Development Co‑operation Profiles: La Caixa Banking Foundation
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“La Caixa” Banking Foundation is a charitable foundation based in Spain. Established in 2014, it builds upon the philanthropic activities of its founders, which go back more than 115 years.
This foundation aims to contribute to the progress and equality of people, especially those most in need. It focuses on programmes that support society’s transformation, such as those that fight against child poverty and social exclusion, foster employment and help to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable.
This profile presents verified data on cross-border development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
La Caixa Banking Foundation provided USD 24.6 million for development in 2024 through its cross-border funding. Compared to 2023, this amount represents a decrease of 5% in real terms. Grants represented 95.8% of La Caixa Banking Foundation’s gross disbursements, while the remainder was extended in the form of loans (4.2%).
La Caixa Banking Foundation provided all of its development finance bilaterally in 2024, while 13.5% was channelled through multilateral organisations (earmarked contributions).
In 2024, La Caixa Banking Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 20.6 million), multilateral organisations (USD 3.3 million) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector (USD 500 thousand).
In 2024, La Caixa Banking Foundation provided USD 3.3 million to the multilateral system, all of which represented non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose. 33% of its total development finance was channelled through United Nations (UN) organisations.
The UN system received USD 1.1 million from La Caixa Banking Foundation in 2024. Its only UN recipient was the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 20.6 million of La Caixa Banking Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 3.7% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 83.6% of total bilateral development finance was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral philanthropic development finance, from 85% to 83.6%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2024, La Caixa Banking Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. USD 4.9 million was allocated to Africa and USD 2.8 million to Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting respectively for 20.1% and 11.3% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 15.5 million (62.8%) was unspecified by region, mainly including multi-regional programmes and research grants.
In 2024, 32.1% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Mozambique (8.5%), Peru (7.4%), and Ethiopia (4.5%).
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 5.4 million (21.8%) of La Caixa Banking Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2024. La Caixa Banking Foundation allocated the highest share (21.8%) of its bilateral development finance to LDCs in 2024, followed by upper middle-income countries (9.1%), noting that USD 15.8 million (64.2%) was unallocated by income group.
La Caixa Banking Foundation allocated USD 1.9 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2024.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 5.7 million in 2024, representing 23.1% of La Caixa Banking Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extremely fragility received a sum of USD 200 thousand.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest allocations (93% of bilateral contributions) by La Caixa Banking Foundation went to social infrastructure and services, with a strong focus on support to education (USD 14.2 million). The second largest sector was humanitarian assistance (USD 1.1 million), focusing on emergency response (USD 1.1 million). This was followed by economic infrastructure and services (USD 500 thousand).
In the period 2023-2024, La Caixa Banking Foundation committed 34.9% of screened bilateral allocable development finance to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 3.6% in 2021-2022 and a private philanthropic average of 33.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 8.8 million of screened bilateral allocable contributions in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable contributions committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 3.9% in 2023-2024, compared with the private philanthropic average of 11.9%.
La Caixa Banking Foundation includes gender equality objectives in 100% of contributions for humanitarian aid, above the 2023-2024 private philanthropic average of 11.5%.
La Caixa Banking Foundation screens all bilateral allocable contributions activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
La Caixa Banking Foundation committed USD 100 thousand to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average per year in 2023-2024.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.
In 2023-2024, La Caixa Banking Foundation committed 4.1% of its total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 1 million) in support of the environment, up from 0.5% in 2021-2022. The private philanthropic average was 12.4%. In addition:
3.5% of total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 900 thousand) focused on climate change overall (the private philanthropic average was 12.9%), up from 0.2% in 2021-2022. La Caixa Banking Foundation had a greater focus on adaptation (3.5%) than on mitigation (0.1%) in 2023-2024.
1.1% of screened bilateral allocable contributions (USD 300 thousand) focused on biodiversity overall (the private philanthropic average was 4.3%), up from 0% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In 2024, La Caixa Banking Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 4 (quality education), SDG (good health and well-being) and DSG 8 (decent work and economic growth) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://lacaixafoundation.org/en.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, channels of delivery, bilateral unspecified/unallocated/allocable development finance, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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