Everyone deserves a second chance. If you feel stuck in your career or doubt your decisions, then, you stand to gain a lot by becoming a part of any of these 7 foundations in Madrid. You can aim for free scholarships, career guidance, job placements even funding. In short, as long as you’re determined to help yourself, these foundations offer you the perfect second chance!
Importance of Educational Foundations
The word equality is often thrown around lightly. Thankfully, not always. Educational foundations, like the ones in Madrid that we’ll discuss later in the article, put equality at the center of their work. They understand that the world is not the same for everyone and more importantly, that with the right set of tools, encouragement, and opportunities, it can be made well for all. With this as their driving force, educational institutions help people from disadvantaged backgrounds, marginalized communities, and generally those who are unable to find their purpose become stronger and wholesome individuals.
By helping people channel their energies and motivations in the right direction, they help societies foster peace and encourage new ways of looking.
Benefits of Educational Foundations
As you can see, educational foundations are necessary for communities to grow together and live in peace. Needless to say, their benefits are many. Here are some that you can expect from the 9 foundations in Madrid.
- Benefit disadvantaged communities: Through their teacher training programs and more, these foundations reach out to marginalized communities and through online and offline courses, help them to slowly become integrated with the fast-moving world
- Direct young minds: Many of these organizations focus on young boys and girls and help them develop their talents, which might go unrecognized if they are not honed and guided at the right time.
- Help with job placements and employment: These foundations help people who are unemployed, in between jobs or come from disadvantaged environments to get trained in different aspects of tech and help them with their placements as well.
- Encourage meaningful collaborations and dialogue: Many people who join these foundations lack a sense of community. These organizations, through their various programs, help them become a part of larger groups to help them become socially active.
Best NGOs/Foundations in Madrid
1. Santander
Website: www.santander.com
About the Foundation
Santander is a global recruitment platform whose core focus is people from a STEM background. If you or someone you know has an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, Santander’s ‘Be Tech! with Santander’ is worthy of a try.
By focusing on STEM folks, Santander aims to become the “best financial services platform’ by enabling a digital and commercial transformation in the banking sector. It actively recruits to reach its goal and seeks driven individuals, thus, making it the perfect choice for individuals who wish to do something different with life and even start a new career.
Since launching the ‘Be Tech! with Santander’ recruitment program in 2020, they have seen unparalleled growth and even expanded their operations to other countries. Their work ethic and goal-oriented mindset won them a position among one of the 25 best places to work in the world by Great Place to Work. A well-earned feather in their hat indeed, since they make sure their employees strike a work-life balance and enjoy a life outside work.
In short, Santander is a great place to work, if you’re looking for something new, something challenging, or simply an opportunity to rekindle your passion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Working at Santander, you can expect a variety of opportunities in the fields of Agile, API, Cloud, Data, Network, DevSecOps, AI, Software Development, Enterprise Architecture, and Product Management. Since its launch, we have hired more than 1.400 STEM experts.
Foundation Highlights
- 212,409 employees
- + 30 training hours per employee throughout the year
- + 75 € for employee training
- + 46 thousand volunteering hours
- + 28 thousand employees participating in community activities
Who should attend
- People looking to switch careers
- People who desire work-life balance
- People who wish to make an impact in the world
Why you should consider
- To expand your skill set
- To become a part of a healthy work environment
- To seek new opportunities
Fundación Vodafone Espana
Website: www.fundacionvodafone.es
About the Foundation
The Vodafone Foundation has its heart set on the youth of Spain. They know and understand the power of young minds, when they are properly guided and channeled. And it’s in the direction of putting this understanding into action that they came up with Youth 4 Good. Started in 2019, this initiative has helped boys and girls aged 14 to 23, become social change agents. By improving their digital competencies and key skills, the program aims to make solution providers out of the erstwhile troublemakers.
They have devised several programs to help the young become the best minds and hearts from a very young age and learn to take responsibility for their future and the future of the planet. They collaborate with other foundations within the Vodafone group and seek out ways to connect technology with education. While they aim to reach out to as many as possible, they lay special focus on the uplift of marginalized communities and vulnerable groups. Through technology-aided education, they aim to help these groups acquire and optimize their digital skills and enter the competitive world with confidence. Through their programs like Digi Craft and V-talent, they reach out to public administrations, non-profit organizations, and educational centers to help these communities stand at par with the rest of the world.
Foundation Highlights
- Focus on young people
- Youth 4 Good
Who should attend
- Marginalized communities
- Vulnerable groups
- Those who are unemployed
- Those who are unemployable
Why you should consider
- To impact change
- To learn how to merge education with tech
3. Fundación La Caixa
Website: www.fundacionlacaixa.org
About the NGO
The Caixa Foundation is driven by one simple goal every day – to help those at the edge of social exclusion access employment to build a more socially responsible society. They offer free digital tools and materials to help marginalized people integrate into the labor market and become effective contributors in their workplaces.
Their Incorpora Program is designed for people who are looking for a job and those who work as job placement professionals. By enrolling in the program, individuals can access their strenuously crafted, well-designed, and easy-to-understand digital materials and resources that will help them improve their skills.
Through their online training courses, interested individuals can meet other people, and get guidance and advice to improve their career prospects and grow as an individual.
Their Lines of Action Program offers personalized action plans for attendees to help them become self-motivated and take charge of their mental health. These programs also guarantee successful job placement and equal work opportunities, asking only for the participant's will to improve their lives. They also offer cost-free advice to budding entrepreneurs, helping them with business analysis, and even offering the possibility of financing with special conditions through microcredits.
Their action plan can be summarized in four simple ways:
- They raise employment opportunities by raising awareness among companies and helping them meet their corporate social responsibility goals
- They design insertion itineraries for professional skill development for participants and help them meet their goals
- They accompany workers and companies in the hiring process
- They help improve skills and professionalization of the network of Incorpora technicians through different tools, courses, and resources.
The Caixa Foundation seeks to bring actual and actionable change in the world through employment and particularly by bringing marginalized groups to the forefront. This is almost a radical way to bring in the change we wish to see in the world. After all, sometimes, all we need is someone to believe in us, and nudge us but a little in the right direction and once the inner will takes over, there’s little that an individual, irrespective of their community or circumstance, can’t do.
Foundation Highlights
- Scholarships: to help students develop their careers in the best universities and research centers
- ProFutro: quality digital education program to reduce the educational gap
- EduCaixa: to promote the transformation of education by offering resources to schools, teachers, and students
Who should attend
- Vulnerable people
- People at risk or in a situation of social exclusion
- Young people with school failure
- Long-term unemployed
- Women at risk of social exclusion
Why you should consider
- To access their online courses
- To utilize their job placement programs
- To gain from their free advice for entrepreneurs
4. Fundación Carolina
Website: www.fundacioncarolina.es
About the NGO
The Carolina Foundation was created by agreement of the Council of Ministers on September 22, 2000. Its aim was simple - promote cultural relations and educational and scientific cooperation between Spain and the countries of the Ibero-American Community of Nations.
Since its inception, The Carolina Foundation has focused on training Ibero-American students and teachers and promoting their studies through postgraduate and doctoral scholarships. They also offered research aid across all areas of knowledge. Here’s their history in brief:
Early years: focused on study and analysis activities
2004: launched its leadership, institutional strengthening, and public diplomacy programs and became a global reference point for international and development studies
Late 2000s: these were busy years, where the foundation:
- developed training programs that refined its scholarship management model
- expanded their collaboration agreements in Latin America,
- guaranteed high levels of quality in all phases of the work cycle
- adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and formed an Advisory Council
2015 onwards: Moved towards sustainable development goals
2018: organized seminars, summer courses, and specialized workshops in matters of development cooperation, higher education, gender, multilateralism, regionalism, and the potential of new energy models
2020: distributed postgraduate scholarships in the areas known as the 5Ps: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnerships.
Foundation Highlights
- Equal access for people with disabilities
- Effective scholarship program
- Support benefits for people of disability
- Specialized workshops
Who should attend
- People who are disabled
- Those who want to relaunch their career
- The unemployed
- Those who seek to upskill
Why you should consider
- To attend their workshops
- To benefit from their post-graduate scholarships
- To become a part of a larger community
5. Fundación Promocion Social
Website: www.promocionsocial.org
About the NGO
The Fundacion Promocion Social strives for the dignity of all people so they can be agents of their own development. They ensure access to basic rights and promote justice, equality, and respect for cultural diversity.
For more than 35 years, the foundation has been fighting poverty by creating and developing ‘people-centric’ ideas and policies. The vision and mission of the foundation will appeal to anyone who values sustainable development that jumps out of the paper and into the world. They believe in fostering peace and ensuring freedom, diversity, and collaboration through meaningful dialogue and fruitful conversations.
Their programs also focus on encouraging and guiding women-led co-operatives. For instance, their women’s cooperatives in Jenin Governorate, Palestine aim to strengthen the professional skills of young women by helping them harness their own potential.
Through their two-pronged approach to educational awareness and cultural cooperation, they have:
- Instilled knowledge, attitudes, and values capable of generating a culture of solidarity
- Strengthened their commitment to the fight against poverty and exclusion
- Promoted human and sustainable development.
- Encouraged access to education for people with limited resources and at different educational levels
Foundation Highlights
- 150,779 – Number of supported people
- 16 – Number of impacted countries
- 22 - Number of projects delivered
- 5,305,497 - Applied resources
Who should attend
- Working women
- Young women
- People with limited resources
- People who feel socially excluded
- People at different educational levels
Why you should consider
- To learn how to lead your women-led co-operative
- To meet other like-minded individuals
- To benefit from their programs
6. Iberdrola España Fundación
Website: www.fundacioniberdrolaespana.org
About the Foundation
STEM or science, tech, engineering, and mathematics will continue to dominate the career-sphere. For Iberdrola Espana, the goal is to bring the importance of careers in STEM for girls and young women. Their 12+ year-old collaboration with the Empieza por Educar Foundation has helped promote STEM careers for through their STEM-4-GRLS program.
The program has been well-received as it aims to revitalize disadvantaged groups and bring equality through quality education. Their 3-point strategy is as follows:
Quality training for teachers: Thanks to its popularity and the general goodwill it has generated over the years, the Iberdrola Foundation has been successful in attracting talented graduates who have the potential to become great teachers. Once trained, the teachers are recruited in educational centers located in disadvantaged environments for two years. This opportunity not only helps the students who benefit from masterful teaching but helps the teachers develop patience; a virtue much needed today.
Maximise student impact: The teachers are trained not only to teach their subjects well but to understand their students deeply. By becoming aware of their students, teachers can make a more personalized impact on every individual’s progress.
Job acceleration for students: While knowledge is one way of leveling the playing field, finding appropriate ways of applying that knowledge constitutes a wholesome experience. The Iberdrola Foundation understands that and instead of leaving their students lurching in the dark after their education is complete, they help them find suitable careers as well.
Foundation Highlights
- 5 annual scholarships
- 1200 students impacted
Who should attend
- Young people from disadvantaged communities
- Young STEM graduates
- People who want to learn something new
- People who wish to make an impact in the world
Why you should consider
- To meet like-minded students
- To become a part of a community
- To learn from experts
- To get placement aid
7. Ship2B Foundation
Website: www.ship2b.org
About the NGO
While growth for all is good for all, things can go sideways if we ignore the impact our actions have on our society and our environment. Ship2BFoundation aims to create an ecosphere for startups, businesses, investors, and organizations to go beyond profits and “improve their social and environmental impact.”
The foundation was started in 2013 to create an Impact ecosystem. It was the result of the coming together of startups, companies, investors, and organizations who don’t want to overlook some of the greatest social and environmental challenges faced by our society today.
To make a lasting impact, they laid individual focus on each of the four components that constitute it. To start-ups, for example, they offer customized acceleration processes, links to large companies, and access to funding. They devised ways for large corporations to integrate impact into their value chain through innovation. To help social organizations become more sustainable, they facilitate tools for developing models that are innovative and economically viable. And lastly, through their investment network and background in venture philanthropy, they help and encourage investors to channel funding towards impact startups.
Foundation Highlights
- 220 Accelerated Startups
- + 30 Corporaciones Acompañadas
- 74 Transformed Social Organizations
- + 100 M€ Mobilized funding
Who should attend
- People who are unemployed
- People who want to do something new
- Those who feel stuck in the job
- First-time entrepreneurs
Why you should consider
- To gain from their many programs and initiatives
- To find funding for a project
- To learn ways to make business sustainable
- To learn how to be innovative
In conclusion
Nothing is constant but change. And when it comes to your career in today’s world, it’s all about expanding your skillset, pushing your boundaries, and understanding that change is true progress. To help people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, are unemployed or in the midst of career transition, these foundations in Madrid along with institutes like No Code, are playing an important role. They are breathing a second life into their careers and sometimes, life as a whole.
