Fundación Acción Marianista para el Desarrollo

About the foundation

Fundación Acción Marianista para el Desarrollo is a development nonprofit connected to Spain's Marianist Family. Since 2009, it has worked in Spain and developing countries to expand access to rights, goods, and services for disadvantaged people and reduce inequalities rooted in personal, social, economic, cultural, and ethnic circumstances.

Areas of work

The foundation focuses its international cooperation projects on five areas:

• Education
• Health care
• Food security
• Sanitation
• Social development

According to figures published by the foundation, it works in more than 20 countries and supports more than 30 projects each year, with 345 projects to date and work in 19 countries. It has 375 members and 1,200 volunteers.

Transformative education and schools

The foundation works with a network of 19 Marianist schools in Spain to integrate Transformative Education for Global Citizenship into classroom and extracurricular learning for students ages 3 to 18 through the Itinerario We program. It also works with students' families and the three branches of the Marianist Family.

Leadership and management

The organization has a management team and a board of trustees. Executive leadership, management, and strategic planning are led by Germán Contreras Serrano, who has a degree in economics from Complutense University of Madrid and an Executive MBA from IE Business School and has worked in development cooperation since 2009. Communications and marketing are led by Ana Isabel Pérez Cruz, who has a background in design and web publishing and has worked in development cooperation since 2015. The projects team monitors projects, prepares proposals for public calls from local and regional governments and private funders, and maintains relationships with local partners.

The board is chaired by Javier Palop Sancho, a computer engineer who was global director of Fundación SM from 2015 to 2021. Trustees include Iñaki Sarasua Maritxalar, provincial superior of the Society of Mary–Marianists in Spain; Mariano Labarta Aizpún, a founding member in 2009; Herminia Luisa Rangel Lorente, a judge; Mario Burrull Fernández, corporate HR director at Grupo Lantero; and Roser Gil Cortés.

Ways to get involved

People can participate by becoming members or volunteers, partnering as a business, organizing a charitable celebration, shopping at the charity store, or making a charitable bequest. The foundation also works with REDES, CONFER, Escuelas Católicas, and development-NGO networks on public-advocacy campaigns.