Abstract
The Spanish foundation sector has evolved considerably over recent years, in terms of the number of foundations, the diversity of their mission and the variety of beneficiary groups they cover. The reports of the Instituto the Instituto de Análisis Estratégico de Fundaciones (INAEF) (Institute for Strategic Analysis of Foundations), put the total number of all Spanish foundations registered by the end of 2009 at 14.450, of which 9,050 are estimated to be active (70 % of the total). Of these, only 15 % were formed prior to 1978, whereas 19.7 % came into being between 1979 and 1994, and the remaining 65.3 % were created between 1995 and 2009. As we shall see, the passing of a legal framework has contributed to this growth and, with a few shortcomings, constitutes a clear recognition of the foundational institution in our country.
The pages that follow contain an analysis of the legal system for civil foundations in Spain, in light of the recent evolution of the foundation sector and the legislation which governs it, and focus on those aspects which we consider require thought in the face of forthcoming reforms, in that they provide inadequate or excessive regulation or no regulation at all. The day-to-day matters which concern foundations, the variety of activities and means of funding highlight the numerous issues which need to be examined. In terms of regulation, reflection is also needed on so-called self-regulation or soft law, a phenomenon which arose from the area of corporate governance of other legal persons and has gradually extended to the area of non-profit organisations. The promotion of transparency is without doubt one of the foundation sector’s obligations, and self-regulation will contribute towards this. That said, how much room is there really for self-regulation within the current legal system on foundations in Spain? Foundations Law needs to be examined from two perspectives: that of the foundations themselves and their relationship with donors, funders and interest groups and then that of the supervisory administrations. The adequate and efficient functioning of the latter is also a sine qua non for the development of the activities of the former and for their activities to have a greater impact on society. In the opinion of the sector, foundations have to meet a great many obligations in our country, but occasionally supervision is reduced to formal aspects alone, resulting in resources being diverted unnecessarily all round.
Finally it is essential that we refer to the tax framework of foundations in Spain and the system for tax incentives, especially the latter, as it is in this area where recent reform has been most modest.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
García-Andrade (2001) makes a thorough analysis of the desentailment process and the use of the term foundation in a material, not a formal, sense.
- 2.
The remaining Autonomous Regions only have the power to grant certain tax benefits which apply to donations made by natural persons.
- 3.
However, there are other types of bodies, which go under the name Foundation, which the Foundations Act itself excludes from its scope of application and which are different bodies to private-Law foundations: some public-Law entities referred to as public-health foundations or National Heritage Foundations. Religious foundations, including the canonical foundations of the Catholic Church, are also governed by their own specific legislation.
- 4.
Following the Act of 2002, the Catalan legislation regulating foundations which set the initial endowment at 60,000 was amended. This rule was amended to place it in line with State legislation.
- 5.
Article 3 of the 2002 Foundations Act states: “Foundations will have to pursue general interest purposes such as, defence of human rights, support for victims of terrorism and violent acts, social assistance and social inclusion, civic, educational, cultural, scientific, sports, sanitary, labour, institutional strengthening, development cooperation, volunteering, promotion of social action, environmental protection, promotion of the social economy, attention to people at risk of exclusion for physical, social or cultural reasons, promotion of constitutional values and defence of democratic principles and tolerance, development of the information society, scientific investigation and technological development”.
- 6.
We can also refer to some historical or legislative backgrounds which may refute this theory in the case of foundations. The Act of 1994 and its successor the Foundations Act of 2002 improve on historical regulation and combine the different types of foundations and how they are legally regulated under one concept. Thus foundations are defined as “organisations set up as not-for-profit which, according to the wishes of their founders, permanently allocate their patrimony to the fulfilment of general interest purposes”. In addition to establishing a modern concept of a foundation, current legislation improves on the distinction under repealed Decree 2.930/1972, of 21 July, approving the Regulations for Private Cultural Foundations and Analogous Bodies of the Administrative Services in charge of the Protectorate over these foundations, which differentiated the regime for the so-called funding foundations, those awarding grants and subsidies, from promotion foundations, those which had their own programme of activities, or service foundations. Thus the definition itself of foundation under current legislation combines the two elements where there has been constant tension – patrimony and organisation.
- 7.
Cazorla Prieto and Blázquez Lidoy refer to this problem (2011, 16 y 17).
- 8.
An analysis of the evolution can be found in the work entitled La actividad económica de las fundaciones: tensiones legislativas e interés general (The financial activity of foundations: legislative tensions and general interest) (Pérez Escolar 2008).
- 9.
Supreme Court Ruling of 4.4.2003.
- 10.
The literal transcription of the ruling and the arguments used are included in the aforementioned article by Blázquez Lidoy.
- 11.
The reversion of assets to the founder is a controversial issue in several legal systems and also in the Spanish Foundations Law. See, amongst others, Caffarena Laporta (2009, 29–58).
- 12.
Moreno Cea (2010, 600–609) makes an analysis of the constitutional conflict of the Foundations Act of the Community of Madrid and of this ruling.
- 13.
Another initiative in this area is that promoted by Instituto de Consejeros y Administradores (ICA) that has published a Guide on Good Governance for Public Benefit Associations and Foundations, 2013.
- 14.
The Compromiso Empresarial foundation: www.fundacioncompromisoempresarial.com has some useful guides and reports which might help foundations on this path. It tackles aspects such as the evaluation of results (“from good intentions to impact”), the definition of mission, and it has even performed research studies on the transparency of Spanish foundations analysing the information they convey via their websites: Martín Cavanna, Construir confianza 2010. Impulsando la transparencia en la Web de las fundaciones españolas (Building confidence 2010. Driving transparency on the websites of Spanish foundations).
For many years the Lealtad foundation, www.fundacionlealtad.org, has been studying the transparency and best practice of NGOs which volunteer to be the subject of analysis, in order to provide information to potential donors.
Bibliography
Blázquez Lidoy, A. 2011. Asociaciones que realizan explotaciones económicas: ¿Pueden ser de utilidad pública y gozar de beneficios fiscales?. Revista de Contabilidad y Tributación. CEF (340): 39–50.
Caffarena Laporta, J. 2009. Las Fundaciones: fines de interés general, beneficiarios y cláusulas de reversión. Anuario de Derecho de Fundaciones: 29–51.
Cazorla, Prieto., and A. Blázquez Lidoy. 2011. Requisitos de acceso al régimen fiscal especial. In Fundaciones. Problemas actuales y reforma legal, Cazorla Prieto and others, 16–31. Siero: Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson.
Falcón Tella, R. 2005. Las SIMCAV y el abuso de las facultades de autotutela de la Hacienda Pública. Quincena Fiscal 15.
Galindo Martín, M.A., J.J. Rubio Guerrero, y S. Sosvilla Rivero. 2012. El Sector Fundacional en España. Atributos Fundamentales (2008–2009), Asociación Española de Fundaciones –INAEF.
García-Andrade Gómez, J. 2001. Algunas acotaciones al concepto formal de fundación en la Constitución Española. Revista Española de Administración Pública 155: 107–145.
García-Andrade Gómez, J. 2005. Objeto y alcance de la Ley de Fundaciones. Concepto de Fundación. In Comentarios a las Leyes de Fundaciones y de Mecenazgo, Muñoz Machado, S., M. Cruz Amorós, y R. Lorenzo García de, Iustel, 12–62.
García de Enterría, E. 1992. Constitución, Fundaciones y Sociedad civil. In Las Fundaciones y la Sociedad Civil, dirs., de Lorenzo García, R., y M. de Cabra de Luna. Madrid: Civitas.
García de Enterría, E. 1996. Una nota sobre el interés general como concepto jurídico indeterminado. Revista Española de Derecho Administrativo 89.
Moreno Cea, F. 2010. El Derecho de Fundaciones de Madrid. In Tratado de Fundaciones, dirs., de Lorenzo, R., J. L. Piñar, T. Sanjurjo, Thomson-Reuters 587–611.
Peñalosa Esteban, I., y T. Sanjurjo González. 2010. Órgano de gobierno y relación con los poderes públicos. In Tratado de Fundaciones, dirs., de Lorenzo R., J.L. Piñar, T. Sanjurjo, Thomson-Reuters 195–250.
Pérez Escolar, M. 2008. La actividad económica de las fundaciones, Tensiones legislativas e Interés General. Madrid: Thomson Civitas.
Petitbó Juan, A., y Marcos., Hernández. 2009. La gestión de los recursos económicos de las fundaciones. Anuario de Derecho de Fundaciones, Iustel. Asociación Española de Fundaciones, 59–93.
Rey García, M., y L.I. Álvarez González. 2011. El sector fundacional español. Datos básicos, INAEF.
Rúa Alonso de Corrales, E. 2010. Las cuentas anuales y otros documentos obligatorios de información de las fundaciones. Anuario de Derecho de Fundaciones: 221–255.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Netherlands
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Peñalosa-Esteban, I. (2014). Foundations Law in Spain. In: Prele, C. (eds) Developments in Foundation Law in Europe. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9069-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9069-7_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9068-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9069-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)