characteristics  

In  this  section,  we  will examine  the  main  sectors  of  activity  and  target  groups  of  social 
enterprises, as well as regional differences in social enterprises.  

3.2.1.  Sectors of activity 

Social  enterprises  are  active  in  many  different  economic  sectors.  Based  on  information 
obtained  from  representative  organisations (18),  we  can  say  that  at  present,  WISEs 
(Social  Employment  Centres 
for  Social  Initiative  and  Integration  Employment 
Enterprises)  operate  mainly  in  the  economic  sector,  providing  cleaning,  personal 
services,  gardening,  recycling,  small-scale  manufacturing  and  construction.  Social 
Initiative  Cooperatives  are  active  mainly  in  home  care,  education  and  employment 
integration.  Associations  and  foundations  operate  in  social  services  as  well  as  in  the 
education, health and culture sectors. Table 3 provides some examples. 

(16)  No further information for disabled workers in Special Employment Centres is available, other than the total employment 
levels;  see  http://www.feacem.es/es/centros-especiales-de-empleo/cifras/contratacion-de-personas-con-discapacidad-en-
CEE. 

(17)  Data  from  the  National  Federation  of  Employment  Integration  Enterprises  (Federación  de  Asociaciones  Empresariales  de 

Empresas de Inserción, FAEDEI); http://www.faedei.org/images/docs/documento62.pdf. 

(18)  Data  presented  in  the  report  comes  from  reports  issued  by  the  representative  organisations  for  the  models  of  social 
enterprise discussed  in this report (FAEDEI  for Employment Integration Enterprises and  FEACEM for  Special Employment 
Centres for Social Initiative). This report was reviewed by these organisations, which provided updates on the information 
given in their own reports. 

2016 

23 

 
 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 3. Main sectors in which entities of the social economy operate  
(based on data on the top 15 entities within each group) 

Type of entity 
Social Employment 
Centres for social 
initiative 
Employment 
Integration 
Enterprises 
Social Initiative 
Cooperatives 

Associations and 
foundations 
Cooperatives 
pursuing general 
interest goals 
Emerging models of 
social enterprise 

Main sector* 

Other sectors 

Cleaning, personal services, 
gardening 

Recycling, small-scale manufacturing, 
maintenance, construction 

Cleaning/environment, 
recycling 

Cleaning, maintenance services, textiles, 
construction 

Home care (more than 50 %)  Day/night centre, nursing homes, 

Social services 

employment Integration, environment, 
school canteens/activities and pre-school 
education 
Education and health services, culture 

Sustainable energy, 
promotion of 
entrepreneurship and culture 
Sustainable energy, 
promotion of 
entrepreneurship and culture 

Education, retail trade, financial 
intermediation, health and social work, and 
community and social development 
Education, retail trade, financial 
intermediation, health and social work, and 
community and social development 

* Within Top 15 firms for this type of entity. 

Source: CEPES database for CEEs, EIs and Associations and Foundations. COCETA (2010) for Social Initiative 
Cooperatives. Results of SELUSI project for Cooperatives pursuing general interest goals. 

According to the COCETA report on Social Initiative Cooperatives, in 2010 this model of 
social  enterprise  focuses  on  activities  such  as  home  assistance,  elder  residence,  day  or 
night care centres, social integration and school dining rooms, among others.  

Likewise,  associations  and  foundations  that  act  as  social  enterprises  are  most  active  in 
sectors related to community, social and other related services, although they also have 
presences in different sectors.  

Finally, the other two models (cooperatives pursuing general interest goals and emerging 
forms  of  social  enterprise)  work  in  diverse  sectors,  like  any  commercial  business.  They 
are  emerging 
in  sectors  as  different  as  sustainable  energy,  promotion  of 
entrepreneurship,  and  culture.  Likewise,  according  to  the  SELUSI  project (19),  they  are 
also  in  education,  wholesale  and  retail  trade,  financial  intermediation,  health  and  social 
work, and community and social development.  

3.2.2.  Target groups 

Social  enterprises  look  after  different  groups  of  people,  according  to  the  model  we  are 
discussing.  Regarding  WISEs,  in  the  case  of  Social  Employment  Centres  for  Social 
Initiative, they are companies whose main aim is to provide employment for people with 
disabilities, as defined in Law 86/1982 on the Social Integration of the Disabled (LISMI). 
For this reason, the target groups are people  with different kinds of  disabilities. By law, 
at least 70 % of employees at a WISE must be people with a disability equal to or greater 
than 33 % (percentage measure at national certification). 

In  the  case  of  Employment  Integration  Enterprises,  Law  44/2007  specifies  in  Article 2 
that  the  target  groups  of  these  enterprises  are  ‘people  in  situations  of  social  exclusion 
who  are  unemployed  and  registered  with  public  employment  services,  and  who  face 
special  difficulties  with  integration  into  the  employment  market,  including  any  of  these 
groups: 

(19)  More info about the SELUSI Project and national reports can be found at http://www.selusi.eu/index.php?page=business-

platform. 

2016 

24 

 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

a)   Recipients of welfare benefits, or any other provision of the same or similar nature, 
according to the denomination adopted in each autonomous community, as well as 
members of the unit of coexistence or beneficiaries of them. 

b)   People  who  cannot  access  the  benefits  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  for 

either of the following reasons: 

1.   Lack of the required period of residence or registration, or the establishment of 

the Perception Unit. 

2.   Having exhausted the legally established maximum period of financial grants. 

c)   Young  people  over  the  age  of  18  and  under  the  age  of  30  who  come  from  child 

protection institutions. 

d)  People  suffering  from  drug  addiction  or  other  addictive  disorders  who  are  in  the 

process of rehabilitation or social reintegration. 

e)  Inmates  of  prison  centres  whose  situation  in  prison  allows  them  access  to 
employment  and  whose  employment  relationship  is  not  included  in  the  scope  of 
application  of  the  special  employment  relationship  laid  out  in  Article 1  of  the  Real 
Decree 782/2001 of 6 July, as well as conditionally released and former prisoners. 

f)  Young people under 18 included in the scope of Organic Law 5/2000 of 12 January 
on  the  criminal  responsibility  of  minors,  whose  situation  allows  them  to  access 
employment and whose employment relationship is not included in the scope of the 
special  employment  relationship  referred  to  in  Article 53.4  of  the  regulation  of  the 
Act approved by Royal Decree 1774/2004 of 30 July, as well as those on probation 
and former inmates. 

g)  People 

from  alternative  accommodation  authorised  by 

the  autonomous 

communities and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.  

h)  People  from  prevention  and  social  inclusion  services  approved  by  the  autonomous 

communities and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. 

The exclusion of people belonging to the groups to which reference is made in paragraph 
1 shall be accredited by the competent regional government’s social services’ (Article 2, 
Law 44/2007). 

Regarding  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives,  according  to  a  report  by  COCETA,  in  2010  the 
main  target  group  was  elderly  people,  followed  by  sick  people,  families  and  the  young. 
Models  are  presented  in  other  sectors,  although  these  sectors  are  all  related  to  social 
services.  

Likewise,  as  we  describe  above,  the  main  targets  of  Associations  and  Foundations  are 
disabled people and people at risk of exclusion. The emerging forms of social enterprise 
are  more  diverse  and  are  devoted  to  different  target  groups.  It  is  worth  noting  the 
expansion  of  their  organisations’  membership  to  focus  not  only  on  users,  but  also  on 
consumers.  For  example,  Som  Energia,  FIARE  and  Coop57  are  all  social  enterprises  in 
which  the  consumers  of  the  activity  (renewable  energy  in  the  former,  and  financial 
services  in  the  two  latter  cases)  are  seen  not  as  users  but  as  active  members  with 
decision-making  power.  In  fact,  these  social  enterprises  devote  important  economic 
resources to promoting genuine consumer participation in their activities.  

3.2.3.  Regional differences 

In  Spain,  it  is  important  to  note  that  the  delegation  of  powers  to  regional  governments 
affects  the  status  and  potential  activities  of  social  enterprises.  The  different  regional 
governments expand the historical delegation of competences in the case of cooperatives 
and  employment  fields  to  other  formulas  related  to  social  enterprises,  and  can  regulate 
and  promote  this  figure  in  different  ways  in  each  region.  Table 4  reports  the  number  of 
social enterprises that are legally recognised in each region under Spanish law. 

2016 

25 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 4. Number of estimated social enterprises by region (2010)* 

Region 

Social Initiative 
Cooperatives 
(CIS) 

Employment 
Integration 
Enterprises (EI) 

Special 
Employment 
Centres (CEE) 

TOTAL 

Andalusia 
Aragon 
Asturias 
Balearic Islands 
Canarias, Islas 
Cantabria 
Castile-La Mancha 
Castile and Leon 
Catalonia 
Valencian Community 
Extremadura 
Galicia 
Madrid 
Murcia 
Navarra 
Basque Country 
Rioja, La 
SPAIN 
* We chose the year 2010 for comparative purposes, as it is the last year for which data on Social 
Initiative Cooperatives is available. 

356 
65 
23 
23 
22 
16 
49 
54 
202 
74 
25 
47 
63 
37 
23 
98 
14 
1 193 

197 
10 
9 
10 
4 
5 
17 
15 
85 
52 
10 
15 
23 
17 
4 
28 
7 
508 

14 
10 
4 
3 
6 
1 
5 
9 
63 
8 
2 
2 
8 
5 
8 
44 
1 
193 

145 
45 
10 
10 
12 
10 
27 
30 
54 
14 
13 
30 
32 
17 
11 
26 
6 
492 

Source: Reports from each representative organisation (COCETA for Social Initiative Cooperatives, FAEDEI for 
Employment Integration Enterprises and FEACEM for Special Employment Centres). 

Andalusia  and  Catalonia  have  the  most  social  enterprises,  followed  by  the  Basque 
Country  and  the  Valencian  Community,  but  the  models  of  social  enterprise  vary  across 
these  regions:  in  Andalucía,  the  CIS  and  CEE  are  the  most  prominent,  while  in  Basque 
Country  the  EI  form  is  more  common.  Catalonia  has  a  high level  of  all  models  of  social 
enterprise, while in the Valencian Community there is a higher presence of CISs.  

Four  other  regions  have  between  20  and  70  social  enterprises  each  (Aragon,  Castile-La 
Mancha,  Castile  and  Leon,  and  Madrid),  with  important  numbers  of  CEEs,  while  the 
remaining  regions  have  around  20  social  enterprises  each,  with  a  diverse  distribution 
between models. 

There  are  several  reasons  for  these  differences:  population  characteristics,  different 
focuses  in  civil  society,  different  regulations  and  differing  levels  of  support  among 
regional governments for social enterprises. For example, the four regions discussed here 
have  modern  regulations  about  cooperatives  that  conform  to  the  reality  on  the  ground. 
These  include  regulations  on  public  service  cooperatives  (Andalusia  and  Valencian 
Community),  entrepreneurial  promotion  cooperatives  (Andalusia  and  Basque  Country) 
and housing cooperatives (Catalonia). These models could be very useful in helping new 
forms of social enterprise emerge in other regions in Spain. Other regional differences in 
regulation and support are discussed in the next sections. 

2016 

26 

 
 
 
Dimension 

Criterion 

Entrepreneurial 
dimension 

Engagement in economic 
activity 
Share of income derived 
from: fees (incl. 
membership fees); trading 
income; rental income on 
assets; income from public 
contracting (both 
competitive tenders and 
direct contracting); grants 
and donations etc. 
The use of paid workers 

Social 
dimension 

Social aim (public benefit) 
Fields of activity 

Target groups 
(customers/users of goods 
and services provided) 

Distribution of profits 
and/or assets according to 
defined rules and 
procedures 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 5. Mapping of social enterprises in Spain 

Social Initiative 
Cooperatives 
(Law 27/1999) 

Employment 
Integration 
Enterprises 
(Law 44/2007) 

Yes 

Yes 

Special 
Employment 
Centres 
(Law 13/1982 
non-profit 
qualification) 
Yes 

Pursue revenue 
generation through 
trading 

Pursue revenue 
generation 
through trading 

Pursue revenue 
generation through 
trading 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 
Operate in all 
sectors of the 
economy 
Customers/users of 
goods and services 
provided 

Yes 
Operate in all 
sectors of the 
economy 
Collectives in 
social exclusion 
or at risk of 
exclusion 

No 

No 

Yes 
Operate in all 
sectors of the 
economy 
People with 
different kinds of 
disabilities greater 
than 33 % 
(national 
certification) 
No 

Foundations 
(with economic 
activity) 

Associations 
(with economic 
activity) 

Instrumental 
character 
Grants or 
donations and 
income from public 
contracting 

Instrumental 
character 
Grants or 
donations and 
membership fees 
important, plus 
income from public 
contracting 

Yes but voluntary 
work is also a 
common practice 
Yes 
Economic and non- 
economic 

Yes but voluntary 
work is also a 
common practice 
Yes 
Economic and non- 
economic 

Various societal 
groups, users of 
goods and services 
provided 

Various societal 
groups, members 

No 

No 

2016 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Dimension 

Criterion 

Social Initiative 
Cooperatives 
(Law 27/1999) 

Employment 
Integration 
Enterprises 
(Law 44/2007) 

Independence 
and 
governance 

Profit cap – existence of 
profit cap/limited profit 
distribution 
Asset lock – existence of 
asset lock 

Autonomy – organisational 
autonomy 
Inclusive governance – 
democratic and/or 
participatory decision 
making processes 
Transparency – a system 
for measuring and 
reporting impact 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes* 

Yes* 

Legal requirements 
(annual accounts 
and economic and 
social annual 
report) 

Social Balance 
promoted by 
FAEDEI and legal 
requirements 
(annual accounts 
and economic 
and social annual 
report) 
206 

Estimated number (2014, unless stated 
otherwise) 

566 (in 2009) 

Special 
Employment 
Centres 
(Law 13/1982 
non-profit 
qualification) 
Yes 

Foundations 
(with economic 
activity) 

Associations 
(with economic 
activity) 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Not required by law 

Depends on who 
the trustees/ 
managers are 
Not typically 

Yes – associations 
are controlled by 
their members 
Democratically 
governed 

Legal requirements 
(annual accounts 
and economic and 
social annual 
report) 

Legal requirements 
(annual accounts 
and economic and 
social annual 
report) 

Legal requirements 
(annual accounts 
and economic and 
social annual 
report) 

450 

107 (foundations 
carrying out 
economic activity) 
90 % (estimate) 

7 092 (associations 
carrying out 
economic activity) 
100 % 

Estimated % meeting eligibility criteria 
(approx.) 
Estimated number meeting eligibility 
criteria 
* Regarding the governance in the Employment Integration Enterprises and Special Employment Centres for Social Initiative the nature of the users in
these enterprises makes it difficult to carry out a true democratic and participative management. In the case of both enterprise types, families of people 
with  disabilities  or  organisations  representing  these  groups  are  present  at  Board  and  other  levels  of  government,  thus  enabling  their  participation  in 
decision-making. 

566 (in 2009) 

100 % 

100 % 

100 % 

7 092 

206 

450 

96 

2016 

28 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

4. ECOSYSTEM OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN SPAIN

4.1.  Key actors

The  ecosystem  of  social  enterprises  in  Spain  is  still  emerging.  The  high  level  of 
institutionalisation of the social economy has resulted in a situation in which most of the 
governmental  agencies  handling  the  promotion  and  support  of  social  enterprises  are 
those  that  deal  with  organisations  included  in  the  social  economy  and  those  that 
understand the work with social enterprises to be an extension of their functions. Such is 
the case of the cabinet group responsible for social enterprises in Spain, included in the 
Ministry  of  Employment,  which  calls  on  social  economy  and  CSR.  Something  similar 
occurs in representative organisations and in the observatories that monitor the evolution 
of social enterprises (CEPES, Spanish Observatory of Social Economy and CIRIEC-Spain), 
which come from the  social economy reality and are now focusing on the emergence  of 
social enterprises.  

Conversely,  new  agents  from  other  perspectives,  such  as  social  entrepreneurship  or 
social  innovation,  occupy  spaces  related  to  business  support,  incubators,  facilities  or 
learning and exchange platforms. This is the case with some business schools and other 
private  educational  platforms,  as  well  as  co-working  and  incubator  spaces,  which  have 
more  experience  with  the  perspective  of  social  entrepreneurship.  Likewise,  new 
associations and networks of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises are emerging 
in  the  Spanish  context,  although  they  continue  to  have  a  low  presence  and 
institutionalisation level. 

Table  6  below  presents  the  main  actors  involved  in  the  social  enterprise  ecosystem. 
However, this list should not be considered as exhaustive. 

Table 6. Social enterprise ecosystem in Spain 

Governmental departments or 
institutions designing or 
implementing policies, support 
instruments and measures for social 
enterprises and infrastructures 

•

•

The  central  government  relies  on  a  specific  directorate 
general  (DG)  devoted  to  the  social  economy  within  the 
Ministry of Employment and Social Security. This is the DG 
for  self-employment,  social  economy  and  corporate  social 
responsibility (CSR).
Autonomous 
own 
departments  dealing  with  the  social  economy  and  with 
entrepreneurial issues.

communities 

have 

their 

also 

Customers (including authorities 
that contract with social enterprises) 

Organisations promoting, certifying 
and awarding social business labels 

Institutions, civil society initiatives 
or other social enterprises promoting 
social enterprises, education and 
training, and presenting role models 

Organisations that have the capacity 
to act as observatory bodies, 
monitor the development of and 
assess the needs and opportunities 
of social entrepreneurs/social 
enterprises 

Central government
Autonomous communities
Local governments

•
•
•
• General public (individuals or companies)
•

Spain  does  not  have  a  formal  identification  scheme  to 
distinguish  social  enterprises 
types  of 
businesses.

from  other 

•
•

•

•

•
•

•
•

COCETA (Social Initiative Cooperatives Association)
FEACEM  (Business  Federation  of  Associations  of  Special 
Employment Centres)
FAEDEI  (Federation  of  Associations  for  the  Professional 
Integration of Communities at Risk of Exclusion)
Spanish Third Sector Platform

Broadly involved in the social economy:
CEPES  (Spanish  Confederation  of  Enterprises  of  Social 
Economy)
Spanish Observatory of Social Economy
CIRIEC-Spain

2016 

29 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Providers of social enterprise start-
ups and development support 
services and facilities (such as 
incubators) 

Business support providers 

Facilitators of learning and exchange 
platforms for social enterprises 

Social enterprise (support) networks 
and associations 

Key providers of finance 

•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•
• 
•
•
•

•
•

•

•
•
•
•
•
•

•

•

•

•
•

•

•

•
•

•

•
•
•
•

Central government
Autonomous communities
Fundación Social Nest
UEIA Accelerator
SIMPLELAB  (social  entrepreneurship  lab  of  the  University 
of Huelva)
University of Barcelona Social Startup Meeting
Red Creactiva
Hub Impact Madrid
El Hueco Soria Hub
EmprendedorSOCIAL.org

Central government
Autonomous communities
EU  Funds  (PAEM  –  programme  to  support  women 
entrepreneurs)
La Caixa Foundation
Young  Social  Entrepreneur  Awards:  UEM,  International 
Youth Foundation, Sylvan/Laureate Foundation

Universities  (Huelva  University,  UNED,  University  of 
Valencia,  University  of  Zaragoza,  University  of  Barcelona 
etc.)
EOI (Escuela de Organización Industrial)
EMES international research network
International projects: ICSEM, PERSE, GEM etc.
Business schools (IESE, IE Business School, ESADE)
Ashoka Changemakers
IUDESCOOP

CEPES  (Spanish  Confederation  of  Enterprises  for  Social 
Economy)
FEACEM  (Business  Federation  of  Associations  of  Special 
Employment Centres)
FAEDEI  (Federation  of  Associations  for  the  Professional 
integration of Communities at Risk of Exclusion)
REAS (Network of Alternative and Solidary Economy)
Social-Emprende 
Entrepreneurs)
Socialemprende 
Entrepreneurs)
B-corp Foundation – Spain

Association 

Association 

(Spanish 

(Spanish 

Social 

Social 

of 

of 

Public providers (ICO, ENISA)
Private  providers  (Impulsa  Coop,  Creas  Foundation,  ISIS
Capital, Ambers & Co Capital Microfinance)
Social  Grants  from  Bank  Foundations  (BBVA  Microfinance
Foundation, 
La  Caixa  MicroBank,  KutxaBank–BBK
Fundazioa)
Credit cooperatives and savings banks
Ethical (Triodos Bank) and social banks (Fiare, Coop 57)
Crowdfunding (Goteo)
Crowdimpacting (La Bolsa Social)

4.2.  Policy schemes and support structures 

Regarding  the  relevance  that  the  social  economy  has  in  Spain  and  the  fact  that  social 
enterprises  can  be  understood  as  part  of  this  sector,  and  taking  advantage  of  the 
measures  proposed  for  social  economy,  this  section  focuses  on  policy  schemes  and 
support  structures  for  the  following  organisations:  1)  those  that  address  the  social 
economy, understanding social enterprises as highly related in the Spanish case and then 
applying  the  same  schemes  and  structures;  2)  those  that  are  specifically  designed  for 

2016 

30 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

social  enterprises  in  general  or  for  specific  social  enterprise  types,  according  to  the 
previous classification.  

4.2.1.  Support  measures  aimed  at  all  enterprises  that  fulfil  specific 

criteria 

We do not cover all measures addressed to all enterprises since these are the basis for all 
those organisations active in the market. In this context, measures specifically targeting 
social  enterprises  can  be  added  in  order  to  improve  the  impact  of  these  measures. 
Moreover,  there  is  a  broad  spectrum  of  measures,  which  vary  according  to  region  (the 
regions  have  legal  competencies  to  promote  business  dynamics)  as  well  as  the  activity 
and  legal  form  (including  the  self-employed).  Therefore,  offering  such  a  thorough 
overview would require a much more extensive and detailed document that is beyond the 
scope of this report.  

Having  said  this,  it  is  worth  noting  four  areas  in  which  measures  for  the  promotion  of 
economic  activities  at  a  general 
level  can  be  used  by  social  enterprises: 
entrepreneurship,  young  employment,  employment  of  disabled  people  and  rural 
environments.  

Regarding  entrepreneurship, 
their 
Law  14/2013, 
internationalisation,  includes  new  measures  aimed  at  facilitating  the  creation  of  new 
businesses  and  reducing  hurdles  in  the  different  entrepreneurial  steps.  Some  of  these 
measures include: 

entrepreneurs 

and 

on 

•

•

new rules for the payment of consumption tax;

the reduction of economic responsibility of the entrepreneur under the self-employed Social
Security regime (previously the individual had to bear unlimited economic responsibility);

• more  favourable  conditions  to  negotiate  with  creditors  in  case  of  failure  of  the

entrepreneurial activity;

•

•

some fiscal incentives to allow individual and business angel investments in the seed stage
of entrepreneurial projects;

new benefits for entrepreneurs with disabilities.

On the other hand, the Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment includes a 
catalogue of measures aimed at the different profiles of young people, highlighting the 
incentives  to  hire  young  people  and  the  promotion  of  entrepreneurship.  The  former 
includes  a  new  bonus  of  EUR 300  for  a  maximum  of  six  months  for  the  permanent 
employment of young people, deducted from the Social Security contribution, which may 
be extended to up to 100 % of the Social Security costs under certain circumstances. As 
later  refers  to  a  flat  rate  of  EUR 50  in  Social  Security  contributions  for  the  self-
employment  regime  available  to  young  people  who  decide  to  start  an  entrepreneurial 
activity,  whether  social  or  not.  In  addition,  there  are  increased  possibilities  for 
capitalising  the  unemployment  allocation  and  greater  compatibility  of  unemployment 
benefit with the beginning of an entrepreneurial activity (20). 

Likewise,  in  addition  to  the  protected  employment  systems  for  hiring  disabled  people 
(including  those  measures  focused  on  CEEs),  there  are  other  measures  for  the 
integration of disabled workers into the ordinary employment market. Among these, it is 
worth  noting  the  subsidies  for  hiring  disabled  workers:  enterprises  receive  around 
EUR 4 000  for  each  permanent  employment  contract  with  a  disabled  worker  and  similar 
levels for each temporary contract, as well as subsidies for Social Security contributions 
and  towards  the  business  tax,  and  other  subsidies  for  those  jobs  with  support 
requirements as a result of the characteristics of the worker. These measures are aimed 
at  all  types  of  enterprise,  but  preferentially  to  those  enterprises  with  more  than 

(20)  Source:  Ministry  of  Employment  and  Social  Security,  Youth  Guarantee  Programme.  More  information  is  available  at 

http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/garantiajuvenil/home.html. 

2016 

31 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

50 employees  in  which  the  hiring  of  at  least  2 %  of  workers  with  disabilities  is 
mandatory (21). 

Finally,  all  those  enterprises  established  in  rural  areas  may  benefit  from  different 
measures  for  the  promotion  of  business  creation  and  consolidation.  Most  of  these  are 
based on the European structural funds, mainly through the European Social Funds (ESF) 
and  the  European  Fund  of  Regional  Development  (FEDER  in  Spanish),  which  are 
complemented by several programmes run by the regional governments. Currently, most 
regional  governments  in  Spain  have  active  programmes  for  rural  development,  mainly 
focused on agrarian activities (22). 

4.2.2.  Support  measures  aimed  at  social  economy/non-profit 

organisations  

At  national  level,  four  packages  of  measures  have  been  developed  by  the  central 
government  that  aim  to  promote  and  support  the  social  economy  in  general  and  which 
the social enterprises can utilise: 

• 

Tax  breaks,  reduced  social  security  contributions  and  similar  measures.  These  benefits 
have  a  substantial  impact  on  certain  entities,  such  as  foundations,  associations  and  social 
initiative  cooperatives.  Cooperatives  have  lower  tax  rates  than  ‘regular  companies’  and, 
together  with  worker-owned  companies  (sociedad  laboral),  enjoy  other  types  of  fiscal 
benefits, such as exemptions on certain taxes and accelerated depreciation (23). 

•  Budget support. This mainly consists of grants and subsidies for incorporating certain types 
of  workers  into  the  companies,  direct  investments  in  materials  that  contribute  to  the 
competitiveness of companies and subsidised technical support and training (24). 

• 

• 

Technical  assistance.  Measures  focused  on  providing  support to  social  economy  entities  in 
areas such as internationalisation or innovation. These are channelled through foundations 
or organisations working at the regional level. 

Employment  policy.  This  integrates  active  and  passive  policies  by  giving  workers  the 
possibility  to  capitalise  unemployment  benefits  when  the  beneficiary  decides  to  launch  a 
cooperative. 

At the regional level, all Autonomous Communities have departments dealing with social 
economy  and  entrepreneurial issues.  The  Autonomous  Communities  also  have  exclusive 
competences  in  some  crucial  issues  related  to  social  economy,  and  thus  also  to  social 
enterprises.  Indeed,  most  of  the  Autonomous  Communities  have  adopted  their  own 
legislation in these areas. 

Furthermore,  cooperatives, especially workers’ cooperatives, are the legal form with the 
largest  tradition  and  recognition.  There  are  therefore  general  public  policies  to  promote 
the  employment  and  competitiveness  of  cooperatives  promoted  by  the  Ministry  of 
Employment  and  Social  Security,  which  can  be  used  by  those  social  enterprises  that 
choose  this  legal  form.  These  general  public  policies  are  developed  by  all  the  different 
political  parties,  with  different  budgetary  amounts  having  been  assigned  over  recent 
years (Table 7). 

Likewise,  Autonomous  Communities  manage  budget  programmes  to  promote  the  social 
economy,  in  which  cooperatives  are  one  of  the  entities  that  are  well  supported.  The 
quantities and actions subsidised vary among regions. 

(21)  More 

hiring 
https://www.sepe.es/contenidos/que_es_el_sepe/publicaciones/pdf/pdf_empleo/integracion_laboral_discapacitados.pdf. 

information 

disabled 

support 

people 

about 

found 

can 

for 

be 

at: 

(22)  More  information  on  the  national  programme  for  rural  development:  http://www.magrama.gob.es/es/desarrollo-

rural/temas/programas-ue/periodo-2014-2020/programas-de-desarrollo-rural/programa-nacional/. 

(23)  Law  20/1990  on  the  Fiscal  Regime  for  Cooperatives,  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  20

December  1990,  at: 

https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1990-30735. 

(24)  S. Barco Serrano, Ibid. 

2016 

32 

 
 
                                           
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 7. General public policies to promote the employment and 
competitiveness of cooperatives and worker cooperatives by the Ministry of 
Employment and Social Security 

Policies for promoting 
the creation of 
cooperatives and an 
increase in 
membership 

Grants for 
incorporating partners 
to cooperatives or 
employment companies 

The  possibility  that  unemployed  workers  who  join  as  members  of 
worker  cooperatives  may  receive  a  one-time  total  payment  of  the 
contributory  unemployment  compensation,  which  links  a  passive 
employment  policy  to  an  active  one.  There  is  no  quantification  of 
the volume of this policy. 

•  Unemployed  people  under  25  years  old  who  have  not  previously 

had a first permanent job 

•  Unemployed people older than 45 years of age 
• 

Long-term  unemployed  people  who  have  been  unemployed  and 
registered at the employment office for at least 12 of the previous 
16 months,  or  else  6  of  the  previous  8  months  if  they  are  under 
25 years of age 

•  Unemployed people who have received unemployment benefit as a 
single  payment  for  incorporation  as  members  of  cooperatives  or 
employment companies 

•  Unemployed women who join in the 24 months following the birth, 

adoption or fostering of a child 

•  Unemployed disabled people, with a degree of disability of 33 % or 

higher 

•  Unemployed  socially  excluded  people  who  belong  to  any  of  the 
collectives  referred  to  in  the  programme  for  the  Promotion  of 
Employment 

•  Workers who have held a temporary employment contract for less 
than  24  months,  with  a  minimum  validity  of  6  months  from  the 
date of the grant application.  
The  average  grant  is  EUR 5 500  per  person  incorporated  as  a 
partner. 

• 

Grants for investments 
in fixed assets 

Grants for technical 
assistance 

Grants for training 
activities, promotion 
and dissemination 

Grants for structural 
expenses for 
associative entities 

Interest rate bonuses 

• 
•  Direct grants (acquisition of assets)  
• 
•  Microcredits 
•  50 % of the investment 
•  Grants for hiring directors and managers 
•  Grants for viability studies, organisation, marketing etc.  
•  Subsidies for economic reports and audits 
•  Grants for advice on business management 
•  50 % of the investment with a maximum of EUR 24 000 
• 
• 
• 
•  Structural expenses 
•  EUR 50 000-150 000 

Training activities 
Promotion and dissemination activities  

Source: Chaves, R. and Serra, I. (2011) and Chaves Ávila, R. and Savall Morera, T. (2013). 

4.2.3.  Support measures specifically aimed at social enterprises  

Public  policies  that  specifically  cater  to  social  enterprises  and  third  sector (25)  entities, 
such  as  employment  integration  enterprises,  special  employment  centres  for  social 
initiative and foundations/associations, can be classified under the following categories: 

(25) CIRIEC, http://www.ciriec.es/ES_UE_C4.pdf. 

2016 

33 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Institutional  measures,  including  acknowledgement  of  the  sector,  legal  and  financial
measures.

Financial  measures,  which  seek  to  develop,  professionalise  and  reassure  the  social
economy.

financial services or help in the form of assessment, information,

•

•

•

Technical support and non
networking and education.
‐

According to the data gathered by CIRIEC (26), some Autonomous Communities are more 
active in supporting social enterprise schemes than others. Table 8 presents some public 
institutions in some of the more active regions. These institutions aim to promote social 
enterprises  related  to  Work  Integration  Social  Enterprises  (for  social  initiative 
cooperatives, the information in the previous section applies). Regions in the Table 8 are 
those that high number of social enterprises is showed in Section 3. 

Table 8. Public institutions for the assignment of employment integration 
enterprises and special employment centres for social initiative at the regional 
level 

Autonomous 
Community 

Employment Integration Enterprises 
(Empresas de Inserción, EI) 

Andalusia 

Servicio Andaluz de Empleo Consejería de 
Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo 

Aragon 

INAEM (Instituto Aragonés de Empleo) 
Consejería de Economía y Empleo 

Basque 
Country 

Lanbide Servicio Vasco de Empleo – 
Organismo Autónomo del Gobierno Vasco 

Catalonia 

Valencian 
Community 

Direcció General d’Economia Social i 
Cooperativa i Treball Autònom 
Departament d’Empresa I Ocupació 
SERVEF (Servei Valencià d’Ocupació i 
Formació) 
Conselleria d’Economia, Industria, 
Turisme i Ocupació 

Special Employment Centres for 
Social Initiative (Centros 
Especiales de Empleo, CEE) 
Servicio Andaluz de Empleo Consejería 
de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y 
Empleo 
INAEM (Instituto Aragonés de Empleo) 
Consejería de Economía y Empleo 

Consejería de Economía, Innovación, 
Ciencia y Empleo  
Organismo autónomo del Gobierno 
Vasco 
Direcció General d’Economia Social I 
Cooperativa i Treball Autònom 
Departament d’Empresa I Ocupació 
SERVEF (Servei Valencià d’Ocupació i 
Formació) 
Conselleria d’Economia, Industria, 
Turisme i Ocupació 

Another  important  factor  that  determines  the  institutionalisation  of  the  sector  concerns 
public  policies  that  promote  social  enterprises.  In  this  case,  as  summarised  in  Table  9 
below, we observe the following different incentive measures at the national and regional 
levels, depending on the type of entity involved: EI, CEE or CIS. 

(26) Ibid. 

2016 

34 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 9. Public policies promoting social enterprises 

Employment Integration Enterprises (Empresas de Inserción, EI) 

1. Support measures to create, implement and maintain EIs
2. Support measures for EIs to hire workers
3. Other types of measures for the promotion of EIs:

•
•
•

preferential public procurement for EIs
support by the government of a part of the interest rate in bank loans
formation and support for professional networks

Special Employment Centres for Social Initiative (Centros Especiales de Empleo, CEE) 

1. Aid 

for  the  generation  of  employment  projects  (technical  assistance, 

fixed

investments, partial interest subsidy) 

2. Aid for maintaining jobs in CEEs
3. Aid for support units for professional activity
4. Aid for collaborative companies that hire disabled workers for an indefinite period in

one working settlement

Social Initiative Cooperatives (Cooperativas de Iniciativa Social, CIS) 

As  social  inclusion  entities,  these  cooperatives,  similar  to  other  integration  companies 
(cooperative  or  business  enterprises),  may  receive  aid  and  preferential  treatment  in  the 
procurement of goods and services from public administration (Fajardo, 2013).  

In  addition  to  the  previous  policies,  in  2015  the  central  government  adopted  different 
policy  measures  that  can  support  the  development  of  special  employment  centres  for 
social initiative and employment integration enterprises (Table 10). 

Table 10. Public policies by the national government to promote WISEs (2015) 

•

•

Law  31/2015  of  9 September.  Article 5.4  declares  special  employment  centres  for  social
initiative  and  employment  integration  enterprises  as  providers  of  services  of  general
economic interest.

Article 4  of  Law  31/2015  modifies  the  fifth  additional  provision  of  the  law  of  public  sector
contracts  (TRLCP),  approved  by  Act  3/2011  of  14November.  This  modification  includes
special  employment  centres  for  social initiative  and  employment  integration enterprises  in
the reserves of public administration contracts.

This Law includes some policies that help social enterprises achieve their social mission of 
reintegrating excluded workers into the ‘normalised’ employment market. 

2016 

35 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Table 11. Public policies to promote the achievement of the social mission of 
WISEs (2015) 

•  Article 6 of Law 31/2015 amending law 43/2006 of 29 December, for the improvement of 
growth  and  employment.  Bonuses  of  EUR 1 650  are  provided  to  ordinary  companies  that 
hire  people  who  have  completed  the  process  for  insertion  into  employment  integration 
enterprises.  

• 

Law  40/2015  of  1  October,  on  the  legal  regime  of  the  public  sector,  which  amends 
Article 60  of  the  revised  text  of  the  law  of  public  sector  contracts;  this  article  establishes 
the prohibition to contract with public administrations for those companies with 50 or more 
workers and which do not comply with the hiring policy in favour of people with disabilities. 

Private programmes promoting social enterprises and social entrepreneurship 

All  support  tools  presented  in the  previous  paragraphs  concern  the  public  area,  such  as 
the  social  economy  as  a  general  framework  for  social  enterprises  and  social  enterprises 
themselves.  To  completing  our  analysis,  in  this  section  we  focus  on  programmes  which 
are  a  product  of  private 
initiatives  to  promote  social  enterprise  and  social 
entrepreneurship. Some of these programmes are briefly described below: 

• 

LaCaixa Social Entrepreneurship programme – LaCaixa Social Funds  
This  programme  is  a  call  for  grants  for  projects  that  address  social  or  environmental 
problems  through  the  creation  or  support  of  social,  profitable  and  sustainable  enterprises 
over  time.  It  caters  to  social  entities  that  want  to  open  a  first  line  of  business,  social 
entrepreneurs  who  have  a  business  plan  or  social  enterprises  in  the  seed  stage  (no  more 
than three years). 
Website: 
sociales/emprendimiento-social  

https://obrasociallacaixa.org/es/pobreza-accion-social/entidades-y-empresas-

•  Momentum Project Spain  

This  is  an  initiative  by  ESADE  and  BBVA  and  has  the  support  of  PwC.  It  aims  to  promote 
social entrepreneurship. To fulfil this goal, the Momentum project has two action plans: (1) 
the development of a programme to consolidate and increase the impact of these projects, 
and  (2)  the  creation  of  an  ecosystem  to  support  social  entrepreneurs.  In  this  way,  the 
Momentum  project  contributes  to  the  development  of  social  entrepreneurship  through  a 
programme and an ecosystem of support so that the most promising social enterprises can 
consolidate, grow and scale their impact. 
Website: http://momentum-project.org/  

•  UEIA Accelerator 

This  is  a  social  incubator  for  technology-based  companies  formed  by  a  multi-disciplinary 
and expert team. The founding team of the UEIA is a group of people who are interested in 
entrepreneurship  and  social  action.  This  group  decided  to  apply  its  experiences  in  NGOs, 
accelerators,  investment  funds,  entrepreneurial  training  and  collaboration  to  pursue 
reforms. 
Website: http://www.ueia.com/  

•  UEM Young Social Entrepreneurs Awards 

in  2008,  the  UEM  Young  Social  Entrepreneurs  Awards 

Launched 
is  a  national 
YouthActionNet  programme  that  recognises  outstanding  young  social  entrepreneurs 
throughout  Spain.  It  has  the  support  of  the  Sylvan/Laureate  Foundation  and  the 
Universidad Europea de Madrid. As of 2015, it has produced more than 60 young Spanish 
leaders. 
Website: http://emprendedoressociales.universidadeuropea.es/ 

• 

Projects with Spirit (Proyectos con Espíritu) 
This  is  an  initiative  to  support  social  entrepreneurs  with  transformative  and  innovative 
ideas  which  result  in  positive  changes  in  society.  This  project  helped  launch  two  ideas  on 
social  transformation  through  an  exercise  of  collective  financing  and  the  establishment  of 
clothing  outlets  in  which  each  share  purchased  is  an  investment  in  these  projects.  It  also 
offered these two projects a year in an office in a co-working space and provides advice on 
branding, marketing and communication. 
Website: http://espiritu23.com/proyectosconespiritu/ 

2016 

36 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

•  Ashoka Changemakers Foundation 

This  is  a  project  of  Ashoka  Spain  which  uses  the  power  of  open  challenges  and  social 
innovation knowledge focusing on two specific fields: 
- Young Changemakers: This is an initiative dedicated to providing young people aged 14 
to  24  years  the  opportunity  to  activate  themselves  socially.  In  this  process  they  acquire 
key life skills such as empathy, leadership, initiative, teamwork and change management. 
- Changemaker Schools: A global network of primary and secondary schools which educate 
students  in  skills  such  as  empathy,  teamwork,  creativity,  leadership  and  problem  solving. 
These are pioneering schools which have adapted to current educational needs, in line with 
a  constantly  changing  world,  and  are  also  generating  the  social  changes  of  the  future.  In 
Spain there are four schools. 
Website: http://spain.ashoka.org/escuelas-y-jóvenes/ 

• 

• 

Integra Awards  
This  initiative  started  in  2008  and  aims  to  promote  excellence  and  innovation  in  the 
employment market, promote equal opportunities and improve the quality of life of people 
with  disabilities  through  the  inclusion  of  this  group.  It  is  promoted  by  the  BBVA  Bank, 
FEACEM  –  CEE  National  Federation,  COCEMFE  –  Spanish  Federation  of  Persons  with 
Physical  and  Organic  Disabilities,  Plena  Inclusion  –  Spanish  Federation  of  Persons  with 
Intellectual  disabilities  and  ONCE  Foundation  and  Employment  and  Mental  Health 
Foundation.)  
Website: http://www.premiointegrabbva.es/ 

Think Big Young by the Telefonica Foundation  
This  is  a  training  programme  for  young  people  aged  16  to  24  years  and  with  innovative 
social ideas. It includes mentoring and provides minor financial support.  
Website: https://thinkbigjovenes.fundaciontelefonica.com/ 

Lastly, an interesting initiative called La Bolsa Social (LBS) was launched in October 2014 
as  the  first  crowdimpacting  platform  connecting  the  crowdfunding  of  investors  and 
businesses  with  positive  social  impact  in  the  form  of  mostly  social  enterprises.  The 
mission of LBS is to boost the financing of companies with growth potential that will have 
a positive impact on society and the environment and to promote ethical finance. 

4.3.  Networks 

Networks  of  social  enterprises  have  a  double  mission:  to  defend  the  collective  and 
professional interests of social enterprises, and to promote and enact all types of services 
that  serve  the  interests  and  needs  of  social  enterprises.  This  can  be  done  through 
activities  including:  a)  promoting  and  supporting  all  initiatives  for  the  creation  and 
consolidation  of  such  enterprises;  b)  promoting  and  supporting  the  creation  of 
associations  of  social  enterprises;  c)  coordinating  with  other  networks  related  to  social 
enterprises; d) promoting collective negotiation with the government; and e) pushing for 
the disclosure and social recognition of social enterprises. 

At a general level, the Spanish Confederation of Entities of Social Economy (CEPES) ( 27) 
was  established  in  1992.  The  cross-cutting  nature  of  this  confederation  makes  it  the 
largest  institution  representing  the  social  economy  in  Spain.  It  integrates  28 
organisations,  all  state  and  regional  confederations  and  specific  business  groups 
(primarily ONCE (28) and Mondragon) that represent the interests of the various types of 
entities in the social economy. According to the proposal of ‘new conception’ in Section 1, 
in which social enterprises expand the social economy’s borders, CEPES should be one of 
the  representative  bodies  for  social  enterprises,  since  it  plays  a  relevant  role  in 
supporting  the  different  models  of  social  enterprises,  such  as  CEE,  EI  or  CIS,  whose 
national  federations  (FEACEM,  FAEDEI  and  COCETA,  respectively)  are  members  of  this 
confederation.  However,  some  advocacy  associations  for  social  enterprises  that  have 

(27) CEPES: Confederación Empresarial Española de la Economía Social. 

(28)  ONCE  is  the  representative  organisation  for  blind  people  in  Spain;  its  activities  also  cover  other  kinds  of  disabilities.  It  is 
currently the largest group of social enterprises in Spain, as it groups the biggest Special Employment Centres in all types 
of economic sector under the brand ILUNION - http://www.ilunion.es/. 

2016 

37 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

emerged  very  recently  are  not  included  in  CEPES,  and  there  is  then  room  for  other 
representative bodies.  

The National Federation of Employment Integration Enterprises (FAEDEI) (29) 

FAEDEI is a non-profit, state-wide body that came into being at the end of 2007, bringing 
together  the  different  territorial  associations  representing  integration  enterprises  in 
Spain. 

http://www.faedei.org/ 

The regional groups that are currently part of FAEDEI are: 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción de Canarias, ADEICAN 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción del Principado de Asturias, ADEIPA 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción de Galicia, AEIGA 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción de Madrid, AMEI 

•  Asociación Andaluza de Empresas de Inserción Sociolaboral, ANDEIS 

•  Asociación Aragonesa de Empresas de Inserción, AREI 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción de Castilla La Mancha, ASEIRCAM 

•  Asociación Valenciana de Empresas de Inserción, AVEI 

• 

• 

Federación de Empresas de Inserción de Cataluña, FEICAT 

Federación Castellano Leonesa de Empresas de Inserción, FECLEI 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción del País Vasco, GIZATEA 

•  Asociación de Empresas de Inserción de Extremadura, INSERCIONEX. 

One of the objectives of the 2010-13 FAEDEI Strategic Plan is to complete a state map of 
territorial groupings. To do this, FAEDEI offers support and advice on the incorporation of 
territorial associations in the Balearic Islands and Murcia and is sharing information and 
best  practices  with  the  Association  of  Employment  Centres  of  Navarra,  which  is  already 
involved in activities associated with the Federation. 

The  Spanish  National  Federation  of  Special  Employment  Centres  of  Social 
Initiative (FEACEM) (30) 

FEACEM,  which  was  founded  in  2000,  integrates  the  major  national  and  regional 
associations  of  Special  Employment  Centres  for  Social  Initiative  linked  to  organisations 
for people with disabilities. http://www.feacem.org/ 

FEACEM partners are: 

•  ACECA (Asociación de Centros Especiales de Empleo de la Comunidad Andaluza) 

•  AECEMCO (Asociación de Centros Especiales de COCEMFE) 

•  AECEMFO (Asociación Empresarial de Centro Especiales de Empleo de Fundación ONCE) 

•  AEDIS (Asociación Empresarial para la Discapacidad) 

•  Asociación de CEE de iniciativa social FEACEM Castilla y León 

•  Asociación de CEE de iniciativa social FEACEM Castilla la Mancha 

•  Asociación FEAFES para el Empleo 

•  ADECEM (Asociación Empresarial de Centros Especiales de Empleo de Enfermos Mentales) 

(29) FAEDEI: Federación de Asociaciones Empresariales de Empresas de Inserción. 

(30) FEACEM: Federación Empresarial Española de Asociaciones de Centros Especiales de Empleo http://www.feacem.es. 

2016 

38 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

•  ARCEESCAN (Asociación Regional de Centros Especiales de Empleo de Economía Social de 

Canarias) 

•  CEGASAL 

• 

• 

• 

• 

EHLABE  (Euskal  Herriko  Lan  Babestuaren  Elkartea 
Protegido del País Vasco) 

  Asociación  de  Entidades  de  Trabajo 

FEACEM  CATALUÑA  (Federació  CATALANA  de  Centres  especials  de  treball  d’  economía 
social) 

‐

FOQUA, (L’Associació Forum per la Qualitat, Asociación Forum para la Calidad de Baleares) 

PADIS (Patronal Aragonesa de la Discapacidad). 

Social Initiative Cooperatives 

Social Initiative Cooperatives (CIS) that take the form of worker-owned cooperatives are 
part  of  the  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives  Sectorial  (Sectorial  Cooperativas  de  Iniciativa 
Social) within the Spanish Confederation of Worker Cooperatives (COCETA), which covers 
regional organisations. At the regional level, CISs are grouped in the regional federations 
of both cooperatives in general or workers’ cooperatives. There is no regional federation 
only for Social Initiative Cooperatives. 

http://www.coceta.coop/ 

Spanish Third Sector Platform 

Created in 2012, the Spanish Third Sector Platform’s goal is to defend, through a single 
voice, the  rights and social interests  of  citizens, especially people living in poverty or at 
risk of exclusion. To this end, the platform brings together the seven most representative 
organisations  in  the  social  sphere:  the  Platform  of  Volunteers  of  Spain,  the  European 
Network for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion in Spain (EAPN-ES), the Platform of 
Social Action NGO, the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities 
(CERMI),  the  Spanish  Red  Cross,  Caritas  and  the  National  Organisation  of  the  Blind  of 
Spain (ONCE).  

http://www.plataformatercersector.es/ 

Spanish Associations of Social Entrepreneurs 

The Spanish Association of Social Entrepreneurs is an NGO working under the umbrella of 
the  website  ‘socialemprende.org’.  It  was  created  by  a  group  of  committed  people  who 
believe  in  social  entrepreneurship  as  a  means  to  address  social  problems.  Its  goal  is  to 
promote  the  ecosystem  of  social  entrepreneurship  and  generate  knowledge-sharing 
networks.  The  body  uses  its  website  as  a  space  for  sharing  training  programmes, 
incubating  social  entrepreneurship  projects,  showing  successful  case  studies  and 
publishing  a  journal  on  the  topic.  They  do  not  have  a  real  membership,  although  they 
maintain an email list for social entrepreneurship groups.  

http://www.socialemprende.org/ 

4.4.  Research, education and skills development 

4.4.1.  Research projects and educational resources 

The academic contribution to the institutionalisation of the concept of social enterprise in 
Spain  has  been  substantial,  as  illustrated  by  the  coverage  of  the  topic  in  academic 
journals and the expertise role that scholars provide to public administrations and private 
institutions. One of the most relevant journals in the area, CIRIEC-Spain, includes more 
than 20 articles focusing specifically on social enterprise (31). In 2012, a special issue was 
published  focusing  specifically  on  social  enterprises.  Its  goal  was  to  review  the  state  of 

(31) See all references in http://www.ciriec-revistaeconomia.es/. 

2016 

39 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

play of research on social enterprises and the challenges they face; it focused on papers 
assessing European policies and  other related relevant issues such as  entrepreneurship, 
social  impact  measurement,  funding  models  and  strategic  management,  as  well  as 
empirical  analyses  of  cases  such  as  CEE,  EI,  ethical  and  social  banks,  and  fair  trade 
certification (Monzón and Marcuello, 2012). 

This  interest  in  social  enterprise  is  also  reflected  in  research  projects  funded  by  the 
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness via public scientific calls for proposals. 
The  most  recently  funded  project  focusing  specifically  on  social  enterprise  was 
‘Empresocial:  Social  entrepreneurship  face  to  the  employment  crisis  and  social  welfare’ 
(2013-16),  which  was  coordinated  by  Pilar  Alguacil  from  the  University  of  Valencia.  Its 
goal  was  to  investigate  the  potential  of  social  enterprises  to  contribute  to  achieving 
employment  policies  and  social  welfare,  as  well  as  the  circumstances  that  may  be 
hindering  their  effective  execution.  The  research  focused  on  the  analysis  of  the  legal 
framework and public policy as well as the definition and organisational issues, of (self)-
employment firms, social enterprises providing social and personal services, and mutual 
companies  in  general.  Ultimately,  it  aimed  at  determining  the  characteristics  of  social 
enterprises,  providing  an  effective  measurement  of  the  social  component  in  business, 
and the benefits created for the entities themselves and for the welfare state. 

Finally, in 2015 the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration (AECA 
in  Spanish)  published  the  document  ‘Social  Enterprise:  conceptual  framework,  context 
and  information’  with  the  aim  of  advancing  the  understanding  of  social  enterprises  and 
identifying their challenges in practice. The study was commissioned from the Polytechnic 
University  of  Madrid  and  supported  by  an  expert  committee  that  included  several 
academic  representatives.  The  final  report  established  the  reporting  standards  for  the 
performance  and  impact  of  these  organisations  in  order  to  increase  their  transparency 
and visibility (32). 

At  the  international  level,  a  team  composed  of  15  researchers  from  8  different 
universities  participate  in  the  global  research  project  ‘International  Comparative  Social 
Enterprise  Models’  (ICSEM)  which  aims  to  compare  social  enterprise  models  and  their 
respective institutionalisation processes across the world. ICSEM includes more than 200 
researchers from over 50 countries working together to produce scientific knowledge with 
an  emphasis  on  the  comparative  nature  of  the  research.  The  first  phase  of  the  work 
carried out by the interdisciplinary Spanish ICSEM team will result in the ICSEM Working 
paper on Spain (33). 

There  are  no  stable  research  structures  specifically  devoted  to  social  enterprise  but 
rather  to  the  social  economy  and  other  close  areas  (social  entrepreneurship,  social 
innovation, non-profit organisations, local development etc.). 

Following  Flores  et  al.  (2016),  in  Spain  there  were  32  postgraduate  courses  on  social 
economy, social entrepreneurship and social innovation in 2014, representing 3.92 % of 
postgraduate  courses  in  Spain  related  to  Business  and  Economics  (Total  =  816).  These 
courses have a mainly professional approach rather than research (75 % versus 25 %), 
and are located in public universities (77 % versus 23 % at private universities). With a 
broader approach, CEPES lists postgraduate and continuing education courses related to 
the social economy, including any courses where the term ‘social enterprise’ appears (34). 

(32) The final report is available at http://aeca.es/old/pub/documentos/rs9.htm. 

(33) For the list of Spanish ICSEM partners, see http://www.iap-socent.be/research-partners. 

(34)  The study can be found in the CEPES website: 

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://www.cepes.es/files/publicaciones/90.pdf. 

2016 

40 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

4.4.2.  Recent conferences, seminars and events 

Organised by universities 

1.  III  Workshop  on  Social  Enterprise, 

June  2016.  University  of  Valencia: 

http://www.uv.es/uvweb/university-institute-social-cooperative-economics-
IUDESCOOP/en/empresocial/seminars-conferences-1285913914854.html  

2.  XVI  Congreso  de  Investigadores  en  Economía  Social  de  CIRIEC-España.  October 

2016: http://www.ciriec.es  

3.  Seminar 

on  models 

of 

social 

enterprises. 

University 

of 

Sevilla: 

http://grupo.us.es/pymed/es/seminario-30-de-marzo-modelos-de-empresa-social-
una-aproximacion-al-caso-espanol-por-la-dra-carmen-guzman-alfonso-profesora-
universidad-de-sevilla/ 

4.  Workshop  on  ‘Eco-lab  2016:  For  a  fairer  economy’.  University  of  Huelva: 

http://www.uhu.es/sacu/cursos  

Organised by CEPES-SPAIN 

1.  ‘Social enterprise as an agent of social economy’, 12 September 2014, Madrid 

More information:  

2.  ‘Social enterprise as an agent of social economy. The further agenda in the European 

institutions.’ 4 December 2014. 

More 
prioritario-agenda-instituciones-europeas 

information:  http://www.cepes.es/noticias/402_economia-social-ocupara-lugar-

Organised by El Hueco 

1.  European social entrepreneurship and social finance spring meetings.  

The first European social entrepreneurship and social finance spring meeting (14-15 May 
2015)  focused  on  social  finance,  cutting  across  all  aspects  of  social  enterprise  and  the 
wider  social  economy.  The  second  European  social  entrepreneurship  and  social  finance 
spring  meeting,  entitled  ‘Social  entrepreneurship  in  Sparsely  Populated  Areas’  (20-21 
May  2016),  served  as  a  meeting  point  between  different  actors  within  the  most 
depopulated  zones  in  Europe  and  explored  the  possibilities  offered  through  social 
entrepreneurship  in  order  to  alleviate  this  situation  and  to  encourage  networking  and 
exchange of knowledge.  

More information: http://www.elhueco.org/socialmeeting/en/ 

Organised by FAEDEI 

1.  INSERCIONA (employment integration enterprises fair) 

http://www.inserciona.com/ 

Organised by other institutions 

Below we offer a number of events organised around social enterprises in a wider sense 
or in connection with other fields (e.g. urban development). In many cases these target 
current and future professionals interested in these areas.  

1.  Zinc  Shower  (professional  event  for  the  creative  and  collaborative  economy): 

http://zincshower.com/ 

2.  Laboratorio del Procomún (a collaborative initiative that aims to structure a discourse 
and  a  series  of  actions  and  activities  related  to  the  commons):  http://medialab-
prado.es/laboratorio_del_procomun 

3.  Inndeavalencia 

(cities 

and 

social 

entrepreneurship): 

http://inndeavalencia.com/ciudades-y-emprendimiento-social 

2016 

41 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

4.  Think  Big  (an initiative  by  Telefonica  Foundation  aimed  at  young people  between  15 
enterprise): 

and 
https://thinkbigjovenes.fundaciontelefonica.com/que-es-thinkbig/de-que-va-thinkbig 

interested 

launching 

social 

26 

in 

a 

5.  Ético  2016  (an  initiative  that  aims  to  increase  the  visibility  of  the  ecosystem  around 
exchange): 

social 
http://www.simplelab.org/web/event/etic016-espacio-de-transformacion-e-
innovacion-colectiva-o-comunitaria/ 

entrepreneurship 

networking 

knowledge 

and 

via 

6.  SIMPLELAB 

(social 

entrepreneurship 

competition): 

http://www.simplelab.org/web/costa-de-la-luz-solar-challenge-2016 

7.  International  Meeting  of  Social  Entrepreneurship  JOVESOLIDES  (an  event  in  the 
framework of a larger project that promotes the strengthening of social and academic 
organisations working in the field of youth): http://www.redjovesolides.org/en  

4.5.  Financing 

Social  enterprises  in  Spain  appear  to  be  mainly  self-funded;  even  foundations  and 
associations  that  used  to  rely  mainly  on  public  grants  and  private  donations  are  now 
increasingly moving towards participating in economic activity in order to survive. Some 
of  these  generate  funding  through  organising  art  exhibitions  or  selling  products  or 
services.  For  instance,  an  association  can  create  a  special  employment  centre  to  raise 
funding from the sale of products created by its target group (e.g. people at risk of social 
exclusion, the disabled etc.) (35). 

Social investment is at an early stage of development in Spain, and there appears to be 
relatively  little  debate  and  data  on  investment  in  social  economy  entities/social 
enterprises.  Instead,  the  term  ‘social  investment’  is  usually  understood  as  covering  all 
investment covered by the following strategies, as identified by Spainsif (2012) (36): 

thematic investment funds (investment in sustainable development assets), 

in

Class’  investment  strategies  (selection  of  the  top  companies  in  each 

exclusion  of 
pornography, tobacco and animal testing), 

investment  securities  (this  approach  excludes 

investment 

in  arms, 

active  dialogue,  shareholder  participation  and  voting  systems  on  sustainable  issues  (this 
process seeks to promote transparency and influence the decision-making process). 

4.5.1.  Demand for finance 

There  are  no  estimates  of  the  scale  of  demand  for  finance  from  social  enterprises. 
However, there appears to be a general perception shared by stakeholders that demand 
significantly  exceeds  the  current  supply  of  funding  available  to  social  enterprises. 
Consulted stakeholders have estimated the gap to be at least 50 %, although there is no 
data  identified  to  confirm  this.  All  of  the  consulted  stakeholders  agreed  that  access  to 
credit remains the key constraint to the development of social enterprises. 

This contrasts with the situation of Social and Solidarity Economy Banks. Based on their 
numbers (37) and the comments of their personnel, there is actually an excess of finance 
availability.  Coop57  has  EUR 30.3 million  in  savings  from  its  collaborator  members 
(similar  to  investors),  but  only  provides  EUR 11.6 million  in  loans  to  social  enterprises 
and other social entities. Likewise, for the FIARE Social Bank, the difference between the 

(35)  El País (2013) ‘Social entrepreneurs with soul.’ Available at: 

http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2013/02/24/actualidad/1361743315_132277.html. 

(36)  Spanish Report (2012), p. 10. Available at: 

http://www.spainsif.es/sites/default/files/upload/publicaciones/spainsif_informe_2012_web_1.pdf. 

(37)  Source: http://www.coop57.coop/ and http://www.proyectofiare.org/. 

2016 

42 

selection  of  ‘Best
sector), 

‐

‐

• 

• 

• 

• 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

amounts  it  is  prepared  to  loan  and  the  real  loans  assigned  is  EUR 56.7 million  and 
EUR 13.4 million respectively. The reasons behind this could include the misrecognition of 
these  tools  by  the  social  enterprises  and  the  long  process  involved  in  these  banks 
deciding to allocate a loan due to the social analysis they carry out, as we discuss below. 

With  regard  to  the  finance  applicants  from  the  social  enterprises,  there  is  no  uniform 
profile. Demand most often comes from: 

• 

• 

organisations  devoted  to  the  social  integration  of  people  with  disabilities  or  at  risk  of 
exclusion; 

organisations  that  supply  traditional  goods  and  services,  with  the  aim  of  solving  social 
problems or specific environmental issues. 

One effect of the economic crisis is that the requirements for financing are focused more 
on  the  maintenance  of  current  social  activity  (e.g.  asking  for  the  forward  financing  of 
future public subsidies) than on investment in new social projects. Social enterprises lack 
the financial support for new projects in need of important investment. During the most 
recent  years  of  the  crisis,  they  have  used  their  financial  resources  to  cover  the  costs  of 
their  daily  activities.  In  this  sense,  the  Austerity  Plan  2011-13  and  onwards,  as  with  all 
programmes  of  the  Public  Administration,  means  that  social  enterprises  working  with 
public  subsidies  and  even  public  procurement  must  finance  themselves  with  credit  until 
Public  Administrations  are  able  to  transfer  money  to  these  organisations.  This  causes 
serious liquidity problems for social enterprises financed by the Public Administration. To 
cover  their  necessary  costs,  they  usually  use  their  own  financial  capacity,  even  asking 
their members for help, and later employ the services of private, ethical and social banks 
(see below). In some extreme cases, a few social enterprises have used venture capital 
to  maintain  their  activity  due  to  difficulties  in  covering  their  daily  costs  in  recent  years. 
These  entities  enter  as  members.  Securing  capital  provides  these  organisations  with 
greater stability and allows them to then request banking finance due to their improved 
financial situation.  

However,  the  demand  for  investment  is  currently  increasing.  Traditionally,  social 
enterprises have more often used the financial services of private banks than those from 
the  social  and  ethical  banks,  since  the  latter  lack  the  operational  capacity  to  satisfy  the 
investment needs due to the slow process of granting loans and other banking products. 
In  addition,  the  services  that  social  enterprises  receive  from  private  banks  are  very 
similar to those offered to other types of businesses. Social capital risk organisations are 
also increasing their activity, and some new and emerging forms of social enterprises use 
these  services  due  to  their  relationship  with  the  ecosystem  of  these  capital  risk  entities 
(these are incubators, social accelerators etc.). 

4.5.2.  Supply of finance 

A  number  of  different  players,  both  public  and  private,  supply  finance  to  social 
enterprises.  Furthermore,  various  finance  initiatives  specific  to  social  enterprises  are 
undertaken  mainly by the social and solidarity economy sector (Coop57 and Fiare), and 
ethical  banking  sector  (Triodos  Bank).  Other  initiatives  such  as  the  Creas  Foundation  or 
the  Isis  Foundation  focus  on  social  investment  in  general.  There  are  also  initiatives  by 
traditional  banks  and  the  public  sector,  for  example,  the  ICO  Foundation,  ENISA  public 
enterprise,  CAIXA  Bank  and  BBVA  Bank.  The  following  text  presents  brief  overviews  of 
the aforementioned organisations, as well as other relevant organisations. 

4.5.2.1.  Public providers: 

• 

ICO  Foundation,  Social  Finance:  Created  in  2003,  this  state-owned  non
profit 
organisation  aims,  inter  alia,  to  facilitate  access  to  micro-credit  and  support  knowledge 
creation  in  the  micro-finance  sector.  The  ICO  Foundation  runs  two  major  projects  in  the 
field of social innovation: a micro-credit pilot and a collaboration with FIARE Bank and CAF 

‐

2016 

43 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Financed  Communities) (38).  PPM  is  a  public

(Self
private  partnership  that  operates  in 
several  sectors  in  Sevilla,  Huelva,  Pamplona  and  Barcelona,  offering  micro-credit  loans 
without  commissions  and  guarantees.  CAFs  are  small  associations  comprising  members 
credit  loans  to  social  enterprises  and  other 
who  put  together  a  fund  to  provide  micro
communitarian enterprises. 

‐

‐

•  ENISA, Innovation National Enterprise (39). A public enterprise funded by the Ministry 
of  Industry,  Energy  and  Tourism,  ENISA  is  dedicated  to  financing  viable  and  innovative 
projects  by  offering  loans  without  guarantees.  Although  the  organisation  does  not  have  a 
specific  line  of  credit  for  social  enterprises,  it  provides  access  to  a  network  of  business 
angels who can finance social enterprises in some instances. 

‐

4.5.2.2.  Private providers: 

•  Oinarri,  SGR  is  a  mutual  guarantee  company  specialising  in  the  social  economy,  self-
employed  people  and  SMEs.  The  company  was  established  in  1996  by  the  entities  in  the 
social  economy  of  Basque  Country.  Its  activities  cover  all  types  of  businesses,  and  more 
than 60 % of its members are from the social economy sector or are self-employed. It thus 
also covers the activities of social enterprises. 

•  Creas  Foundation:  This  non

profit  entity  encourages  the  development  of  venture  capital 
for  social  enterprises  with  a  positive  social  value.  The  foundation’s  efforts  are  focused  on 
environmental and social projects (40). 

‐

• 

ISIS  Capital:  Isis  Capital  is  a  joint  initiative  between  the  Isis  Foundation  and  Gala  Fund 
Management.  The  Isis  Foundation  aims  to  develop  innovative  social  investment  initiatives 
in Spain and in developing countries to improve the lives of vulnerable people and those at 
risk  of  exclusion.  Gala  Fund  Management  is  a  leading  venture  capital  management 
company  in  Spain  pioneering  within  the  area  of  socially  responsible  investment,  including 
social enterprises (41). 

•  Ambers  &  Co  Capital  Microfinance  is  a  subsidiary  of  Ambers  &  Co,  an  independent 
corporate  financial  advisory  service  provider  offering  investment  banking  and  corporate 
finance.  Ambers  &  Co  Capital  Microfinance  makes  investments  that  have  a  social  and 
environmental  impact  (climate  change,  access  to  water  and  health),  which  include  social 
enterprises (42). 

•  BBVA Microfinance Foundation: Microfinance BBVA Foundation was created by BBVA in 
2007 as part of its corporate responsibility strategy, particularly in the field of social action. 
Its  purpose  is  to  promote  self
sustaining  economic  and  social  development  projects 
developed by social enterprises and other organisations. 

•  BBVA Momentum Project: The Momentum Project supports people who have observed a 
social  problem  and  decided  to  find  a  solution  through  a  business.  According  to  the 
Momentum  Project,  social  entrepreneurs  should  have  the  following  characteristics:  1) 
relevant  social  impact,  sustainable  economically,  innovative  and  scalable;  2)  two  years  in 
operation;  3)  two  employees;  4)  EUR 100 000  of  income  annually;  5)  maximum  49 % 
income from donations or grants; 6) activity and impact in Spain. 

‐

•  LaCaixa MicroBank is a section of LaCaixa Bank, one of the principal banks in Spain. The 
entity focuses on micro
employment, and it runs a specific programme 
for  supporting  social  entrepreneurs ( 43).  It  aims  to  assist  entrepreneurs  and  social 
enterprises in the ‘seed stage’ with training and management support, access to a network 
of social entrepreneurs, economic support and services to enhance the image and visibility 
of initiatives. The programme objectives are as follows:  

enterprises and self

‐

‐

(38) See http://www.fundacionico.es/index.php?id=110. 

(39)  See http://www.enisa.es/. 

(40)  See http://www.creas.org.es/eng/. 

(41)  See http://www.fundacionisis.es/. 

(42)  See  http://www.gawacapital.com/  ;  although  not  specifically  operating  in  Spain,  Ambers  &  Co  are  very  active  in  the 

Spanish territory. As an example, see http://www.mixmarket.org/funders/gawa-capital. 

(43)  http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/ambitos/convocatorias/emprendimientosocial_es.html. 

2016 

44 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

− 

− 

− 

− 

increase the social impact of social start‐ups; 

increase the likelihood of success of new business initiatives; 

sccelerate consolidation of social start‐ups; 

introduce budding social entrepreneurs to society and raise public awareness about the 
importance of social enterprises; 

−  encourage transformation of social institutions into social enterprises. 

Furthermore,  Caixa  has  special  loans  earmarked  for  social  enterprises.  These 
loans  can  be  accessed  by  all  employment  insertion  enterprises,  as  well  as  by 
companies  working  in  the  following  areas:  promotion  of  autonomy  and  attention 
to  disability  and  dependence,  fight  against  poverty  and  social  exclusion, 
multiculturalism  and  social  cohesion,  and  other  projects  with  social  and  cultural 
impact. 

•  KutxaBank  –  BBK  Fundazioa  is  a  foundation  owned  by  the  Basque  Savings  Bank 
‘KutxaBank’  that  facilitates  the  provision  of  financial  support  to  start-ups  and  social 
enterprises, and provides occasional technical support. 

4.5.2.3.  Ethical bank 

•  Triodos  Bank:  This  is  an  independent  European  bank  with  32  years  of  experience  in 
banking  and  a  focus  on  finance  companies,  institutions  and  projects  that  add  value  from 
the social, environmental and cultural viewpoints (44). Triodos Bank offers special finance to 
‘social  enterprises  and  non-profit  organisations  with  activities  related  to  disabled  people, 
social  integration,  healthcare,  social  services,  and  fair  trade’  (45).  They  only  finance 
projects  with  positive  social  value,  and  most  such  projects  are  promoted  by  social 
enterprises. 

4.5.2.4.  Social economy banks 

Although the operations of these banks are usually similar to those of any private bank, 
they  use  a  legal  form  associated  with  the  social  economy  and  have  a  long-standing 
tradition or are associated with other social economy organisations. They focus on social 
projects  and  initiatives  from  social  enterprises,  mainly  in  the  local  area.  The  banking 
conditions  of  social  economy  banks  are  some  times  better  than  those  of  private  banks 
because they understand better the characteristics and dynamics of the social sector. 

•  Laboral  Kutxa  is  a  finance  cooperative  belonging  to  the  Mondragon  Cooperative  Group. 
Laboral  Kutxa  finances  intermediate  partners  in  the  Employment  and  Social  Innovation 
(EaSI)  programme  of  the  European  Commission.  Furthermore,  Laboral  Kutxa  has  a  long 
tradition  of  financing,  promoting  and  collaborating  with  entities  in  the  social  economy; 
mainly  cooperatives.  In  2013,  the  bank  established  special  programmes  for  social 
enterprises (46). 

•  Rural Cooperative Banks: In the mid-1980s, 23 Rural Savings Banks formed the Spanish 
Association  of  Rural  Saving  Banks  (Asociación  Española  de  Cajas  Rurales).  Nowadays,  an 
additional 54  Rural  Savings  Banks  have  joined  the  Association,  making  it  one of  the  main 
banking  groups  operating  in  the  Spanish  financial  system  and  confirming  consolidation  of 
the most recent and far-reaching concentration process of Spanish cooperative banks (47). 

4.5.2.5.  Social and solidarity economy banks 

Two social banks operate in Spain, namely Fiare and Coop57, which could be considered 
as  social  enterprises  themselves.  Both  banks  focus  on  financing  social  enterprises  and 

(44)  http://www.triodos.es/es/particulares/. 

(45)  https://www.triodos.es/es/empresas-instituciones/nuestros-sectores/iniciativas-sociales/. 

(46)  http://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticias/aragon/aragon-fomenta-desarrollo-proyectos-sociales_877419.html. 

(47)  For example, Caja Rural de Soria (Soria is a countryside region in the north-centre of Spain) is one of the main promoters 

of Huella Social (‘Social Footprint’), a hub focused on social entrepreneurs and social business activities. 

2016 

45 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

other projects that can demonstrably create positive social value at the local level. They 
locate themselves within the social and solidarity economy and as such they strive to put 
an  end  to  financial  exclusion  through  the  engagement  and  participation  of  their 
members/clients  and  active  awareness-raising  campaigns.  They  are  briefly  described 
below: 

•  Fiare:  This  organisation  was  founded  in  2002,  and  since  2005,  it  has  been  operating  in 
Spain as an agent of the Italian Banca Popolare Etica, S. Coop. Fiare understands financial 
activity as a tool to achieve a social impact. The bank has three offices in Bilbao, Barcelona 
and  Madrid.  It  offers  financial  services  to  social  enterprises  and  other  ‘responsible’ 
organisations.  The  FIARE  ethical  commission  evaluates  all  received  credit  requests  to 
ensure  they  are  coherent  with  the  FIARE  political  manifesto  and  the  FIARE  ethical  code. 
Both  the  manifesto  and  the  code  focus  on  the  need  to  achieve  positive  social  impact  by 
using FIARE’s loans. 
Website: http://www.fiarebancaetica.coop/ 

•  Coop57:  Coop57  is  a  cooperative  of  ethical  financial  services  organisations  devoted  to 
providing  loans  to  member  organisations,  including  social  enterprises.  To  become  a 
member,  an  entity  must  satisfy  two  conditions:  they  must  be  a  legally  valid  entity 
operating  in  the  social  economy  and  they  must  demonstrate  the  creation  of  social  value. 
Although  it  does  not  use  the  term  ‘social  enterprise’,  the  social  commission  of  Coop57 
evaluates  whether  any  entity  wishing  to  become  a  member  of  the  cooperative 
demonstrates  the  creation  of  positive  social  value.  The  members  of  Coop57  are  therefore 
social enterprises and social organisations. 
The  cooperative  started  operations  in  1995  in  Catalonia,  and  since  2005  it  has  spread  to 
other territories in Spain. Coop57 is a cooperative of financial services firms and works as a 
financing club for social enterprises and other social entities in the social economy. Because 
this  activity  is  not  controlled  by  the  Spanish  Central  Bank,  Coop57  is  unable  to  offer 
financial  services  to  individuals,  although  individuals  can  deposit  their  loans  with  the 
cooperative as collaborative members.  
Website: https://www.coop57.coop 

4.5.2.6.  Crowdfunding platforms 

•  GOTEO 

This is an open source crowdfunding website and collaborative platform focused on citizens’ 
initiatives  and  social,  cultural,  technological  and  educational  projects.  It  has  been 
recognised  internationally  and  has  won  many  awards  since  2011.  GOTEO  is  an  effective 
platform,  and  it  focuses  on  formalising  initiatives  and  transforming  them  into  social 
enterprises, particularly of the cooperative nature. 
Some differences between GOTEO and other crowdfunding platforms are as follows: 
− 
Financed projects are required to provide collective returns in terms of social impact. 
−  There  is  a  possibility  for  non-monetary  contributions,  in  addition  to  monetary 

donations. 

−  Statistical data on social impact and website source code are openly available. 

The website was developed by a non-profit foundation (with tax advantages for donors), and 
a multidisciplinary team continues to develop tools and services for co-creation and collective 
funding.  The  organisation’s  common  mission  is  linked  to  the  principles  of  transparency, 
progress and social improvement. 
Website: https://www.goteo.org 

Summarising  the  recent  developments  observed  in  the  field  of  finance  for  social 
enterprises,  the  current  economic  situation  in  Spain  has  led  to  a  shift  in  the  attitude  of 
Spanish  social  impact  investors  and  private  providers  of  financing  (CREAS,  ISIS,  Caixa 
and BBVA). There is a change in their interest from social enterprises acting in the fields 
of international cooperation and environmental issues towards social enterprises focusing 
on groups at risk, such as the unemployed or disabled.  

Despite  being  an  incipient  field,  impact  investments  have  seen  increasing  interest  in 
recent years. This is illustrated in the rising popularity of cases where: 

- investment funds provide seed capital for social and environmental activities;  

2016 

46 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

- clients of private banks seek investment with a return in social or environmental 

terms; 

-  private  foundations  seek  to  contribute  to  the  mission  through  investment  rather 

than philanthropy. 

4.5.3.  Market gaps/deficiencies 

Stakeholders  generally (48)  perceive  that  there  is  a  problem  with  specific  financing 
products  focusing  on  social  enterprises,  rather  than  a  problem  of  finance  supply  (as 
explained above), and perhaps also a problem in satisfying the existing demand in some 
steps of the life-cycle of social enterprises.  

In  this  sense,  Law  5/2011  on  Social  Economy  states  that  Public  Administration  should 
support the activity and social recognition of these organisations, even though there is no 
specification in this law about the kind of financial support which should be given by the 
Government to social enterprises. The publication in 2014 of the Operative Programme of 
Social Integration and Social Economy 2014-20 (Programa Operativo de Inclusión Social 
y de la Economía Social 2014-20) offered a new opportunity to improve the financing of 
social  enterprises’  activities.  This  is  a  grant  programme  provided  by  both  national  and 
regional governments and which is funded by European funds.  

On the other hand, one of the tools for increasing the attractiveness of social enterprises 
to potential investors is the promotion of measuring the social impact of their activities. 
The  stakeholders  view  this  issue  as  a  future  trend  in  the  field  of  social  enterprise.  In 
addition,  the  Spanish  Government  is  studying  the  promotion  of  a  Law  of  Donors  and 
Sponsors  to  make  it  more  attractive  to  donate  to  foundations  and  non-profit 
organisations  by  providing  tax  incentives.  The  Law  is  also  designed  to  help  social 
enterprises  secure  better  financial  resources.  However,  the  Law  has  suffered  several 
delays, and there is currently no concrete date for it to be brought into force.  

(48) According to interviews conducted. 

2016 

47 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

5.  PERSPECTIVES 

5.1.  Overview of the social enterprise debate at the national level 

Various  issues  currently  identified  around  the  concept  of  social  enterprise  must  be 
clarified  to  place  the  concept  in  context  and  establish  its  borders  and  features.  In  the 
next few paragraphs, we summarise five aspects of the discussion in Spain. 

First,  one  of  the  major  debates  is  about  the  location  of  social  enterprises  within  or 
outside  the  social  economy  and  the  consequences  of  this.  Representative  entities  and 
organisations  of  the  social  economy  (mainly  CEPES,  but  also  the  National  Federation  of 
Employment  Integration  Enterprises  [FAEDEI]  and  the  National  Federation  of  Special 
Employment Centres for Social Initiative [FEACEM] and REAS) have proposed that social 
enterprises  exist  within  the  social  economy  following  the  framework  of  Law  5/2011  on 
Social  Economy.  On  the  other  hand,  new  models  of  social  enterprises  are  not  linked  to 
the  mainstream  traditional  forms,  and  the  media  use  the  concept  of  social  enterprises 
generically  to  refer  to  firms  that  perform  some  ‘social  activity’  or  spend  part  of  their 
profits  on  a  ‘social  issue’,  without  regard  to  how  those  profits  are  generated  or  the 
governance  model  and  without  paying  attention  to  whether  these  entities  should  be 
included in the social economy sector.  

A  question  arises  from  this  debate:  Can  social enterprises  be  established  as  part  of  the 
social economy? If so, must they use a legal form already included in the social economy 
(cooperative, association, foundation), or may they use a specific legal qualification form 
of  these  legal  forms?  Fajardo  (2013)  proposed  that,  if  social  enterprises  include 
organisations beyond the social economy organisations that we accept today (EIs, CEEs, 
CISs,  associations  and  foundations  with  economic  activity),  they  should  be  required  to 
meet  legal  regulations:  recognition  of  rights,  restrictions,  obligations,  promotion  and  so 
on.  Furthermore,  Fajardo  (2013)  suggested  that  this  new  concept  must  be  integrated 
into the framework of the social economy as an extension of its borders.  

According  to  the  stakeholders,  this  is  precisely  the  evolution  that  the  concept  is 
undergoing.  Entities  such  as  REAS,  Coop57  and  FIARE  are  in  the  midst  of  this  debate, 
wondering whether the conditions of the legal forms could be relaxed so that some types 
of self-employed workers or liability companies could be accepted in their organisations. 
Currently, these agents may embrace the values of the social economy, but due to their 
specific economic activities or the regions where they are established (e.g. rural areas), 
they  are  unable  to  use  the  legal  form  of  the  social  economy  that  is  required  to  become 
part of REAS, Coop57 or FIARE. 

The  inclusion  of  a  social  enterprise  as  an  organisation  of  the  social  economy  prompts  a 
second question about its governance. One of the main features of the social economy is 
governance based on collective management. If social enterprises are considered part of 
the  social  economy,  can  they  be  governed  individually  or  must  they  be  governed 
collectively?  

Distribution  of  profit  is  another  topic  of  the  second  major  debate  with  regard  to  social 
enterprise  and  its  inclusion  in  the  social  economy  sector.  The  social  economy  maintains 
limits  on  the  distribution  of  business  profits.  In  the  social  enterprise  models  included  in 
the traditional perspective discussed above (EI, CEE and CIS), the absence of distribution 
of profit is mandatory in their statutes by law. In these three cases, any profits have to 
be  reinvested  in  the  organisation to  ensure  the  achievement  of  their social  mission,  not 
distributed  to  individual  investors.  (In  the  case  of  CISs,  profits  cannot  be  distributed  to 
cooperative  members;  they  have  to  be  maintained  in  the  organisation).  This  policy  on 
profit  distribution  may  create  some  controversy  with  some  organisations  following  the 
Anglo-Saxon  perspective  and  even  the  Social  Business  Initiative  definition,  since  the 
absence  of  a  profit-maximising  motive  is  not  included  among  the  requirements;  when 
social investment entities are involved, profits are required in order to remunerate social 
investors who provide capital for the organisation. In short, the debate could be framed 

2016 

48 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

thus:  is  profit  a  feature  of  a  social  enterprise?  Or  does  the  identification  of  an 
organisation as a social enterprise mean that it should stick to its statutory purpose and 
direct  all  funds  towards  the  achievement  of  its  goals?  What  limits  should  be  placed  on 
profits? 

Third,  the  nature  of  the  funding  of  such  an  organisation  is  also  a  regular  topic  for 
questioning  the  model.  Can  a  social  enterprise  receive  public  grants,  or  must  be  it 
financed exclusively through its commercial activities? This issue is key in many sectors 
in which social enterprises are linked to the provision of public services and activities for 
the government. Traditionally, the provision of public services (mainly in social services) 
was  carried  out  through  subsidies  and  agreements  with  social  entities,  although  these 
services are now managed by public procurement. However, if the traditional agreements 
remained,  would  the  organisations  providing  such  services  be  considered  social 
enterprises? Or would the acceptance of grants or fiscal support from the administration 
disqualify  them  as  social  enterprises?  (Special  Employment  Centres,  for  example,  are 
supported by the Spanish government through Social Security payments for workers with 
disabilities.) 

for  those  responsible  consumers  who  take 

The  fourth  point  of  debate  is  related  to  the  achievement  of  the  ‘qualification  of  Social 
Enterprise’. Is a social enterprise label necessary? On the one hand, we could argue that 
a  label  would  help  consumers  to  identify  social  enterprises,  which  simplifies  purchasing 
decisions 
into  account  social  and 
environmental  features  in  their  purchases.  On  the  other  hand,  we  could  point  to  three 
problems  with  the  introduction  of  a  label  of  social  enterprise:  first,  it  could  provide  an 
incentive for organisations to focus on specific social and economic outcomes that would 
maximise their final score in order to obtain the label rather than focusing on the quality 
of  their  services  or  user  satisfaction,  just  as  capitalist  firms  focus  on  maximising  profit. 
Second,  the  establishment  of  a  label  is  tied  into  the  debate  about  the  type  of  measure 
that should be used to obtain the label, its methodological consistency and the weight of 
each  parameter  included  in  it.  Third,  there  are  questions  about  the  legitimacy  of  the 
certifying organisation; must it be part of the government, a representative or committee 
of social enterprises or an independent private company? 

More debate is needed to achieve consensus about the three problems outlined above. In 
this  same  vein,  Herrero  (2016)  identifies  the  need  to  reach  a  consensus  on  what  social 
enterprises  are  and  are  not,  which  would  make  it  possible  to  identify  and  establish 
different types or profiles of social enterprises in each country. What is needed is a set of 
concise  statistics  with  appropriate  indicators  that  would  permit  the  measurement  and 
rating  of  the  dimension,  impact  and  efficiency  of  this  sector.  This  would  provide  for  the 
establishment of specific political actions and allow us to take advantage of the richness 
and diversity of social enterprises. 

Such  a  shared  definition  is  required  to  establish  clear  and  specific  criteria  about  the 
characteristics of social enterprise, because while there is some agreement, there is also 
a high level of abstraction in the concept. Further discussion is needed on some aspects, 
such as: 

• 

• 

• 

The  percentage  of  an  enterprise’s  total  income  that  should  represent  commercial  income, 
as well as the possibility of including public grants or other forms of income.  

The  non-profit  character  of  social  enterprises  or limits  on the  redistribution  of  profits,  and 
in the latter case, the minimum percentage of reinvestment.  

The  establishment  of  criteria  to  identify  structures  of  governance  that  reflect  and  ensure 
the organisation’s social purpose (using democratic or participatory principles). 

Even as this debate is on the table, some experiments with a social enterprise label are 
being  carried  out.  One  of  them  is  ‘B-corp  certification’.  Originating  in  the  USA  and  now 
established in 30 countries, the B-corp movement began in Spain in 2015 with the aim of 
selecting those organisations that achieve at least 80 out of 200 possible points in a list 

2016 

49 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

of six categories, including questions about environmental performance, relationship with 
workers,  type  of  product  or  service  (does  it  solve  a  social  or  environmental  problem?), 
governance (accountability and transparency) and impact in the community. Already, 14 
Spanish  enterprises,  most  of  them  focused  on  services  related  to  social  impact  and 
innovation (49),  have  been  certified  as  meeting  standards  of  social  and  environmental 
performance, accountability and transparency, as defined by the B-corp movement.  

Finally,  the  fifth  debate  is  whether  social  enterprises  can  best  be  understood  as  an 
innovative institutional tool for a new system of social welfare or as an excuse to justify 
the  withdrawal  of  public  administrations  from  the  provision  of  certain  services.  In 
response  to  the  economic  crisis  and  the  need  to  reduce  public  expenses,  national  and 
regional  governments  are  outsourcing  public  services  and  including  in  their  criteria 
efficiency  based  on  the  cost  of  services.  This  phenomenon  affects  dependency  and  the 
care  of  vulnerable  individuals,  management  of  services  for  people  with  disabilities  and 
people at risk  of  exclusion, and sectors related to psychological care and social services 
in general. Big corporations see this outsourcing as a business opportunity. In the face of 
the  power  of  these  corporations,  foundations  and  third-sector  entities  that  traditionally 
managed these types of services are diversifying their activities and grouping together to 
form new advocacy structures to defend their interests in the provision of social services.  

In  fact,  this  debate  was  one  of  the  issues  most  commented  upon  by  the  expert  panel 
consulted. These are some of the main comments: 

•  CEPES  proposed  that  social  enterprises  arise  from  private  entrepreneurial  initiative  to 
respond  to  social  demands  of  certain  groups  of  people  and  their  family  environment  (in 
general,  to  help  integrate  groups  at  risk  of  exclusion).  Although  the  government  plays  a 
crucial role in their creation and support with social public procurement and subsidies, the 
enterprises understand that their purpose is social work in the local environment. 

•  Herrero  (2016)  followed  up  this  idea,  stating  that  ‘the  recent  economic  crisis  has  created 
the  necessity  of  significant  challenges  to  social  welfare  systems,  that  is,  the  seeking  and 
promotion  of  innovative  systems  for  the  provision  of  social  services  in  a  more  efficient 
way’.  Instead  of  reducing  or  eliminating  ‘government  responsibility  of  societal  problems’ 
(Gilbert 2002) (50), the support of new forms of business acting as social enterprises could 
be a way to seek efficiency in dealing with society’s problems. 

• 

• 

Likewise, FEACEM proposed that social enterprises, as entities of the social economy, must 
be understood as an innovative institutional tool for a new system of social welfare – a new 
economy  for  a  new  society.  Social  enterprises  complement,  collaborate  and  engage  with 
governments in a new system of social welfare, social inclusion and cohesion. 

FAEDEI  pointed  out  the  relevant  role  of  employment  integration  enterprises  as  agents  of 
active employment policies. Social enterprises provide opportunities for the groups with the 
greatest  difficulty  gaining  access  to  the  ordinary  employment  market.  In  this  sense, 
FAEDEI  considered  the  government  justified  in  withdrawing  from  the  provision  of  certain 
public  services,  understanding  that  social  enterprises  can  contribute  significantly  in  its 
place,  even  though  the  government  technically  remains  responsible  for  providing  social 
services (inter alia, by constitutional precept).  

Although all the stakeholders understand social enterprise to be in collaboration with the 
government,  they  do  not  agree  that  the  existence  of  social  enterprises  can  justify  the 
government’s withdrawal from the provision of services. 

5.2.  Constraining factors and opportunities 

In  recent  years,  social  enterprises  have  acquired  greater  visibility  in  Spain.  Spanish 
society  has  recognised  the  role  of  the  social  economy  and  social  enterprises,  mainly 
because the current economic situation encourages seeking alternative forms of business 

(49)  Website of B-corp Spain: http://bcorporation.eu/spain. 

(50)  Gilbert,  N.  (2002).  Transformation  of  the  welfare  state:  The  silent  surrender  of  public  responsibility.  Oxford  University 

Press, USA.  

2016 

50 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

and investment. Indeed, the economic climate has created a number of opportunities for 
the creation of social enterprises (although it has also negatively impacted their growth, 
as explained below): 

• 

It  is  clear  that  society  has  perceived  a  failure,  at  least  in  part,  of  the  existing  economic 
models,  switching  the  focus  of  the  economy  from  a  capitalist  model  to  more  socially 
conscious  economic  structures.  This  environment  favours  the  development  of  social 
enterprises. 

•  High  unemployment  rates  have  prompted  individuals  to  seek  alternative  ways  of  pursuing 

their careers – for example, by setting up cooperatives and self-employment.  

• 

• 

The  economic  crisis  has  made  clear  the  need  to  seek  and  promote  innovative  welfare 
policies  that  guarantee  the  provision  of  social  services  in  an  efficient  manner.  One 
possibility  is  providing  government  support  to  organisations  in  civil  society  that  deal  with 
solutions  to  social  problems  and  bring  them  to  the  market  most  efficiently.  The  use  of 
social public procurement is an example of this. Many local and regional governments are 
using  the  administration’s  purchasing  power  and  the  inclusion  of  social  clauses  in  public 
procurements to establish an exclusive market for social organisations. 

The  creation  of  an  institutional  framework  in  Spain,  with  the  adoption  of  Law  5/2011  on 
Social Economy and Law 31/2015 to support the social economy, as well as recognition at 
the  European  level  of  social  enterprises  as  fundamental  elements  of  the  welfare  state, 
made  room  for  greater  visibility  of  the  work  of  social  enterprises.  The  2011  Law  was 
significant  for  its  recognition  of  the  social  economy  as  a  sector,  and  it  created  high 
expectations for the development of entities in the sector. However, the impact of the Law 
has been limited by the minimal development of its proposals (e.g. after five years there is 
no  registry  of  organisations  in  the  social  economy)  and  the  lack  of  funding  for  its 
promotion.  It  emerged  as  a  great  opportunity  –  including  for  social  enterprises  –  but  its 
effect is now neutral and people in the field wonder if new laws are necessary.  

•  Conditions  for  the  establishment  of  social  enterprises  are  improving  as  a  result  of  the 
visibility of social enterprises in the media, on the internet and in foundations, associations 
and business schools, as well as the growing number of training programmes in the field of 
social  entrepreneurship  and  social  enterprise, 
including  doctorate  and  master’s 
programmes. 

• 

Finally, research and popular publications – together with the ample dissemination of some 
ideas  linked  to  the  social  entrepreneur,  such  as  the  theories  of  Bill  Drayton,  founder  of 
Ashoka, who in 2011 received an important Spanish award, the ‘Principe de Asturias Award’ 
–  have  contributed  to  promoting  the  idea  of  social  entrepreneurship  in  Spanish  society 
while  also  creating  some  confusion  between  concepts,  since  not  all  projects  developed  by 
social entrepreneurs can be consider as social enterprises.  

In spite of a favourable climate that seems to provide a number of opportunities for the 
development  of  social  enterprises,  stakeholders  consulted  for  this  document  noted  that 
there  are  still  significant  barriers  to  the  establishment  and  growth  of  social  enterprises. 
The most commonly noted issues were as follows: 

•  Despite  growing  visibility,  there  still  exists  a  significant  lack  of  understanding  in  Spanish 
society about what social enterprises are. Furthermore, there is little real diffusion of news 
related to social enterprise in the traditional media. 

• 

It is difficult to measure the social and economic impact of social enterprises, since there is 
not an appropriate balance between the generation of social value and economic value. 

•  Social enterprises contend with problems in reaching the market due to a lack of awareness 

among public institutions of the concept of social enterprise. 

•  Announcements  of  grants  and  tenders  do  not  take  into  account  the  special  features  of 

social enterprises. 

•  University curricula include too little training in the management of social enterprises. 

•  Another challenge is the lack of a developed practice for social public procurement, such as 

inclusion of relevant non

monetary selection criteria. 

‐

2016 

51 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

• 

The  tax  system  could  be  more  favourable  to  social  enterprises  at  both  local  and  national 
levels. There are already some fiscal advantages, as we explain above, but those involved 
in social enterprises are of the opinion that there is more room for improvement.  

•  Social enterprises have trouble attracting investors and skilled workers due to the typically 
lower  pay  (capital  and  labour)  these  companies  can  offer  compared  with  traditional  for-
profit  companies.  Thus,  it  is  necessary  to  find  investors  and  workers  who  share  their 
principles. 

•  Social enterprises also face difficulties in accessing credit or other funding in some steps of 
the  business  cycle  –  and,  in  some  cases,  in  accessing  financing  tools  adapted  to  the 
features of social enterprise. 

• 

The negative effects of the crisis are an additional factor (see below). 

5.3.  Trends and future challenges 

The current economic crisis had had a dual effect on the creation of social enterprises. On 
the one hand, it is stimulating the search for new economic structures and prompting the 
creation of alternative forms of enterprises, such as social initiative cooperatives. On the 
other hand, it is causing a standstill in public financing for initiatives related inter alia to 
social  enterprises.  Furthermore,  it  seems  that  access  to  private  traditional  credit  has 
become more complicated due to the effects of the crisis in the Spanish financial sector, 
although new financing options are emerging from within the social enterprise and social 
economy sector.  

Social enterprises have proved to be more resilient to certain consequences of the crisis. 
Precise  employment  data  is  not  available,  but some  estimates  suggest  that  the  broader 
social  economy  sector  gained  29 000  firms  and  190 000  jobs  during  the  crisis  years, 
representing 10 % of the GDP and 12.5 % of total employment in Spain (CEPES, 2015).  

In  this  context,  social  enterprises  are  becoming  a  major  player  within  Spain’s  social 
economy.  There  are  already  several  entities  integrating  the  social  enterprise  panorama 
into  the  social  economy  (social  initiative  cooperatives,  WISEs  [EIs  and  CEEs],  and 
foundations  and  associations  carrying  out  economic  activity),  and  the  establishment  of 
new  models  of  social  enterprise  is  expanding  the  borders  of  this  sector.  In  the  face  of 
government  cuts  in  social  programmes,  individuals have  started  to  organise  themselves 
in order to prevent and solve societal problems in a sustainable way, trying to carry out 
economic  activity  that  enables  them  to  diversify  their  income  sources  and  helping  to 
further expand the reach of social enterprises. 

The  stakeholders  consulted  suggest  that  there  is  a  general  concern  affecting  the 
development  of  social  enterprises  in  Spain,  namely  the  territorial  structure  and  uneven 
development  at  a  regional  level.  It  would  be  useful  to  articulate  a  single  and  basic 
national  framework  to  allow  a  more  homogeneous  territorial  evolution  of  social 
enterprises.  

A  variety  of  documents  from  the  sector  summarise  the  present  discussion  of  challenges 
for  social  enterprises  at  a  national  level.  The  following  examples  apply  specifically  to 
Employment Integration Enterprises (EIs) ( 51): 

•  Sector of activities  

Social  enterprises  are  created  with  the  social  purpose  of  tackling  a  problem  or  social 
necessity  existing  in  the  context  in  which  the  company  develops.  The  current  situation  of 
the  Spanish  economy  (high  youth  unemployment  and  long-term  unemployment)  suggests 
that  one  sector  in  which  the  presence  of  social  enterprises  could  be  increased  is  ‘training 
and employment integration of vulnerable groups of people’. The logistics and distribution 
sector  holds  some  promise  for  training  and  integrating  vulnerable  people,  owing  to  the 
prevalence  of  repetitive,  physical  and  non-complex  tasks  that  require  little-skilled  labour. 

(51) FAEDEI (2014): Memoria Social 2013, http://www.faedei.org/images/docs/documento48.pdf. 

2016 

52 

 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

In  addition,  the  ageing  of  the  population  could  lead  to  the  development  of  social 
enterprises  in  the  field  of  ‘rendering  various  personal  services’  of  personal  and  collective 
character (such as elderly services). Finally, concern for the environment could encourage 
the creation of social enterprises related to environmental protection.  

In any case, it is necessary to create products and services which, in addition to generating 
social  value  and  value  to  the  customer,  are  competitive  and  may  be  sold  at  reasonable 
prices such that they are sustainable and profitable. 

•  Collaboration with public institutions 

The main challenge in this case is to establish the obligation that social services can only be 
outsourced to non-profit organisations (social enterprise) and to introduce social clauses in 
requirements for tenders (responsible for public procurement). These social clauses can be 
related  to  the  characteristics  of  hired  workers  (facilitating  the  employment  integration  of 
vulnerable  people),  the  preferred outsourcing  of public  contracts to  social  enterprises, the 
creation of reserved markets for social enterprises, the inclusion of ethical criteria in public 
procurement  and  the  promotion  of  specific  sectors  related  to  social  enterprises  (e.g. 
promotion  of  fair  trade),  among  others.  In  responsible  public  procurement,  social 
organisations find an important niche in the market to support their activities.  

• 

Financing 

Social enterprises need to obtain adequate finance not only to become established but also 
to ensure their growth and development as sustainable businesses. 

A  key  issue  is  to  determine  what  kind  of  financing  is  most  appropriate  for  this  type  of 
company. Rather than financing through investment funds and venture capital companies, 
which are looking for future profits, these companies need other options to maintain their 
social  interest  rather  than  speculative  interests.  One  proposal  from  practitioners  of  social 
enterprises is to constrain the political rights of financing providers to control the power of 
investors.  

•  Management challenges 

There  are  challenges  within  social  enterprises,  as  well.  Stakeholders  have  raised  different 
questions related to working conditions, teams and auditing processes. The challenges are 
related to: 

−  Creating  certificates  of  professionalism  and  accreditation  of  work  experience  in  social 

enterprises. 

−  Promoting  cooperation  inside  the  sector  and  with  new  partners  to  consolidate  social 

enterprises. 

−  Supporting new models of public-cooperative and public-community collaboration, from 

which new models of social enterprises are emerging. 

−  Creating  ‘teams’  (of  employees,  partners,  investors  etc.)  that  share  the  mission, 
principles and convictions of social enterprises and that contribute to the right balance 
between social value and economic value. 

− 

− 

− 

− 

Improving working conditions in social enterprises. 

Introducing  other  stakeholders  in  the  governance  of  social  enterprises  –  in  particular, 
users and government administrations. 

Improving the processes of accompaniment of inclusion workers.  

Improving production and management processes. 

−  Developing  processes  for  auditing  and  social  balance  and  overcoming  the  difficulty  of 

measuring the socio-economic impact of social enterprises. 

• 

Labels and certifications: 

Regarding  labels  and  certifications,  there  is  a  consensus  among  stakeholders  that  labels 
and  certifications  are  important.  They  help  social  enterprises  to  be  recognised  by  society. 
They  should  provide  clear  information  and,  if  possible,  also  distinguish  social  impact.  In 
fact,  the  establishment  of  labels  or  certifications  can  promote  the  visibility  of  social 

2016 

53 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

enterprises  and  thus  help  them  to  obtain  resources  and  expand  demand.  The  criteria 
should  be  balanced  between  too  strict  a  set  of  requirements  (which  can  leave  out  small 
social  enterprises  that  cannot  achieve  such  a  high  level)  and  too  broad  a  definition 
(allowing an excessive number of companies to call themselves social enterprises). 

For future research, it would be interesting to establish a catalogue of social enterprises 
in  Spain  in  all  the  areas  in  which  they  operate,  identifying  types  or  profiles  of  social 
enterprises  and  the  elements  and  characteristics  of  each.  This  would  be  an  important 
step  toward  producing  statistics  of  the  sector  (or  subsector)  of  social  enterprises, 
allowing us to evaluate its scope and impact. 

2016 

54 

 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6.  ANNEXES 

6.1.  Operational social enterprise definition 

The  following  table  represents  an  attempt  to  operationalise  the  definition  of  social 
enterprise based on the Social Business Initiative promoted by the Commission.  

2016 

55 

 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Main dimension 

General definition 

Relevant Indicators (non-exhaustive list) 
(yes/no or range from low up to very high) 

Entrepreneurial/ 
economic 
dimension 

in 

Social  enterprises  (SEs) 
are  engaged 
the 
carrying  out  of  stable 
and 
continuous 
economic  activities,  and 
hence  show  the  typical 
characteristics 
that 
are  shared  by  all 
enterprises (52). 

-  Whether  or  not  the  organisation  is  incorporated 

(it is included in specific registers)  
-  Whether  or  not  the  organisation 

is  non-
autonomous  (controlled  or  not  by  public 
authorities 
for-profit/non-profit 
organisations) and the degree of such autonomy 
(total or partial) 

other 

or 

-  Whether members/owners contribute risk capital 
(how  much)  and  whether  the  enterprise  relies 
on paid workers 

-  Whether  there  is  an  established  procedure  in 

case of SE bankruptcy  

Initial minimum 
requirements 
(yes or no) 

be 

SEs  must 
market-oriented 
of 
(incidence 
trading 
should 
ideally  be  above 
25 %) 

Examples/boundary cases 
comments 

to 

-  We  suggest  that  attention  is 
paid 
the  development 
dynamic  of  SEs  (i.e.  SEs  at 
an  embryonic 
stage  of 
development  may  rely  only 
on volunteers and mainly on 
grants)  

-  Incidence  of 

demand, 
and 
(incidence over total sources of income) 

public 

income  generated  by  private 
grants 

contracting 

-  Whether  and  to  what  extent  SEs  contribute  to 
delivering new products and/or services that are 
not delivered by any other provider  

-  Whether  and  to  what  extent  SEs  contribute  to 
developing  new  processes  for  producing  or 
delivering products and/or services 

(52)  In accordance with Articles 48, 81 and 82 of the Treaty, as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Communities, ‘an enterprise should be considered to be any entity, regardless of 
its  legal  form,  engaged  in  economic  activities, including  in  particular  entities  engaged  in  a  craft  activity and  other  activities  on  an  individual  or  family  basis,  partnerships  or  associations 
regularly engaged in economic activities’. 

2016 

56 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Main dimension 

General definition 

Relevant Indicators (non-exhaustive list) 
(yes/no or range from low up to very high) 

Social dimension 
(social aim) 

need. 

The  social  dimension  is 
the  aim 
defined  by 
and/or 
products 
delivered.  
Aim:  SEs  pursue  the 
explicit  social  aim  of 
serving  the  community 
or  a  specific  group  of 
people  that  shares  a 
specific 
By 
promoting  the  general-
interest,  SEs  overcome 
the  traditional  owner-
orientation that typically 
distinguishes  traditional 
cooperatives.  
Product:  when 
not 
specifically  aimed  at 
integrating 
people 
disadvantaged 
into  work,  SEs  must 
deliver  goods/services 
that 
a 
societal 
beneficial 
impact.  

generate 

-  Whether  the  explicit  social  aim  is  defined  at 
statutory/legal  level  or  voluntarily  by  the  SE’s 
members. 

-  Whether  the  product/activity  produced/carried 
out  by  the  SE  is  aimed  at  promoting  the 
substantial recognition of rights enshrined in the 
national legislation/constitutions  

-  Whether  SE’s  action  has  induced  changes  in 

legislation. 

-  Whether  the  product  delivered  –  while  not 
contributing  to  fulfilling  fundamental  rights  – 
contributes to improving societal wellbeing. 

Initial minimum 
requirements 
(yes or no) 
Primacy  of  social 
aim  must 
be 
clearly  established 
by 
national 
legislations,  by  the 
statutes  of  SEs  or 
other 
relevant 
documents 

Examples/boundary cases 
comments 

community 
for 

-  The  goods/services  to  be 
supplied  may  include  social 
services, 
and 
services 
poor, 
environmental services up to 
public  utilities  depending  on 
the  specific  needs  emerging 
at the local level. 

the 

-  In  EU-15  countries  (and 
especially  in  Italy,  France 
the  UK)  SEs  have 
and 
traditionally been engaged in 
the  provision  of  welfare 
services; 
in  new  Member 
States,  SEs  have  proved  to 
play  a  key  role 
the 
provision  of  a  much  wider 
general-interest 
set 
from 
services 
(e.g. 
to 
educational 
water supply). 

services 

of 

in 

depends 

-  What  is  conceived  to  be  of 
meritorial/general-interest 
on 
nature 
contextual  specificities.  Each 
national 
should 
expert 
provide  a  definition  of  what 
‘public  benefit’  means 
in 
her/his country. 

2016 

57 

 
 
 
  
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Main dimension 

General definition 

Relevant Indicators (non-exhaustive list) 
(yes/no or range from low up to very high) 

Inclusive 
governance-
ownership 
dimension 
(social means) 

To  identify  needs  and 
involve the stakeholders 
concerned  in  designing 
adequate  solutions,  SEs 
particular 
require 
structures 
ownership 
and  governance  models 
that  are  meant 
to 
enhance 
various 
to 
extents the participation 
of  stakeholders  affected 
by the enterprise. 

SEs  often 
limit  the 
distribution of profits. 
The 
non-profit 
distribution  constraint  is 
meant  to  ensure  that 
the  general  interest  is 
safeguarded.  The  non-
distribution 
profit 
be 
constraint 
can 
operationalised 
in 
different ways. 

-  Whether  SEs  are  open  to  the  participation 

and/or involvement of new stakeholders. 

-  Whether SEs are required by law or do adopt (in 
practice)  decision-making  processes  that  allow 
for a well-balanced representation of the various 
formal 
interests  at  play  (if  yes, 
membership  or  informal  channels;  giving  voice 
to users and workers in special committees?). 
a  multi-stakeholder 

ownership 

through 

-  Whether 

structure is imposed by law (e.g. France). 

-  Whether  SEs  are  required  to  adopt  social 
accounting  procedures  by  law  or  they  do  it  in 
practice without being obliged to.  

-  Degree  of  social  embeddedness  (awareness 
among  the  local  population  of  the  key  societal 
role played by the SE versus isolation of the SE) 
-  Whether  the  non-profit  distribution  constraint  is 
applied to owners  or  to  stakeholders  other  than 
owners (workers and users): whether it is short-
term  (profits  cannot/are  not  distributed  or  they 
are  capped)  or  long-term  (asset  lock);  or  both 
short and long-term.  

-  Whether  the  cap  is  regulated  externally  (by  law 
or defined by a regulator) or it is defined by the 
SE bylaws. 

-  Whether 

limitations 

to  workers’ 
managers’  remunerations  are  also 
(avoid indirect distribution of profits). 

and/or 
imposed 

Initial minimum 
requirements 
(yes or no) 
SEs  must  ensure 
that  the  interests 
of  relevant  stake-
holders  are  duly 
represented  in  the 
decision-making 
processes 
implemented. 

Examples/boundary cases 
comments 

single 

-  Ownership rights and control 
power  can  be  assigned  to 
one 
category  of 
stakeholders (users, workers 
or  donors)  or  to  more  than 
one  category  at  a  time  – 
hence  giving  ground  to  a 
multi-stakeholder  ownership 
asset. 

-  SEs  can  be  the  result  of 
collective  dynamics  or  be 
created  by  a  charismatic 
leader  (in  principle  a  sole 
owner  is  admitted  by  some 
national legislations provided 
the  participation  of 
that 
is  enhanced 
stakeholders 
inclusive 
through 
governance) 
public 
agency. 
-  Different 

combinations 
concerning 
to 
profit  distribution  envisaged 
successful 
(e.g. 
solution:  capped  dividends 
supported by total asset lock 
–  Italian  social  coops,  CIC, 
SCICs). 

limitations 

most 

or 

2016 

58 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6.2.  Illustrations 

Illustration 1. TIEBEL, S. Coop.  

TIEBEL  is  a  social  initiative  cooperative  located  in  Zaragoza.  It  seeks  the  creation  of 
quality jobs, preferably for women; the employment integration of socially disadvantaged 
people;  and  the  provision  of  quality  services, 
including  professional  cleaning, 
occupational training and socio-cultural and sports animation.  

TIEBEL is a response to the unemployment situation of a group of people with skills and 
who  want  to  work.  With  more  than  40  people  included  in  the  project  and  with  the 
promotion  of  a  social  integration  enterprise  named  TINSER  in  2007,  TIEBEL  is  an 
example  of  a  typical  social  initiative  cooperative  engaged  in  the  traditional  activities  of 
this type of organisation, focusing on a labour-intensive sector, such as cleaning. 

The  cooperative  was  founded  in  1993  as  a  social  initiative  cooperative  by  group  of 
unemployment  women  who  wanted  to  work  and  wanted  to  be  able  to  offer  jobs 
especially  for  women.  They  started  with  home  services,  professional  cleaning  and 
professional  gardening.  In  1996  they  started  their  own  training  project  in  professional 
cleaning aimed at women. 

From  2013  TIEBEL  promoted  two  ‘social  spin-offs’;  aRopa2  and  DE  TESELA  EN  TESELA. 
The first project is devoted to recovering and recycling of used clothing and other textiles 
in  Aragon.  Its  mission  is  to  promote  environmental  protection  and  creation  of  jobs  for 
people at risk of social exclusion. It is an excellent example of intercooperation between 
social  enterprises  (TIEBEL,  S.  Coop.  and  LaVeloz  Cooperative  Group  are  partners  in  the 
project:  the  former  focuses  on  the  process  of  inclusion  of  socially  excluded  people 
through the process of selecting and cleaning the clothes; the latter with the delivery of 
used  clothes  and  the  sale  of  the  garments  following  the  cleaning  process).  aRopa2  also 
initially  received  the  support  of  the  local  government,  with  subsidies  for  its  four  first 
years in order to accelerate the process of emerging, and permission for the use of public 
space  for  their  clothes  containers.  The  second  project,  ‘DE  TESELA  EN  TESELA’  is  a 
cultural project in collaboration with the original neighbourhood in which the cooperative 
was born. It is a workshop that promotes the art of the mosaic as an artistic and cultural 
element, taking advantage of heritage synergies in the town of Azuara. 

More information: http://www.tiebelcooperativa.com 

Illustration 2. MAPISER  

MAPISER was created by the Picarral Foundation and Integration Employment Foundation 
in  1997  to  provide  employment  training  and  employment  to  people  affected  by  social 
exclusion or at risk of social exclusion.  

MAPISER  has  been  seeking  employment  niches  in  several  areas  (industrial  handling, 
cleaning  graffiti  and  painting  façades,  wooden  packing,  logistics  and  distribution, 
information  and  data  services  etc.),  becoming  a  social  holding  company  whose 
enterprises  complement  each  other  in  maintaining  a  balance  between  social  objectives 
and the need to be economically viable.  

MAPISER  demonstrates  the  benefits  of  maintaining  a  willingness  to  pursue  business 
opportunities in the real market. These market opportunities offer employment niches for 
the  target  population  of  the  WISEs  if  these  organisations  are  able  to  adapt  the 
opportunities  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  these  groups.  Furthermore,  collaboration  and 
business cooperation are keys for creating and strengthening the networks serving these 
groups and for gaining long-term viability. 

MAPISER’s  goal  is  to  create  stable  and  worthy  employment  for  people  with  special 
difficulties  accessing  the  ordinary  employment  market,  to  favour  the  employment  and 
social insertion of workers, and to work for a future in which the company balances the 
human factor and profitability. 

2016 

 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Similar  to  other  WISEs  in  Aragon,  the  origin  of  MAPISER  is  the  result  of  the  collective 
activity  of  a  neighbourhood  association  in  Saragossa.  The  Picarral  Neighbourhood 
Association, in the North of Saragossa, promotes this WISE in collaboration with another 
organisation,  the  Integracion  y  Empleo  Foundation.  This  neighbourhood  association 
supports  the  Picarral  Foundation,  which  aims  to  promote  the  social  and  employment 
integration  of  people  with  different  disabilities  (young  people  and  people  with  limited 
intellectual  capacities  or  slight  psychiatric  disabilities)  and  created  the  structure  for 
MAPISER to carry out this goal. 

Since  the  beginning,  the  project  has  relied  on  a  large  team  of  volunteers  which 
collaborates  with  hired  personnel  to  provide  basic  training,  socio-cultural  activities  and 
workshops  with  users.  Both  groups  are  a  key  factor  in  the  efficacy  of  the  beneficiaries 
acquiring professional skills and the necessary resources. 

MAPISER has demonstrated that it is possible to integrate a labour force in fields where 
specialisation is a key factor. The entry into new activities with a high added value such 
as  managing  and  digitising  documents  and  adapting  to  customer  demands  as  a  way  to 
continue integration into the labour force are just two examples. 

Illustration 3. ANOBIUM  

More information: http://www.mapiser.com 

ANOBIUM  is  a  special  employment  centre  focused  on  the  integration  of  people  with  all 
types of disabilities (physical, sensory and mental). It does this through activities linked 
to  innovation  and  technology,  with  digitalisation  of  documents  as  the  most  important 
activity.  It  also  manages  social  networks  and  websites  of  businesses  and  organisations, 
organic  positioning  of  websites  in  online  search  engines  (search  engine  optimisation 
[SEO]),  and  pay  per  click  in  online  advertisements  and  marketing  (search  engine 
marketing  [SEM]).  It  clearly  shows  two  lines  of  activity  in  its  business  model  –  one 
focused  on  supplying  information  and  communication  technology  (ICT)  services  to  the 
market and the other on the work integration of people with disabilities. 

ANOBIUM  was  officially  founded  on  30 May 2007.  It  divides  its  economic  activity  into 
three  main  areas:  Physical  services,  Digital  services  and  Services  of  Research  and 
Consultancy. ANOBIUM develops its economic activity simultaneously with the service of 
work integration, which is its raison d’être as a Social Enterprise. This is explained in the 
main  objective  of  ANOBIUM:  to  focus  on  the  person  as  the  heart  of  their  activity, 
providing  a  means  for  their  socio-employment  integration  through  decent  work,  a  good 
work  environment  and  employment  security  and  stability,  and  supporting  the  personal 
development of the people who form the company. 

The professional team is one of key elements in the services provided by ANOBIUM. One 
of the most important departments of ANOBIUM is the Department of Human Resources 
(in  the  organisational  chart  this  is  located  at  the  level  of  the  managerial  staff).  The 
Department of Human Resources manages the process of integrating disabled people into 
the  workforce.  The  work  integration  service  plans  the  work  patterns  and  routines  of 
workers  in  order  to  ensure  the  stability  of  their  jobs.  It  allows  employment  time  to  be 
balanced with training time in order to facilitate the inclusion of disabled workers in the 
regular  employment  market.  Thus,  both  social  and  employment  integration  of  workers 
becomes the essence of ANOBIUM, and the development of services in the ICT industry is 
seen as an opportunity to continue expanding this work of integration into new niches of 
employment. 

This  work  integration  process  is  developed  following  protocols  that  have  been  perfected 
over  time.  The  objective  of  systematising  and  professionalising  the  process  of  fostering 
and supporting is the acquisition and development of personal and social skills and work 
skills that will enable the person better access to work and the maintenance of a job. 

More information: http://www.anobium.es/ 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Illustration 4. Portal Berguedà  

PORTAL BERGUEDÀ was created in 2012 by the Portal Foundation to provide employment 
training  and  employment  to  young  people  affected  by  dual  pathology  (people  with 
addiction and a mental disorder) and their families. Young people produce dairy products, 
mainly  yogurt,  using  the  traditional  method  and  under  the  direction  of  an  artisan  in  a 
farm  workshop. The yogurt products are  sold in gourmet and  specialty shops under the 
brand Delícies del Berguedà. 

In  this  project  the  social  enterprise  gives  a  response  to  the  problem  of  young  and 
adolescent people affected by dual pathology that have made a therapeutic process and 
helped  to  exit  the  situation  of  risk.  These  people  face  major  obstacles  to  incorporation 
into  the  employment  market,  and  are  unable  to  follow  traditional  education  paths.  A 
second  objective,  in  the  long-term,  is  to  create  a  centre  in  which  some  of  the  workers 
can  live  in  while  others  with  more  autonomy  can  live  in  special  tutor-supervised 
apartments. 

The  workers  employ  a  tradition  process  with  control  of  the  products  at  the  different 
stages  of  transformation,  under  the  direction  of  an  artisan,  leading  to  extensive  and 
sustainable  production.  The  Delicies  of  the  Berguedà  brand  applies  innovative 
technologies to guarantee an artisan product as homemade. 

In  2014  it  was  recognised  as  a  quality  gourmet  product  and  is  well  positioned  in  the 
Horeca channel, counting among its portfolio of clients’ hotels such as the Majestic, Casa 
Fuster and the W Barcelona. 

PORTAL BERGUEDÀ is a social enterprise that participates in the programme ‘Support to 
the Social Entrepreneurship of the Government of Catalonia’. It is a member of the Xarxa 
Agrosocial  promoted  by  the  Fundació  Catalunya-La  Pedrera  and  is  a  founder  partner  of 
the Cooperativa 2147Mans. 

Illustration 5. Rey Ardid Holding Group (FRRA) 

Source: http://www.deliciesdelbergueda.cat/es 

Rey Ardid Holding Group (known as ‘Rey Ardid’) was created in 1991 in response to the 
need  to  provide  care  for  the  most  vulnerable  people,  creating  environments  that  favour 
greater personal autonomy and a better quality of life and services. 

Rey  Ardid  works  in  six  areas  (mental  health,  the  elderly,  children,  training,  integration 
and  employment).  It  allows  the  design  of  complete  schedules  of  care  and  rehabilitation 
and  favours  the  integration  of  people  with  difficulties  into  a  normal  social,  living  and 
employment environment.  

The main goals are to achieve full social integration, to cover the user’s basic needs and 
to improve the quality of life for both them and their relatives. To achieve these goals the 
group has developed a range of actions: training, awareness, leisure and recreation etc. 
FRRA  has  established  diverse  agreements  with  official  bodies  and  private  institutions  to 
develop assistance, prevention, rehabilitation, socio-professional integration and training 
activities 

Twenty-five  years  after  its  foundation,  Rey  Ardid  has  evolved  in  parallel  to  the  Welfare 
State, expanding its intervention areas to  ensure that attention is targeted  on the most 
vulnerable  people  in  society,  namely,  children  and  youngsters,  the  elderly,  people  with 
disabilities  and  people  at  risk  of  social  exclusion.  In  addition,  they  are  able  to  cater  for 
people  with  mental  disorders,  following  the  creation  of  various  non-profit  organisations 
that today form the Rey Ardid Holding Group. 

In  2014,  Rey  Ardid  assisted  more  than  5 715  people,  thanks  to  the  work  of  more  than 
773 qualified and experienced professionals and 90 volunteers. 

In 2012, Emprey (Social Enterprises Rey Ardid) was created. This new project includes all 
the social enterprises of the Rey Ardid group. The objective is to pool resources, abilities, 
talent and experience and thus to become more innovative and effective. In other words, 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

coming  together  to  offer  the  best  solution.  In  relying  on  the  services  of  the  Rey  Ardid 
Foundation’s  social  enterprises,  customers  put  their  trust  in  real  people  who  act  with 
responsibility and share the belief that social value is the best investment. Thanks to the 
continuous training of its workers and with backup of a large group, the social enterprises 
of the Rey Ardid Foundation are able to offer  unique solutions, customised and adapted 
to the specific needs of each customer. 

Illustration 6. SOM ENERGIA, S. Coop.  

More information: http://www.reyardid.org 

SOM  ENERGIA  is  a  non-profit  consumer  cooperative  dealing  with  green  and  renewable 
energy,  whose  main  activities  are  marketing  and  production  of  energy  from  renewable 
sources.  It  is  committed  to  promoting  the  change  of  the  current  energy  model  into  a 
100 % renewable model. 

SOM  ENERGIA  began  its  activities  in  2011,  having  been  conceived  a  year  before  as  a 
project driven by citizen participation to change the energy model. The partners of SOM 
ENERGIA are part of the cooperative thanks to an initial contribution to the social capital 
of  EUR 100.  Any  individual,  company  or  public  administration  that  shares  the  values  of 
SOM ENERGIA can join the cooperative. 

The  cooperative  produces  energy  through  its  own  platforms  from  renewable  sources 
(sun, wind, biogas, biomass) and the funds come from volunteer contributions from the 
cooperative  members.  The  cooperative  manages,  buys  and  bills  the  electricity  that  its 
partners  consume.  It  is  recognised  as  a  marketer  of  green  electricity,  according  to  its 
certificates of guarantee of origin (CNMC). 

The cooperative has a new generation electricity project, Planta Solar de Alcolea del Río. 
In  August 2016,  2 182  cooperative  partners  invested  more  than  EUR 2 million  in  a  self-
production  electricity  platform.  The  project  has  been  fully  financed,  built,  connected  to 
the  network,  and  is  producing  green  energy  and  returning  it  monthly  and  at  cost  to  all 
those who have invested to make it possible. 

The  Governing  Council,  selected  by  members,  is  responsible  for  implementing  the 
guidelines  set  by  the  Assembly  regarding  the  values  set  out  in  the  statutes  of  the 
cooperative. The Governing Council members are unpaid volunteers. 

SOM ENERGIA is an example of a social enterprise developed in a new sector of activity 
that  did  not  exist  in  Spain  five  years  ago.  The  increase  in  members  and  consumers  is 
very impressive (more than 5 000 people per year), reaching in August 2016 more than 
27 000  members  and  more  than  37 000  contractual  customers,  and  the  income 
estimation for 2016 is EUR 23 million. 

Illustration 7. Municipal Services of Candelaria  

More information: http://www.somenergia.coop/ 

Municipal  Services  of  Candelaria  is  a  public  and  municipal  corporation  owned  by  the 
municipality of Candelaria, a town in the Canary Islands. Created in 2007, it is dedicated 
to  social  and  professional  integration  of  people  at  risk  of  social  exclusion  or  at  risk  of 
suffering  exclusion.  For  the  development  of  the  activities  that  constitute  its  corporate 
purpose,  the  ‘Municipal  Services  of  Candelaria’  employment  integration  enterprise 
manages  the  following  municipal  services,  which  have  been  commissioned  by  the 
municipal  authority:  geriatric  care  for  people  at  home;  interior  cleaning  of  properties 
and/or of urban equipment; concierge services for municipal buildings; the management 
of  a  pottery  centre  and  of  a  municipal  pool.  The  corporation’s  vision  is  to  be  a  service 
company  that  operates  with  efficiency  and  quality,  developing  integration  processes 
according  to  the  individual  agreements  made  by  each  person  with  the  company  and 
taking  advantage  of  opportunities  that  may  arise  to  promote  job  creation.  The 
corporation’s values include quality, efficiency, transparency,  respect, honesty and good 
humour. 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Municipal  Services  of  Candelaria  is  the  first  example  of  a  social  enterprise  created  by  a 
municipality  in  Spain;  an  EI  devoted  to  solving  problems  of  social  and  employment 
exclusion in the city (53). Municipal services and infrastructures are devoted to supporting 
the  economic  activity  of  the  EI.  In  2014,  turnover  was  EUR 715 313  and  there  were  33 
workers,  although  in  2010  the  levels  were  the  highest  so  far:  EUR 1.5 million  and 
60 workers, according to the commercial registry.  

More information: http://www.candelaria.es/index.php/sector-publico-municipal/empresa-de-insercion  

(53) http://web.eldia.es/sur/2013-01-27/1-Candelaria-primer-ayuntamiento-espanol-crear-empresa-insercion.htm. 

2016 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6.3.  Reference list 

6.3.1.  Literature  

AECA,  La  empresa  social:  marco  conceptual,  contexto  e 
http://aeca.es/old/pub/documentos/rs9(2).pdf 

información,  2015. 

Andreu  Marti,  M.  (Ed.),  La  empresa  social  y  su  organización  jurídica,  Marcial  Pons 
Editorial, 2014. 

Barco Serrano, S.,’Public policies in the social economy and the dialogue between public 
actors  and  social  economy  in  Spain’,  Universitas  Forum,  Vol.  3,  No  2,  June  2012. 
Available at: http://universitasforum.org/index.php/ojs/rt/printerFriendly/110/435 

Caja  Madrid,  Anuario  del  Tercer  Sector  de  Acción  Social  en  España,  2012.  Available  at: 
https://www.obrasocialcajamadrid.es/Ficheros/CMA/ficheros/OBSSocial_AnuarioTercerSe
ctorAccionSocial2012.PDF 

CEPES, La economía social en los estudios universitarios de postgrado - curso académico 
2015/2016. Available at: 
https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://www.cepes.es/files/publicaciones/9
0.pdf 

CEPES,  EOI,  El  impacto  socioeconómico  de  las  entidades  de  economía  social,  2013. 
Available 
at: 
http://api.eoi.es/api_v1_dev.php/fedora/asset/eoi:80096/EOI_ImpactoEconomiaSocial_2
013.pdf 

CEPES, 
http://www.cepes.es/publicacion_cepes=95 

Cuadernos 

Economía 

de 

Social, 

2013. 

Available 

at: 

CEPES, 
Entidades_evolucion 

Statistics. 

Available 

at: 

http://www.cepes.es/Estadistica-nacional-

CEPES Types of entities. Available at: http://www.cepes.es/social/entities_cooperatives 

CIRIEC,  ‘Spanish  social  economy  in  numbers’,  2008.  Available  at:  http://www.ciriec.es/ 
(registration required)  

CIRIEC,  The  social  economy 
http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/sec_trabajo/autonomos/economia-
soc/NoticiasDoc/NoticiasPortada/ES_politicas_publicas_2007.pdf 

in  Spanish  Public  Policies,  2007.  Available  at: 

Chaves, R., Monzón R.L, Zaragoza, G., ‘The social economy: concept,  macromagnitudes 
and employment opportunities for Social Work’, Cahiers of Social Work, Vol. 26-1, 2013, 
pp. 19-29. 

Chaves, R., & Monzón, J. L., ‘Beyond the crisis: the social economy, prop of a new model 
of sustainable economic development’, Service Business, 6(1), 2012, pp. 5-26. 

Chaves  Ávila,  R.,  &  Savall  Morera,  T.,  ‘La  insuficiencia  de  las  actuales  políticas  de 
fomento de cooperativas y sociedades laborales frente a la crisis en España’, REVESCO - 
Revista de Estudios Cooperativos, No 113, 2013, p. 61-91. 

CIRIEC-España: ‘Social Enterprises and Social Economy / Empresas Sociales y Economía 
Social’, Special Issue, No 75 August, CIRIEC-España Revista de Economía Pública Social 
http://www.ciriec-
at: 
y 
revistaeconomia.es/index.php?id_pagina=7&id_revista=83  

Cooperativa. 

Available 

COCETA,  When  it  comes  to  individuals,  cooperatives  take  the  initiative.  Social  Initiative 
Cooperatives.  Radiograph 
at: 
changing 
http://www.coceta.coop/publicaciones/estudio-ctis-2010.pdf 

2010.  Available 

industry, 

of 

a 

COM, ‘Social Business Initiative, creating a favourable climate for social enterprises, key 
stakeholders  in  the  social  economy  and  innovation’,  682  final,  2011.  Available  at: 
http://eur- lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0682:FIN:EN:PDF 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Comillas  University,  Guide  for  the  social  entrepreneur.  Inspirations  for  the  creation  of 
enterprises  with  a  social  value,  Financed  by  the  Ministry  of  Employment  and  Social 
Security. 
at: 
14, 
http://www.upcomillas.es/investigacion/pdf/Gu %C3 %ADa %20del %20emprendedor %
20social.pdf 

Available 

p. 

Defourny,  Jacques,  and  Nyssens,  M.,  ‘Social  enterprise  models  in  a  worldwide 
comparative  perspective’,  Keynote  to  7th  International  Social  Innovation  Research 
Conference (ISIRC), York University, 8 Sept., 2015. 

Díaz-Foncea M., (Coord.), Models of Social Enterprises in Spain, Mimeo, 2015. 

Díaz-Foncea,  Millán,  Carmen,  Marcuello,  ‘Social  enterprises  and  social  markets:  models 
and new trends’, Service Business, 6.1, 2012 pp. 61-83. 

Díaz Foncea, M., Marcuello, C. and Marcuello, C., ‘Social enterprises and evolution of the 
social impact’, Review of Public, Social and Cooperative Economy, No 75, CIRIEC, Spain, 
http://www.ciriec-
2012, 
revistaeconomia.es/banco/CIRIEC_7508_Diaz_et_al.pdf 

179-198. 

Available 

pp. 

at: 

EC,  ‘Social  economy  –  laying  the  groundwork  for  innovative  solutions  to  today’s 
challenge’, Peer Review in Social Protection and Social Inclusion, Synthesis Report, 2012. 
at: 
Available 
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=1397&furtherNews=y
es 

Report 

ESADE, 
http://www.microbank.com/conocemicrobank/informesactividad/informesobreelimpactos
ociallosmicrocreditos_en.html  

of  Microcredits, 

Available 

impact 

2011. 

the 

on 

at: 

European Commission, ‘Social Investment in Europe, A study of national policies’, 2015. 
Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=13278&langId=en 

Fajardo, G., ‘Social Economy enterprises: aims and principles’, 4th Conference on Social 
Economy,  Social  economy  on  the  move…  at  the  crossroads  of  structural  change  and 
regulation, Antwerp, 24-26 October 2013. 

FAEDEI, 
http://www.faedei.org/images/docs/documento48.pdf  

Memoria 

Social 

2013, 

2014 

Available 

at: 

FEACEM, 
http://www.feacem.es/sites/default/files/publicaciones/pfceeresumencd.pdf 

Presente 

España 

futuro 

CEE 

los 

en 

de 

y 

2013, 

2014. 

Fisac,  R.,  La  empresa  social:  marco  conceptual,  contexto  e  información,  AECA,  Madrid, 
Spain, 2012. 

Flores,  Ruiz,  D.;  Guzman  Alfonso,  C.  and  Barroso  González,  M.,  ‘La  formación  en 
economía  social.  Análisis  de  la  oferta  universitaria  de  posgrado  en  España’,  REVESCO  - 
Revista de Estudios Cooperativos, No 121, 2016, pp. 89-113. 

FT,  ‘Mondragon:  Collective  approach  pays  big  dividends’,  Financial  Times  on-line,  27 
March  2012.  Available  at:  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a9859070-72b1-11e1-9be9-
00144feab49a.html#axzz2j9aFtLyA 

Fundación  Compromiso  y  Transparencia,  Map  of  Impact  Investments  in  Spain.  2012. 
http://www.compromisoempresarial.com/wp-
Available 
content/uploads/Informeinversiones.pdf 

at: 

Fundación  Luis  Vives,  Yearbook  of  the  Third  Sector  in  Spain,  Fundación  Luis  Vives, 
Madrid, 2013. 

Garay,  Jon.  ‘Fagor:  los  límites  del  coperativismo’,  El  Correo,  17.10.2013.  Available  at: 
http://www.elcorreo.com/vizcaya/20131017/economia/fagor-limites-cooperativismo-
201310161801.html 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Gilbert,  N.,  Transformation  of  the  welfare  state:  The  silent  surrender  of  public 
responsibility, Oxford University Press, USA, 2002. 

Global 
http://www.gemconsortium.org/docs/2811/gem-spain-2012-report 

Entrepreneurship 

Monitor, 

2012. 

Available 

at: 

Gordon,  M.,  A  Typology  of  Social  Enterprise  Traditions,  No  18,  ICSEM  Working  Papers, 
2015. 

Junta  de  Andalucía,  2009,  Pacto  Andaluz  por  la  Economía  Social.  Available  at: 
http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/export/drupaljda/III_Pacto_Andaluz_por_la_Economia_
Social.pdf; 
project.eu/index.php/good-practice/spain/third-agreement-for-the-social-economy-in-
andalusia.html 

http://www.messe-

translation 

English 

found 

can 

an 

be 

at 

Law  20/1990  on  the  Fiscal  Regime  for  Cooperatives,  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of 
20  December  1990.  Available  at:  http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Fiscal/l20-
1990.html 

Law 27/1999, on Cooperatives, of 26 July 1999, Official Journal no. 170 of 17 July 1999. 
Available at: https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-1999-15681 

Law  1/2002,  de  22  de  marzo,  reguladora  del  Derecho  de  Asociación.  Available  at: 
https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2002-5852 

Law 49/2002 on the tax regime of non-profit entities and tax incentives to sponsorship. 
Available at: https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2002-25039 

Law 50/2002 on Foundations. Available at: https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-
A-2002-25180  

Law  44/2007,  of  13  December,  on  the  regulation  of  the  regime  of  the  Employment 
Integration  Enterprises.  Available  at:  https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-
2007-21492 

Law 5/2011 on Social Economy, Official Journal no. 76, of 30 March 2011. Available at: 
https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2011/03/30/pdfs/BOE-A-2011-5708.pdf; 
English 
version  can  be  found  at  http://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/the-spanish-law-on-
social-economy.pdf 

an 

Law  31/2015,  of  9  September,  amending  and  updating  the  legislation  on  self-
employment  and  adopting  measures  for  the  promotion  and  facilitating  of  self-
employment and the social economy. https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-
2015-9735 

Law  40/2015,  of  1  October,  on  the  legal  system  for  the  Public  Sector.  Available  at: 
https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2015-10566 

of 

Ministry 
http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/sec_trabajo/autonomos/economia-soc/Ayudas/index.htm 
Official Journal, No 299, 15 December 2006. 

Employment 

Available 

Security. 

Social 

and 

at: 

Monzón, J.L. and Chaves, R., The Social Economy in the European Union, Economic and 
Social Committee, Brussels, 2012. 

Monzón,  J.L.  and  Marcuello,  C.,  Presentación  del  monográfico  ‘Empresas  Sociales  y 
Economía Social’, CIRIEC-España, Revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativa, No 
75, 2012, pp. 5-6. 

Nitolescu,  G.  and  Rimac,  T.  (2014):  The  State  of  Social  Entrepreneurship  in  Spain, 
at: 
SEFORÏS 
http://www.seforis.eu/upload/reports/Country_Report_Spain.pdf 

Available 

Country 

Report. 

O’Connor, P., Meinhard, A., Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs): Their Potential 
Contribution  to  Labor  Market  (Re-)  Integration  of  At  Risk  Populations,  Centre  for 
Voluntary Studies, Working Paper Series 2014(2). 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Official 
http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2003/01/17/pdfs/A02205-02219.pdf  

January 

Journal 

2003. 

17 

of 

Available 

at: 

Order  25/09/2006,  Official  Journal  of  Andalusia,  n.  203,  19  October  2006. 
http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/boja/2006/203/2 

Order TRE/248/2007, Official Journal of Catalonia no. 4929 of 19 July 2007. Available at: 
http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/portaldogc/menuitem.c973d2fc58aa0083e4492d92b
0c0e1a0/?vgnextoid=4859 
46a6e5dfe210VgnVCM1000000b0c1e0aRCRD&appInstanceName=default&action=fitxa&d
ocumentId=448385&langua ge=es_ES 

Order  31/5/2007,  Official  Journal  of  Valencia,  no.  5529  of  7  June  2007.  Available  at: 
http://www.boletinesoficiales.com/documentacion/subvencion/documento/ORDEN-31-
mayo-2007-Conselleria- 
concesion-ayudas-destinadas-fomento-cooperativas- 
ejercicio-7471,18,20070607,15/ 

Economia-Hacienda-Empleo-aprueban-bases-reguladoras-
sociedades-laborales-convocan-

Salinas  F,  Rubio  MJ  (2001)  ‘Tendencias  en  la  evolución  de  las  organizaciones  no 
lucrativas hacia la empresa social’, CIRIEC- España, Revista de Economı́a Pública, Social 
y Cooperativa, No 37, pp. 79-116. 

Obra Social la Caixa, EASADE and PWC, Study on the present and future situation of the 
Third 
at: 
Available 
http://www.fepamic.org/ficheros/publicaciones/21/presente-y-futuro-del-tercer- 
sector.pdf 

Sector 

2012. 

crisis, 

times 

of 

in 

Socias, A., Horrach, P., Social responsibility and accountability in work integration social 
enterprise.  The  case  of  the  Balearic  Islands,  CIRIEC-España,  Revista  de  Economía 
Pública, Social y Cooperativa, No 75, 2012, pp. 251-276. 

Spainsif 
http://www.spainsif.es/sites/default/files/upload/publicaciones/spainsif_informe_2012_w
eb_1.pdf 

Available 

(2012). 

Report 

at: 

Spanish 
of 
http://www.observatorioeconomiasocial.es/area-juridica-empresas- 
sociales.php?autonomico=1 

Observatory 

economy. 

social 

Available 

at: 

Triper,  B.,  El  emprendimiento  social  como  parte  de  la  economía  social,  Ministerio  de 
Empleo y Seguridad Social y CEPES, 2015. 

Vidal,  I.,  ‘Social  enterprises  as  a  response  to  employment  policy  failure’  in  Borzaga,  C. 
and Defourny, J., (Eds.), The Emergence of Social Enterprise, Routledge, London, 2001. 

Vidal, I., ‘Territorial Map of not-for-profit entities and cooperatives in Spain’ CIES, 2009. 
Available  at:  http://www.grupcies.com/MAPA-TERRITORIAL-DE-LAS-ENTIDADES-NO-
LUCRATIVAS-Y-DE-LAS-COO.854.0.html 

Vidal,  I.  and  Claver,  N.,  Work  Integration  social  enterprises  in  Spain,  WP  04/05,  2014. 
Available at: http://www.emes.net/uploads/media/PERSE_WP_04-05_SP.pdf 

2016 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6.3.2. Websites 

Ambers & Co, http://www.gawacapital.com/ 

ANOBIUM, http://www.anobium.es/  

Asociación Espaňola de Fundaciones, 
http://www.fundaciones.org/EPORTAL_DOCS/GENERAL/AEF/DOC- 
cw50ffb5258c0ba/ElsectorfundacionalenEspaNaatributosfundamentales.pdf 

BBVA, http://www.mfbbva.org/english.html  

CAMARAS, http://www.camaras.org/publicado/formacion/paem.html  

CEPES, http://www.cepes.es/Ranking 

CIES, http://www.grupcies.com/ 

CIRIEC, 
http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/fr/telechargements/RESEARCH_REPORTS/EESC_CIRIECInfor
me2012_ES.pdf  

CREAS, http://www.creas.org.es/eng/ 

DG for Freelance Work, Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility- 

http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/organizacion/empleo/contenido/OM27.htm  

ENISA, http://www.enisa.es/ 

Escuela  de  Economía 
emprende 

European 
analysis/sme-definition/  

Commission, 

social,  http://escueladeeconomiasocial.es/contenido/fides-

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-

FACUA, http://www.facua.org 

FAEDEI, http://www.faedei.org/es/eri  

FEACEM, http://www.feacem.es/ 

FIARE, http://www.proyectofiare.com/web/ 

Foundation ISIS, http://www.fundacionisis.es/ Foundation ONCE 
http://www.fundaciononce.es 

Foundation Rey Ardid, http://www.reyardid.org/ 

GESES, Research team on third sector and social economy of the University of Zaragoza 
http://geses.unizar.es/web_geses/index.html  

ICO, http://www.ico.es/web/contenidos/home/home.html  

ICO Foundation, http://www.fundacionico.es/index.php?id=110 

INAEF, http://www.fundaciones.org/EPORTAL_DOCS/GENERAL/AEF/DOC- 
cw4e1d396869ffb/Elsectorfundacionalespaol-Datosbsicos.pdf 

INNOVALAB, http://blog.innovalab.org/ 

IUDESCOOP, Research  Institute for social economy, Cooperatives and Entrepreneurship, 
Valencia University 

MAPISER, http://www.mapiser.com 

Ministry of Employment and Social Security, 
http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/sec_trabajo/autonomos/economia-soc/Ayudas/index.htm  

Official Journal no. 299 of 15 December 2006, 
http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Admin/l39-2006.html  

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Official 
http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Fiscal/l49-2002.html 

Journal 

307 

no. 

24 

of 

December 

2002, 

PASE, http://www.interreg4c.eu/fileadmin/User_Upload/PDFs/L5_PASE_factsheet.pdf  

PORTAL BERGUEDÀ, http://www.deliciesdelbergueda.cat/es 

SELUSI,  http://www.selusi.eu/uploads/images/101216_Selusi_Report_ES.pdf  Ship2b, 
http://www.ship2b.org/ 

Social nest, http://www.socialnest.org  

SOM ENERGIA, http://www.somenergia.coop/ 

TIEBEL, S. Coop., http://www.tiebelcooperativa.com/ 

Triodos, http://www.triodos.es/es/particulares/  

UEIA, http://www.ueia.com/ 

University of Valencia, http://www.uv.es/iudescoop/ 

UNltdSpain, 
apoyo-a-emprendedores- aterriza-en-espana 

http://www.innovaspain.com/unltd-empresa-internacional-pionera-en-el-

Xunta  de  Galicia,  http://www.xunta.es/dog/Publicados/2013/20130412/AnuncioCA05-
090413-0003_es.html 

http://www.cooperativasdegalicia.com/educacion/index.htm 

Other websites consulted 

http://www.altoguadalquivir.com/?page_id=121 http://www.ffes.org/index.php 

http://www.gezki.ehu.es/p281-
content/es/contenidos/organo/behatoki_info/es_behat_1/es_boletines.html 

http://www.empresas.jcyl.es/web/jcyl/Empresas/es/Plantilla100/1284248600947/_/_/_  

http://www.mondragon-corporation.com/language/en-US/ENG.aspx 

http://www.mutualidadabogacia.com/Home.aspx 

2016 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6.4.  List of consultees 

Name of the 
person 
interviewed 
Albors, 
Margarita 
Alguacil, María 
del Pilar 
Cabra de Luna 
Miguel Angel 
Chaves, Rafael 

Organisation/ 
Role 

SOCIAL NEST 
Foundation 
IUDESCOOP 

ONCE 
Foundation 
IUDESCOOP 

Comos, Carmen 

CEPES 

Crespo, Miguel 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Subdirección 
Economía Social 
Ministerio. Jefe 
de Servicio de 
Economía Social 
y RSE 
IUDESCOOP 

Xarxa 
d’Economia 
Solidaria 
Universidad de 
Sevilla 
Fundación Rey 
Ardid 
(propuesta de 
entidad del 
Sector 
tradicional) 
Florida 
Universitaria 
Som Energía 
FAEDEI 

7 

Fajardo, Gemma 

8 

García, Jordi 

9 

10 

Guzmán, 
Carmen 
Hernández, 
Manuel 

11 

12 
13 

Herrero, 
Mercedes 
Marco, Ana 
Ramos, Nieves 

14 

Torres, Josefa 

FEACEM 

Stakeholder category 

Social enterprise that promotes sustainable 
businesses seeking to have a positive social impact 
Professor expert in social enterprises, Valencia 
University 
Professional and member of GECES group European 
Commission 
Professor and expert in social enterprises, 
IUDESCOOP 
Main Spanish confederation representing the business 
interests of the social economy 
Director of Social Economy,  
National Government 

Professor and expert in social enterprises, Valencia 
University 
Network of Social Enterprises  
in Catalonia 

Lecturer and expert in social enterprises, Sevilla 
University 
Social enterprises group in Aragón 

Professor and expert in social enterprises, Florida 
University 
Social enterprises cooperative in energy sector 
National Federation of Work Integration Social 
Enterprises 
National Federation of Special Employment Centres 
for Social Initiative 

6.5.  Summary of Legal Regulation  

• 

• 

Ley 5/2011 de Economía Social 

Law 31/2015, 9 September, which modifies and updates the rules on self-employment and 
adopts measures of promotion and facilitation of self-employment and the social economy. 

Social Initiative Cooperatives 

•  Cooperative  Social  Integration:  This  features  in  various  Spanish  cooperative  laws, 
sometimes under that name (Basque Country, Valencia, Galicia, Madrid, Andalusia, La Rioja 
and  Castilla-La  Mancha),  sometimes  as  Cooperative  Welfare  (Navarra  and  Extremadura), 
the  Cooperative  of  Social  Services  (Aragon)  or  the  Cooperative  of  Social  Integration 
(Balearic  Islands).  It  is  specifically  listed  in  the  following  articles:  Extremadura 
Cooperatives  Law,  1998  (Section 153);  Galician  Cooperatives  Law,  1998  (Article 125); 
Aragon  Law,  1998  (Article 83);  Madrid  Law,  1999  (Section 121);  La  Rioja  Law,  2001 
(Section 129);  Law  of  Castilla-La  Mancha,  2010  (Article 149);  Balearic  Law,  2003 
(Section 139);  Valencian  Law,  2003  (Article 98);  Navarra  Law,  2006  (Article 77);  and 
Asturian Law, 2010 (Article 184). 

2016 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

•  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives  (in  the  strictest  sense):  The  model  described  is 
recognised as a social initiative cooperative in various legislations (Aragón, Madrid, La Rioja 
and Castilla-La Mancha), although it is not the only one used. In Galicia it is known as the 
Social  Services  Cooperative  and  in  Andalusia  as  the  Social  Interest  Cooperative.  It  is 
specifically  listed  in  the  following  articles:  Galicia  Coop.  Law,  1998  (Article 126);  Aragon 
Law, 1998 (Article 77); Madrid Law, 1999 (Article 107); Andalusian Law, 2011 (Article 94); 
La  Rioja  Law,  2001  (Article 112);  Law  of  Castilla-La  Mancha,  2010  (Article 149);  Murcia 
Law, 2006 (Article 130-131); and Asturian Law, 2010 (Article 184). 

•  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives  (in  a  broader  sense):  The  State  Cooperatives  Law  of 
1999  defines these  as  ‘cooperatives that,  being  non-profit  and  independent,  have  a  social 
purpose,  the  provision  of  welfare  services,  conducting  health  activities,  educational, 
cultural,  social  or  other  nature,  or  the  development  of  any  economic  activity  that  is 
intended  to  employ  people  suffering  any  kind  of  social  exclusion  and,  in  general,  the 
satisfaction  of  social  needs  that  are  not  satisfied  by  the  market’  (art.  106).  This  broad 
concept  of  Social  Initiative  Cooperatives  has  subsequently  been  adopted  by  several 
cooperative  laws  in  Spain,  including  the  Basque  Country,  Castilla  y  Leon,  Catalonia, 
Baleares,  Murcia  and  Navarra.  Specifically,  the  State  Law  of  1999  (Article 106);  Basque 
Decree  61/2000,  which  regulates  social  initiative  cooperatives  (Article 1);  Castilla  y  León 
Law,  2002  (Article 124),  Catalan  Law  of  2002  (Article 128);  Balearic  Law,  2003 
(Article 138); Murcia Law, 2006 (Article 130-131); and Navarra Law, 2006 (Article 78). 

Special Employment Centres for Social Initiative  
(Centros Especiales de Empleo, CEE) 

National level 

• 

Legislative  RD  1/2013,  revised  text  of  the  General  Law  on  the  rights  of  people  with 
disabilities and their social inclusion 

•  General  Law  on  the  rights  of  people  with  disabilities  and  their  social  inclusion  (Legislative 
Decree  1/2013,  of  29  November,  which  approves  the  revised  text  of  the  General  Law  of 
rights of people with disabilities and their social inclusion), articles 43 et seq.. 

Regional level 

Valencian Community: 
Law  11/2003  of  10  April;  the  status  of  people  with  disabilities  in  the  Valencian 
Community 

Employment Integration Enterprises (Empresas de Inserción, EI) 

National level 

•  Spanish  Law  (Law  44/2007,  of  13  December,  for  establishing  the  basic  conditions  of 

integration enterprises. BOE. 299). 

Regional level 

Andalucía: - Decreto 193/2010, de 20 de abril, por el que se regula la calificación y 
se crea el Registro de Empresas de Inserción en Andalucía 

Aragón:  -  Decreto  37/2006,  de  7  de  febrero,  del  Gobierno  de  Aragón,  por  el  que  se 
regulan  las  Empresas  de  Inserción  Laboral  y  se  aprueba  el  Programa  ARINSER  de 
ayudas económicas para la integración socio-laboral de colectivos en situación o riesgo 
de exclusión 

Baleares:  -  Decreto  Balear  60/2003,  de  13  de  junio,  por  el  que  se  regula  la 
calificación  de  las  Iniciativas  Empresariales  de  Inserción  y  se  crea  el  Registro  de 
Iniciativas Empresariales de Inserción de las Illes Balears 

Canarias: - Ley 1/2007, de 17 de enero. Prestación Canaria de Inserción 

- Decreto 137/2009, de 20 de octubre, por el que se regula la calificación de empresas 
de  inserción,  el  procedimiento  de  acceso  a  las  mismas  y  el  Registro  de  Empresas  de 
Inserción de Canarias 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Cataluña:  -  Ley  27/2002,  de  20  de  diciembre,  de  Medidas  Legislativas  para  Regular 
las Empresas de Inserción Socio-laboral en Cataluña 

Castilla La Mancha: - Decreto 22/2010, de 20/04/2010, por el que se dictan normas 
de  desarrollo  para  la  calificación  de  empresas  de  inserción  y  se  crea  el  registro 
administrativo de estas empresas 

- Ley 5/1995, de 23 de marzo, sobre inserción laboral y empresas de inserción 

Castilla  Y  León:  -  Decreto  34/2007,  de  12  de  abril,  por  el  que  se  regula  el 
procedimiento de calificación de las empresas de inserción laboral y se crea su registro 
administrativo 

La Rioja: - Ley 7/2003, de 26 de marzo, de inserción sociolaboral 

-  Decreto  2/2006,  de  13  de  enero,  por  el  que  se  crea  el  Registro  de  Empresas  de 
Inserción  Sociolaboral  de  La  Rioja,  y  se  regulan  los  requisitos  para  la  calificación  e 
inscripción en dicho Registro 

Madrid: - Decreto 32/2003, de 13 de marzo, por el que se regula la colaboración de 
las  empresas  de  promoción  e  inserción  laboral  de  las  personas  en  situación  de 
exclusión social con la Comunidad de Madrid y se establecen las medidas de fomento 
de su actividad 

Navarra:  -  Decreto  Foral  130/1999  de  26  Abril,  por  el  que  se  regulan  las  ayudas 
económicas  para  el  desarrollo  de  los  programas  de  incorporación  socio-laboral 
destinados a personas en situación de exclusión social 

País  Vasco:  -  Decreto  182/2008,  de  11  de  noviembre,  por  el  que  se  regula  la 
calificación  de  empresas  de  inserción,  se  establece  el  procedimiento  de  acceso  a  las 
mismas y su registro de Euskadi 

-  Decreto  305/2000  de  26  de  Diciembre,  por  el  que  se  regula  la  calificación  de  las 
Empresas de Inserción 

Comunidad  Valenciana:  -  Ley  1/2007,  de  5  de  febrero,  por  la  que  se  regulan  las 
empresas de inserción para fomentar la inclusión social en al Comunitat Valenciana 
- Orden de 29 de diciembre de 1995, que regula los talleres de inserción socio-laboral 

Associations and Foundations with economic activity 

•  Associations,  which  are  regulated  by  the  Associations  Law  1/2002,  the  Royal  Decree 
1497/2003  for  the  regulation  of  the  National  Register  of  Associations,  the  Royal  Decree 
1740/2003 for procedures needed to qualify an association of public utility or Law 49/2002 
for the taxation of non-profit entities. 

• 

Foundations,  regulated  at  state  level  by  Law  50/2002  of  26  December.  Regional 
governments  also  have  legislation  on  Foundations.  For  example,  in  the  case  of  Valencia, 
Law  8/1998  of  9  December  for  Foundations  of  Valencia,  renewed  in  2008,  includes  the 
exclusive  competence  of  the  Generalitat  of  Valencia  (Valencian  government)  concerning 
foundations  for  teaching,  as  well  as  cultural,  artistic  and  charitable  organisations,  which 
primarily perform their functions in this area of Spain. 

• 

Law 49/2002 tax incentives 

2016 

 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

6.6.  Comparative  overview  of  the  legislative  framework  for  Social  Integration  Enterprises,  Social  Initiative 

Cooperatives and Special Employment Centres  

Legal form 

Social Integration Enterprise (EI) 

Social Initiative Cooperative (CIS) 

Special Employment Centre (CEE) 

Definition 

An  EI  is  a  cooperative  or  company  that 
performs  economic  activity  to  integrate 
people  at  risk  of  social  exclusion,  through 
their  work,  as  a  transition  to  regular 
employment. 

A  cooperative  or  corporation  that  has  this 
purpose  may  be  classified  as  an  EI  if 
Public 
described 
Administration  and 
the 
Register of EIs. 

registered  on 

such 

the 

by 

as 

Most  EIs  are  based  on  limited  liability 
companies (SRLs). This description focuses 
on this underlying legal form. 

A  CIS  is  a  non-profit  cooperative  with  the 
following aims: 

-  Provision  of  social  services  (health, 
education, culture). 

-  Developing  economic  activity  that  is 
intended 
to  employ  socially  excluded 
people. 

-  Meeting  social  needs  not  met  by  the 
market. 

for 

consumers, 

The  CIS  may  be  composed  exclusively  of 
workers, 
users, 
professionals  or  entrepreneurs,  or  can 
integrate  various  types  of  membership  in 
the cooperative. The bylaws can state that 
the  shareholders  are  simply  workers. 
These  are  called  work  members  ‘socios  de 
trabajo’.  It  is  also  possible  to  create 
comprehensive  cooperatives  ‘cooperativas 
integrales’,  which  meet 
the  aims  of 
different types of cooperative and can have 
a  range  of  types  of  members.  Public 
entities  and  organisations  may  participate 
as members in the CIS. 

A  CEE  is  a  workplace  that  is  designed  to 
ensure  gainful  employment  and  provide 
services to disabled workers. Any public or 
private  entity,  non-profit  or  for  profit,  can 
create these centres. Only a non-profit CEE 
may receive public aid. 

This  description  focuses  on  a  CEE  social 
enterprise  formed  by  an  association.  The 
association  is  defined  in  the  Act  as  a  non-
profit  entity.  Associations  are  established 
through  the  agreement  of  three  or  more 
people who pool knowledge, resources and 
activities  to  achieve  common  non-profit 
goals  and  general  or  specific  interest. 
Associations  that  promote  general  interest 
purposes  such  as  assistance  and  social 
inclusion  of  the  disabled  or  excluded  may 
be declared, if they meet the requirements 
of  the  Act,  as  public  utility  associations, 
allowing them to be beneficiaries of certain 
aid. 

Key national 
legislation governing 
legal form 

State law and various regional laws govern 
EIs. 

Cooperatives  are  regulated  by  the  State 
and the Autonomous Communities (CCAA). 
There is a state law and 15 regional laws. 

Special  employment  centres  are  regulated 
by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2013 on the 
Rights  of  Persons  with  Disabilities  and  its 
social inclusion (arts. 43 to 45): 

2016 

73 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

State law: 

State law: 

Royal Decree 2273/1985; 

Law 44/2007, of 13 December (LEI). 

Law 27/1999, of 16 July (LC). 

If  the  EI  is  a  cooperative,  it  is  also 
governed by the state Law on Cooperatives 
27/1999,  or  the  law  of  the  Autonomous 
Community concerned. 

initiative 
Article  106 
cooperatives.  The  cooperative  tax  regime 
is regulated by law 20/1999. 

regulates  social 

liability  company, 

If  it  is  a  capital  company  (corporation  or 
limited 
is  also 
governed  by  the  Companies  Act  (Royal 
Legislative  Decree  1/2010,  of  2  July  or 
LSC). 

it 

The  Spanish  Constitution  (1978)  provides 
in Article 2 that the public authorities shall 
promote,  through  appropriate  legislation, 
cooperative societies. 

Royal  Decree  1368/1985  on  the  special 
employment of disabled workers; 

Royal  Decree  469/2006  on  professional 
support to disabled workers; 

Royal  Decree  870/2007  for  the  Promotion 
of  Employment  of  Disabled  Persons;  and 
Order  of  10  April  1986  creating  the 
Employment Centres Registry. 

Associations are regulated by: 

the  Associations  Law  1/2002  (LA);  Royal 
Decree 1497/2003 on the Regulation of the 
National Register of Associations; 

Royal  Decree  1740/2003 on  the  Procedure 
to  qualify  an  association  of  public  utility; 
and Law 49/2002 on Taxation of non-profit 
entities. 

Spanish 

Constitution 

The 
(1978) 
recognises  the  legal  form  in  Article 22  on 
the  Freedom  of  Association,  and 
in 
Article 49.1,  which  orders 
the  public 
powers  to  make  a  policy  of  preventive, 
treatment, rehabilitation and integration of 
disabled people. 

Whether or not the 
legal form is used 
exclusively for social 
enterprise 

Exclusively for social enterprises 

Exclusively for social enterprises 

Exclusively for social enterprises 

Methods of creation 
company) 

To establish an SRL-based (limited liability) 
EI: a contract or act of incorporation of the 
SRL  needs  to  be  held  in  the  presence  of  a 

First the contract or act of incorporation of 
the  cooperative  needs  to  be  signed  in  the 
presence  of  a  Notary  Public.  Once  the 

Associations  are  established  by  agreement 
of  their  members.  This  agreement  of 
incorporation of the association must be in 

2016 

74 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Notary  Public;  once  the  agreement  is 
formalised  in  a  public  deed  it  must  be 
registered  in  the  Commercial  Register  to 
obtain legal personality. The registration is 
publicly  announced  in  the  Official  Bulletin 
of the Commercial Registry. 

Once  incorporated  and  registered  in  the 
commercial register, the SRL may apply for 
qualification  as  an  EI,  if  it  meets  the 
requirements under Article 5 LEI. 

the 

form  an  EI-SRL, 

To 
following 
documents  must  be  submitted:  application 
for  registration;  deed  of  Incorporation  of 
the  SRL;  and  Articles  of  Association.  To 
qualify  as  an  EI,  the  following  documents 
must  be  submitted  to  the  competent 
the 
administrative 
authority 
for 
Autonomous  Community: 
qualification;  Articles  of  incorporation  of 
the SRL and Bylaws; evidence of economic 
viability,  technical  and  financial  business 
plan;  proof  of  the  number  of  people  to  be 
included. 

of 
request 

The  EI  is  registered  with  the  appropriate 
registry  in  accordance  with  its  legal  form 
(Registrar  of  Cooperatives  or  Commercial 
Register).  Once  classified  as  an  EI  by  the 
administrative  authority,  the  EI  is  also 
included  in  the  Register  of  EIs  in  its 
corresponding Autonomous Community. 

agreement is formalised in a public deed it 
must  be  registered  in  the  Cooperatives 
Registry to obtain legal force. 

writing. 

Once  incorporated  and  registered  in  the 
Register,  the  cooperative  may  apply  for 
qualification  as  a  cooperative  social 
initiative 
specified 
requirements. 

it  meets 

the 

if 

Some  cooperatives,  because  of 
their 
activity  (financial  or  business)  may  be 
required to register in other registers, such 
as  the  Registry  of  Commerce,  or  obtain 
approval 
for 
example  as  a  credit  union  or  insurance 
provider. 

their  establishment, 

for 

The  creation  of  a  special  employment 
and 
centre 
registration 
the 
Autonomous  Community  Centres  where 
the centre is located. 

requires 
in 

the  Register  of 

qualification 

For  the  constitution  of  an  association  the 
following documents are required: 

-  Public  or  private  document  which 
formalises  the  agreement  establishing  the 
association. 

- Bylaws. 

For  the  registration  of  the  association  in 
the  Register  of  Associations  the  following 
documents must be submitted: 

- Application for Registration. 

- Act of agreement of association. 

- Bylaws. 

To  request  classification  as  a  public  utility 
association: 

-  Application  for  a  declaration  of  public 
utility. 

- Report of activities undertaken in the last 
two years. 

- Annual accounts for the last two years. 

-  Certification  from  the  Tax  Administration 
and  Social  Security,  proving  that  the 

2016 

75 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

association  has  paid  its  tax  and  social 
security obligations. 

- Certification of the agreement adopted to 
apply for the qualification of public utility. 

To  apply  for  qualification  and  registration 
as a Special Employment Centre: 

- Accreditation of legal personality. 

-  An  economic  study  proving  the  viability 
and  likelihood  of  survival  of  the  CEE  to 
carry out its purposes. 

- Express the commitment to integrate the 
workforce  up  to  70 % 
least 
disabled. 

for  the 

-  List  of  expected  professional  staff  who 
will  provide  the  services  required  by 
disabled workers. 

Required capital or 
assets 

To form an SRL requires a minimum capital 
of EUR 3 000. 

Cooperative state law does not provide for 
a minimum capital requirement. 

Not applicable to legal form. 

requirements 

To  qualify  for  EI  status,  there  are  no 
the 
specific 
amount  of  capital.  However,  it  is  required 
that  51 %  of  the  capital  is  held  by  non-
profit organisations. 

regarding 

However,  most  of  the  cooperative  laws  of 
the  Autonomous  Communities  require  a 
minimum 
usually 
EUR 3 000,  which  is  the  same  required  for 
the 
liability 
company. 

formation  of  a 

capital. 

limited 

This 

is 

Management and 
corporate 
governance 

The  Companies  Act  sets  out  several  ways 
of  organising  the  management  in  an  SRL; 
the  appointment  and  removal  of  the 
administrator;  capacity,  remuneration  and 
compensation;  the  duties  of  directors  and 
responsibilities;  and  the  board  of  directors 

Cooperative legislation regulates the Board 
of  Directors,  its  nature,  competition  and 
representation,  powers,  choice,  duration, 
agreements, 
operation, 
termination, 
remuneration,  ability  to  be  a  director, 
conflict of interest and accountability. 

The  bylaws  of 
the  association  must 
establish  criteria  to  ensure  the  democratic 
functioning  of  the  association  and  the 
governing  and  representative  bodies,  their 
composition,  rules  and  procedure  for  the 
election 
their 
members,  powers,  terms  of  office,  causes 

replacement 

and 

of 

2016 

76 

 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

as the main board. 

It also regulates the ‘auditors’ intervention 
or control body and the Appeal Committee. 

for termination, etc. 

All  SRLs  must  have  a  board.  The  statutes 
of  the  SRL  can  set  different  ways  of 
organising  its  administration  -  the  General 
Meeting  may  choose  any  system  including 
a  sole  director,  two  directors  of  solidarity 
or  joint  operation,  or  a  board  of  directors 
consisting  of  three  or  more  directors.  The 
administration  is  subject  to  the  control  of 
the General Meeting of members, who can 
remove the directors. 

Acting  as  the  director  of  a  SRL  is  unpaid 
unless  the  bylaws  provide  otherwise.  If 
compensation is not based on participation 
in profits, the remuneration of the directors 
shall  be  determined  each  year  by  the 
General Meeting. 

The  directors  are  elected  by  the  General 
Meeting.  A  director’s  term  of  office  is 
indefinite  unless  the  statutes  provide  for  a 
specified period. 

Administrators  can  be  natural  or  legal 
persons.  Unless 
the  bylaws  provide 
otherwise, there is no requirement to be a 
administrator. 
member 
Administrators  can  resign  and  may  be 
removed  by  the  General  Meeting  at  any 
time. 

be 

an 

to 

The duties of the directors include: 

-  Carrying  out  their  duties  with  the 

of  members  who 

The  General  Assembly  is  the  supreme 
governing body of the association, which is 
composed 
adopt 
resolutions by a majority and must meet at 
least  once  a  year.  There  must  be  a 
to  manage  and 
representative  body 
represent  the  interests  of  the  association. 
Only  members  may  be  part  of 
the 
representative body. 

The board (representative body): 

-  Manages  and  represents  the  interests  of 
the association. 

-  Has  a  jurisdiction  generally  extending  to 
all  acts  to  further  the  purpose  of  the 
association. 

-  Members  become  liquidators  at  the  time 
of dissolution of the association, unless the 
statutes  or  the  Assembly  state  otherwise. 
In  these  cases,  the  Act  lists  the  functions 
to be appointed as liquidators. 

‘consejo 

Every  cooperative  must  have  a  board  of 
directors 
the 
cooperative  has  less  than  10  members  it 
may  have  in  place  a  sole  administrator  to 
assume these responsibilities. 

rector’. 

If 

The board of directors is subject to internal 
auditors or ‘interventores’. 

The  board  of  directors  is  subject  to  the 
general  meeting  of  members,  which  can 
remove the directors. 

The  bylaws  of  the  cooperative  determine 
the number of directors and the duration of 
their  time 
in  office.  The  number  of 
directors may not be less than 3, and there 
must  be  at  least  a  President  and  a 
Secretary 

As  a  general  rule,  directors  must  be 
members  of  the  cooperative.  However,  if 
the  bylaws  so  provide,  up  to  one-third  of 
the  directors  may  be  elected  between 
skilled  non-members.  The  bylaws  may 
that  non-members  directors 
provide 
receive 
it  should 
remuneration,  and 
establish  the  system  and  criteria  to  be 
followed  by  the  general  assembly  to  fix 
such  remuneration.  The  directors  will  be 
compensated for the expenses incurred for 

2016 

77 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

diligence of a prudent businessman. 

their time in office. 

-  Informing  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
conflict of interest situations. 

- not competing with the organisation. 

- maintaining confidentiality. 

If  the  cooperative  is  a  CIS,  it  must  meet 
the  inherent  requirements  of  nonprofit 
cooperatives. One of these requirements is 
that  the  acting  as  a  director  is  an  unpaid 
position, although expenses incurred in the 
their  duties  may  be 
performance  of 
claimed. 

Directors  are  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly  by  secret  ballot.  However,  if  the 
cooperative  has  over 
fifty  permanent 
workers, one of them, chosen by the works 
council  of  the  cooperative  will  be  part  of 
the governing council. 

There  is  a  conflict  of  interest  when  the 
cooperative  is  obliged  to  any  director, 
intervener  or  one  of  his  relatives  to  some 
degree.  In  these  cases,  the  law  requires 
that  the  General  Assembly  authorise  by 
resolution 
relationship  and  not 
participate  in  the  vote  interested  member. 
The  acts  and  contracts  are  voidable 
without such authorisation. 

that 

Rights of members 

Legal form has members. 

Legal form has members. 

Legal form has members. 

The  key  rights  of  members  of  the  SRL 
include: 

The  main 
rights 
cooperatives include: 

of  members 

of 

a)  Right  to  attend  and  vote  at  the  general 
meeting. 

a)  Right  to  attend  and  participate  in  the 
discussions, make proposals and vote. 

The  members’  rights  include  the  right  of 
free  association,  the  freedom  to  form  an 
association,  to  associate,  to  continue  in  it 
and the right not to declare their affiliation 
to  an  association.  The  bylaws  must 
establish the requirements and procedures 

2016 

78 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

b) Right to contest corporate resolutions. 

b) Right to challenge social agreements  

to 

c)  Right 
information 
necessary to exercise their rights and fulfil 
their obligations. 

receive 

the 

c) Right to information. 

The  right  to  information  includes  the  right 
to  request  information  or  clarification  on 
the  matters  on  the  agenda  during  the 
meeting or before. 

Voting and 
representation of 
members in general 
meetings 

Members  vote  on  resolutions  at 
General Meeting. 

the 

The  member  may  be  represented  at  the 
General  Meeting  by  a  consort,  ancestor  or 
descendant family, partner or other person 
who 
of 
representation  via  a  public  document.  The 
power  must  be  in  writing  and  specific  to 
each meeting. 

general 

power 

holds 

a 

for  admission  and  removal  of  members 
and  potential  penalties,  and  also  indicate 
the rights and obligations of members. 

Only  members  can  be  part  of 
representative body. 

the 

Members representing at least 10 % of the 
body  to  request  the  convening  of  an 
Extraordinary  General  Assembly.  Members 
must  be  involved  in  the  activities  of  the 
association  and 
the  governing  and 
representative  bodies;  attend  and  vote  at 
the  General  Assembly;  be  informed  of  the 
composition 
the 
association and its activities; be heard and 
have  access  to  the  grounds  for  the  action 
prior  to  disciplinary  measures  being  taken 
against  the  member;  challenge  resolutions 
of  the  representative  bodies  that  infringe 
the law or bylaws; partners can voluntarily 
separate from the association at any time. 

accounts 

and 

of 

Cooperative  decisions  are 
taken  by 
members  at  a  general  meeting  and  under 
the  general  principle  of  one  member,  one 
vote. 

The  General  Assembly  is  the  supreme 
governing body of the association, which is 
composed 
adopt 
resolutions  by  majority  and  must  meet  at 
least once a year. 

of  members  who 

The  member  may  be  represented  by  an 
authorised  representative  at  meetings  of 
the General Assembly. 

2016 

79 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Types of shares, if 
any 

Legal form has shares. 

Legal form has shares. 

Legal form does not have shares. 

a 

share 

The  member 
(as 
has 
‘participación’)  in  the  capital  of  the  SRL. 
Each share confers on its holder the status 
of shareholder and the rights recognised in 
the law and in the statutes. But the shares 
are  not  securities  and  they  cannot  easily 
be transmitted. 

a 

has 

The  member 
(as 
the 
‘participación’) 
cooperative.  The  right  to  vote  is  linked  to 
the  status  of  member,  not 
the 
ownership or possession of parts of capital. 

the  capital  of 

share 

to 

in 

In the limited liability company, unless the 
bylaws provide otherwise, each share gives 
the holder the right to cast a vote. 

Distribution of 
dividends on share 
capital 

In  an  SRL,  unless  otherwise  provided  in 
the bylaws, the distribution of dividends to 
the  shareholders  is  in  proportion  to  their 
participation in the share capital. 

Members  who  do  not  participate  in  the 
cooperative  activity,  but  only  contribute 
capital (collaborative member) may or may 
the  statutes. 
not  vote,  according 
Members who do participate in the activity 
usually  have  one  vote,  regardless  of  the 
capital. When plural voting is allowed, it is 
not in proportion to the capital paid. 

to 

‘interest’ 

The concept of ‘dividend’ (dividendo) is not 
used  in  connection  with  the  cooperative, 
but 
is,  because 
(interés) 
remunerated  capital  is  an  expense  for  the 
cooperative  and  not  the  destination  of  the 
benefits. 

some 

Interest  must  be  provided  for  in  the 
statutes  and  the  organisation  must  have 
positive results for the year or, as required 
by 
the  Autonomous 
Communities,  there  must  be  reserves  for 
these  purposes.  As  a  general  rule  in  the 
cooperative, 
interest  cannot  exceed  6 
points above the legal interest rate. 

laws  of 

Distribution of 
reserves 

The  Law  of  Social  Integration  Enterprises 
requires  that  80 %  of  the  profits  available 
the 
for 

the  year  are  allocated 

to 

The  Mandatory  Reserve  Fund  is  used  for 
and 
the 

consolidation, 

development 

An association is a not-for-profit legal form 
–  the  benefits  of  economic  activities  and 
any  reserves  must  be  used  exclusively  for 
carrying out its purposes. 

Not applicable to legal form. 

An association is a not-for-profit legal form 
–  the  benefits  of  economic  activities  and 
any  reserves  must  be  used  exclusively  to 
carry out its purposes. 

Not applicable to legal form. 

2016 

80 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

improvement  or  expansion  of  productive 
structures and integration. 

guarantee of the cooperative. 

Allocation of the 
surplus particularly 
to compulsory legal 
reserve funds 

To  maintain  EI  status,  the  majority  of 
share  capital  must  be  held  by  non-profit 
organisations  and  capital  transfers  should 
respect  these  limits  otherwise  the  EI  will 
be disqualified. 

Legal form is required to allocate surpluses 
to compulsory legal reserve funds. 

10 %  of  annual  proceeds  should  be 
allocated  to  the  legal  reserve  until  it 
reaches at least 20 % of the capital. 

Distinction 
dividends/refunds 
and distribution of 
refunds 

No  distinction  between  distribution  of 
dividends and refunds. 

The  surplus  should  be  allocated  at  least 
20 %  to  the  Mandatory  Reserve  Fund  and 
5 % to the Cooperative Promotion Fund. 

Compulsory  legal  reserves  not  applicable 
to legal form. 

Not applicable to legal form. 

The  benefits  should  be  allocated  at  least 
50 %  Mandatory  Reserve  Fund.  In  other 
laws  should  be  allocated 
cooperative 
100 % of the profits to this fund. 

There  is  a  difference  between  surpluses 
(‘excedentes’),  which  are  the  result  of  the 
activity  with  partners,  and  benefits 
(‘beneficios’),  which  are  results  of  other 
activities. 

Regarding  the  surplus:  members  allocate 
surpluses  to  any  or  all  of  the  following 
purposes:  developing  their  co-operative, 
possibly  by  setting  up  reserves,  at  least 
indivisible; 
part  of  which  would  be 
benefiting  members  in  proportion  to  their 
transactions  with 
co-operative 
(‘retornos’); and supporting other activities 
approved by the membership. 

the 

However, 
distributed to members. 

the 

benefits 

cannot 

be 

2016 

81 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

the 
To  be  a  non-profit  cooperative, 
cooperative  social 
initiative  may  not 
distribute  any  positive  results  between 
partners,  nor  can  it  remunerate  workers 
(whether  members  or  not)  by  more  than 
150 %  of  the  remuneration  designated  by 
collective agreement. 

Surpluses  are  distributed  only  among 
those who have participated in cooperative 
activity,  and  are  distributed  in  the  same 
proportion  that each  person  contributed to 
these results. 

Interest  is  paid  to  capital  providers  and  in 
proportion 
their  contribution.  The 
amount is limited by law. 

to 

Restrictions on 
ability to trade 

An  EI  can  perform  any  economic  activity 
whose  purpose  is  integration  and  socio-
professional  training  for  socially  excluded 
regular 
people  as  a 
employment.  The  EI  cannot  perform 
economic  activities  other  than  those  of  its 
objectives. 

transition 

to 

Cooperative  activity  must  meet  the  needs 
and  interests  of  the  members.  Moreover, 
the  law  prohibits  the  exercise  of  various 
that  are  not 
activities  by  entities 
corporations,  such  as:  pharmacies,  power 
distribution, travel agencies etc. 

Associations  can  perform  all  activities 
necessary 
their  purposes, 
without 
limitation,  provided  that  such 
activity is not profit making. 

to  achieve 

A  limited  liability  company  may  establish 
subsidiaries and parallel societies. 

The  cooperative  can  carry  out  with  third 
parties  the  same  activities  it  does  with  its 
members. This cannot exceed certain limits 
of  the  law,  in  order  to  ensure  that 
cooperatives  operate  primarily  using 
members. 

Public  utility  associations  (established  to 
promote the general interest) are limited in 
law  states  what 
their  activities.  The 
purposes are considered of general interest 
and  further  requires  that  the  association’s 
activities  are  not  restricted  exclusively  to 
benefit its members, but open to any other 
potential beneficiary, subject to conditions, 
in  order  to  achieve  the  purposes  of  the 
association. 

2016 

82 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Cooperatives  can  form  partnerships  and 
can  be  grouped  with  other  entities, 
whether  cooperatives  or  not,  for  better 
achievement of its objectives. 

The  law  requires  that  the  majority  of  the 
EI’s  capital  must  be  held  by  certain  non-
profit organisations. 

In  a  cooperative,  members  can  subscribe 
to  shares  (at  the time  of the  incorporation 
or  during  the  life  of  the  company,  when 
required or permitted by the cooperative). 

An  EI  can  seek  membership  fees  from  its 
members.  It  can  also  seek  donations  or 
loans  from  its  members  and  can  issue 
bonds to its members. 

The  members  of  the  cooperative  can  also 
invest  in  the  company  in  other  various 
ways, e.g. by giving loans to the company 
supplementary 
by 
or 
contributions. 

payment 

of 

Internal financing 
(e.g. investment 
title, member 
investors, increase 
in members’ 
contributions) 

is  a 

the  association 

If 
centre  of 
employment,  economic  activity  must  also 
be  aimed  at  achieving  gainful  employment 
and  the  provision  of  social  services  for 
disabled workers. 

for 

Entities  may  establish  cooperations  with 
other  non-profit  organisations 
the 
better  performance  of  their  social  goals, 
through  coordination  agreements  for  the 
use  of  common  names,  share  policies, 
resources,  volunteering  etc.  These  groups 
would  not  be  forced  to  consolidate  their 
accounts. 

The  statutes  may  provide for  the  payment 
of  associated 
levies  and  other 
contributions made. 

fees, 

The  association  may  have  economic 
resources  derived  from  profitability,  their 
assets, 
their  economic  activities  or 
donations. 

Special  employment  centres  may  be 
financed  by  contributions  from  the  owners 
of  the  centres  and  the  benefits  generated 
by the centre’s activity. 

They can also seek donations or loans from 
their  members  and  can  issue  bonds  to 
their members. 

2016 

83 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

External financing 
(e.g. banking loans, 
issuing bonds, 
specific investment 
funds) including 
possibility of non-
member investors 

profit. 

An  EI  can  only  make  limited  distributions 
of 
are 
Furthermore, 
restrictions  on  the  type  of  entity  that  may 
invest  in  an  EI  because  the  law  requires 
that  the  majority  of  the  EI’s  capital  must 
be held by certain non-profit organisations. 

there 

Normally a company which invests in an EI 
is  clearly  committed  to/shares  its  social 
goals. 

An  EI  can  also  obtain  loans  from  banks  or 
other financers and can issue bonds. It can 
also seek grants and donations. 

The  cooperative  may  appeal  to  investors 
who  provide  capital.  These  are  called 
collaborators (‘colaboradores’). 

Third  parties  may  contribute  to  special 
employment centres. 

Their remuneration may consist of interest, 
but in some Autonomous Community laws, 
the  portion  of  the  results  devoted  to 
not 
remunerating 
exceed  45 %.  These  shares  in  the  capital 
may  also  provide  limited  voting  rights  and 
they  can  be  transferred.  These  members 
may  not  have  the  control  over  the 
cooperative. 

collaborators  may 

The  cooperative  can  also  obtain  public 
financing,  primarily  through  bonds  and 
equity securities. 

2016 

84 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Transparency and 
publicity 
requirements (and 
related auditing 
issues) 

liability  companies  must 

Limited 
file 
accounts  with  the  Commercial  Register. 
Anyone  can  apply  for  a  copy  of  the 
the  Commercial 
accounts 
Register. 

filed  with 

and 

Cooperatives 
initiative 
cooperatives  must  file  their  accounts  with 
the  Register  of  Cooperatives  (and  in  some 
cases with the Commercial Register). 

social 

EIs  must  submit  the  following  documents 
annually  to  the  Administrative  Registry  of 
annual 
Integration 
accounts 
the 
management  report,  the  social  balance 
sheet etc. 

Enterprises: 
the 

year, 

last 

the 

for 

Limited  liability  companies  are  required  to 
audit  their  accounts  and  management 
reports.  They  should  also  audit  their 
accounts  when  provided  in  bylaws  or 
agreed by the General Assembly. 

There is no obligation to audit the accounts 
when  the  company  meets  two  of  the 
following  requirements:  that  the  total 
assets  do  not  exceed  EUR 2 850 000;  that 
net 
exceed 
does 
EUR 5 700 000 or that the average number 
of  employees  during  the  period  does  not 
exceed 50. 

turnover 

not 

The annual accounts will be reviewed by 
external auditors in the cases provided for 
in the Law on Audit. This law subjects to 
audit all companies that meet certain 
conditions relating to their assets, income 
or number of employees, or which are in 
receipt of public aid. 

If  the  cooperative  receives  aid  from  the 
Public Administration it may be required to 
make its accounts public and issue reports 
to 
activities 
undertaken, budget, expenses etc. 

the  Administration 

on 

Cooperatives  are  required  to  audit  their 
accounts  and  the  management  report 
when  provided  in  the  bylaws  or  agreed  by 
the General Assembly. If the cooperative is 
not  required  to  audit  its  accounts,  5 %  of 
the members may request the Registrar of 
Cooperatives to appoint an auditor to audit 
the  accounts.  The  cost  of  the  audit  is  paid 
by the cooperative. 

There is no obligation to audit the accounts 
when the cooperative meets two of the 
following requirements: that the total 
assets do not exceed EUR 2 850 000; that 
net turnover does not exceed 
EUR 5 700 000 or that the average number 
of employees during the period does not 
exceed 50. 

As  a  legal  person  subject  to  corporation 
tax,  an  association  may  be  required  to 
prepare  accounts  and  file  these  with  the 
Commercial  Register.  However,  the  law 
does  not  clearly  specify  this  obligation  or 
its scope. 

Public  utility  associations  are  clearly 
required by law to prepare annual accounts 
for submission to the General Assembly for 
approval and to file them with the Register 
of Associations. 

The  annual  accounts  will  be  reviewed  by 
external  auditors  unless  it  meets  two  of 
the  following  requirements:  that  the  total 
assets  do  not  exceed  EUR 2 850 000;  that 
net 
exceed 
does 
EUR 5 700 000 or that the average number 
of  employees  during  the  period  does  not 
exceed 50. 

turnover 

not 

Public utility associations must also submit 
annually to the Register of Associations a 
report describing the activities undertaken 
and additional reports as may be required. 

2016 

85 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

Employee 
involvement 
systems 

Neither  the  managers  nor  workers  in  an 
SRL  have  voting  rights,  either  directly  or 
indirectly in any corporate body. 

the 

cooperative 

If 
cooperative,  workers, 
participate in decision making. 

is 

a  workers’ 
as  members, 

If  not  a  workers’  cooperative,  the  statutes 
can  allow  workers  to  acquire  the  status  of 
members  (work  members)  allowing  them 
in  decision-making  and 
to  participate 
benefit sharing. 

In  addition,  when  the  cooperative  has 
more  than  50  employees,  non-member 
workers 
a 
entitled 
representative on the board of directors. 

have 

are 

to 

Distribution of the 
proceeds of 
dissolution, 
liquidation, 
disinvestment (in 
particular provision 
of asset lock) 

the 

impossibility  of 

The  limited  liability  company  is  dissolved 
by  the  cessation  of  its  activity  for  more 
than  a  year;  for  the  realisation  of  its 
purpose  or 
its 
inactivity  of  the  corporate 
realisation; 
bodies;  losses  that  reduce  the  assets  to 
less  than  half  of  the  share  capital;  by 
reduction  of  the  capital  below  the  legal 
minimum;  where  the  non-voting  shares 
exceed  half  of  the  share  capital,  or  for 
other causes provided for in the bylaws. 

If  workers  are  members  of  a  cooperative, 
they  may  receive  part  of  the  distributable 
surplus. 

the  deadline 

The  cooperative  be  can  dissolved:  a)  by 
meeting 
for  which  was 
constituted; b) by resolution of the General 
Assembly  adopted  by  a  vote  of  a  majority 
of  two  thirds  of  the  members  present;  c) 
by  cessation  of  social  activity  for  two 
years;  d)  by  reducing  the  number  of 
members  or  capital  below  the  minimum 
required;  e)  realisation  of  the  corporate 
purpose  or  the  impossibility  of  realisation; 
f) in case of merger or split; or g) for other 
causes provided for in the bylaws. 

The law does not provide for employees to 
receive  a  proportion  of  the  legal  form’s 
profits,  unless  the  special  employment 
centre is a cooperative. 

An association will dissolve on the grounds 
provided for in the bylaws and, failing that, 
by  agreement  of  the  members  expressed 
in  a  General  Assembly  convened  for  the 
purpose.  An  association  can  also  be 
dissolved  by  common  causes  provided  for 
in  the  Civil  Code:  meeting  the  deadline; 
realisation 
the 
impossibility  of  its  realisation;  paralysis  of 
the corporate bodies etc. 

its  purpose 

or 

of 

A  meeting  of  creditors  is  the  procedure 
that  applies  when  a  debtor,  person  or 
entity is insolvent. 

2016 

86 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Distribution of the 
proceeds of 
dissolution, 
liquidation, 
disinvestment (in 
particular provision 
of asset lock) 

Social enterprises and their eco-systems 

Updated country report: Spain 

The Social Integration Enterprises Act does 
not  provide  for  any  rules  regarding  the 
distribution of surpluses on a winding up. 

Once  debts  are  satisfied,  assets  should  be 
distributed as follows: 

Once  debts  are  satisfied,  the  liquidators 
apply  the  surplus  assets  for  the  purposes 
specified in the bylaws. 

The  assets  are  not  distributed  among  the 
members  but  provided  to  another  non-
profit entity with a similar social purpose. 

Unless  otherwise  provided  in  the  bylaws, 
the  assets  can  be  shared  between  all 
partners proportional to their share capital. 

(a)  The  resources  of  the  Fund  for  the 
Promotion of Cooperatives will be available 
to  the  Federation  of  Cooperatives.  (b) 
Returned  in  accordance  with  members’ 
capital  contributions.  (c)  Members  are 
given  their  share  of  the  distributable 
reserve  funds  at  the  rate  provided  in  the 
the  General 
bylaws  or  approved  by 
Assembly:  alternatively,  distribution 
is 
made in proportion to their participation in 
cooperative  activity  over  the  previous  five 
years.  (d)  The  remaining  assets  are 
available  to  the  cooperative  or  Federation 
of  Cooperatives  as  specified  in  the  bylaws 
or  declared  by  the  General  Assembly. 
Failing  this,  they  assetswill  have  the  same 
destination  as  the  resources  of  the  Fund 
for  the  Promotion  of  Cooperatives  (FPC). 
should 
The 
the 
incorporate 
compulsory 
it  will  be 
unavailable for 15 years. 

cooperative 
that 
reserve  and 

recipient 

amount 

into 

Conversion to 
another form of 
company 

Structural 
of 
Modifications 
Corporations  provides  for  the  possibility  of 
transofmring a limited liability into another 
corporation or a cooperative. 

Law 

Cooperatives  may  become  commercial  or 
civil  companies  of  any 
type  without 
affecting their legal personality 

the 

Only 
legislation  on  cooperatives 
provides  for  the  possibility  of  transforming 
associations into cooperatives, if they meet 
the requirements of the legislation, and the 
the  status  of 
members  can  assume 
cooperators. 
such 
transformations  are  not  covered  in  the 
legislation  on  associations  or  in  legislation 
on  structural  modifications,  and  would 
make them difficult to implement. 

However, 

2016 

87 

 
 
 
 
 
 
HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS 

Free publications: 

•  one copy: 

via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu); 

•  more than one copy or posters/maps: 

from the European Union’s representations (http://ec.europa.eu/represent_en.htm);  
from the delegations in non-EU countries 
(http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/index_en.htm);  
by contacting the Europe Direct service (http://europa.eu/europedirect/index_en.htm) 
or calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) (*). 

(*)  The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may 
charge you). 

Priced publications: 

•  via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu). 

Priced subscriptions: 

•  via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union 

(http://publications.europa.eu/others/agents/index_en.htm). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
K
E
-
0
1
-
1
6
-
8
5
4
-
E
N
-
N