Fundación Riquelme

Scholarships and financial aid in Granada

Fundación Riquelme is a Granada-based charitable foundation that awards scholarships and educational assistance to women who are orphaned or widowed. Under its bylaws, priority goes first to applicants who are orphaned or widowed daughters of Armed Forces members, followed by women born in Granada. The foundation has charitable status and qualifies for the tax benefits established by Spain's Law 49/2002 for nonprofit organizations.

Scholarships and assistance

The board of trustees decides on the annual awards, which cover three types of support:

• Education scholarships: University and other higher education, including programs with internships, intermediate vocational training, and upper secondary education, among other studies.
• Transportation assistance: Help with travel expenses between the family home and school.
• Housing assistance: Help with a student's housing costs when they live away from the family home.

Scholarships can support formal education, civil-service exam preparation, graduate study, and vocational training. For the 2026–27 academic year, applications are due by October 20, 2026. Requirements, deadlines, and the application form are available as PDF downloads on the foundation's website.

Activities

In addition to awarding scholarships, the foundation organizes educational activities such as talks, lectures, and courses.

History

The foundation takes its name from Lieutenant General José Luis Riquelme y Gómez (Granada, 1813–Barcelona, 1888), a military officer and politician who left nearly all of his estate in his 1885 will to a charitable foundation intended to educate orphaned and widowed women from military families born in Granada or its province. The foundation was established 11 years after his death, following the 1909 death of his appointed administrator, Fernando Escavias de Carvajal. In its early years, it operated a boarding school and orphanage in a palace on Calle Tablas, run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and funded by income from farms in the Lecrín Valley and government bonds. The school closed in 1974 because it could not cover its costs. The farms were sold and properties in Granada were purchased; rental income from those properties is now the foundation's main source of revenue. Today, the foundation provides assistance through scholarships announced each July.

Location and contact

The office is in central Granada at 25 Calle Nueva de la Virgen, 18005 Granada. Email: fundacion@vodafone.es. Website: fundacionriquelme.com.