Introduction and Strategic Approach

The Rafael del Pino Foundation is classified and registered in the Foundations Register of the Charities Supervisory Body (Protectorado) of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Social Policy and Sports under number 479. It is included among the entities regulated by the Law on Foundations and Tax Incentives for Private Participation in Activities of General Interest. The principles that inspire the Rafael del Pino Foundation are:

• Defence of the general interest
• Innovative spirit
• Rigour
• Freedom
• Transparency
• Vocation of service

The Rafael del Pino Foundation has set as its objectives:

To train leaders

The Foundation aims to contribute to the training of current and future leaders so they can successfully put their initiatives and capabilities into practice.

The Foundation does not confine the idea of a leader strictly to the business world as it considers other fields of knowledge to be important too, such as economics, the law and justice, health, the news media, politics and public management, international relations, history and education.

To foster personal initiative, the principles of the free market and freedom of enterprise

At a time characterised by market globalisation and the new information economy, the Foundation wishes to contribute to improving the knowledge of leaders based on the principles of free personal initiative, the free market and freedom of enterprise.

To contribute to improving people’s health and living conditions

At the Founder’s initiative, the Board of Trustees resolved that health protection should occupy a prominent place among the Foundation’s priority objectives.

To promote and preserve the cultural and historical heritage of Spain

Knowledge of the past helps to plan for the future. Consequently, the Foundation wishes to contribute to raising awareness of Spanish history, protecting Spain’s cultural heritage and fostering the growing importance of the Spanish language as a vehicle for communication in the world.

After evaluating its activities with a view to planning for the future in accordance with its aims, the Foundation concluded that its strategic objectives need a strong, flexible conceptual framework to provide consistency and continuity for its activities. This requires consideration to be given to the dominant culture and the aspects of diversity within it, to the knowledge acquired and employed by Spanish society and its regulatory framework.

The Foundation believes that the economic and social dynamism of a country is largely dependent upon the competitiveness of its business enterprises, and that this, in turn, depends mainly on the education of its citizens and the training and capabilities of its leaders. The changes there have been in recent years give credence to the idea that if the competitive edge in industry was based on the availability of capital, technology and primary resources, now, when today’s global market provides access to whatever is needed to produce goods and services, businesses set themselves apart by the knowledge, most of it implicit, reflected in their information and problemresolving systems, by their intangible assets and by the ability of their senior management to create and develop innovations and strategies.

The Foundation considers that to ensure the wellbeing of today’s societies, their business enterprises must be both prosperous and efficient, since their future depends, to a large extent, on the results achieved in increasingly globalised and competitive markets. It is therefore necessary to contribute to providing incentives for business creation and entrepreneurship, to build up knowledge of business management, to promote the role of the agencies responsible for facilitating business creation and development, to protect the rights of investors and to firmly support market competition and transparency.

In accordance with the guidelines of its Board of Trustees, Executive Committee and Advisory Board, the Foundation gives priority to in-house programmes, although this does not mean that it does not take outside proposals into consideration. In this way it is intended to continue with the process of articulation between the general principles that underpin the Foundation’s work and the conduct of its activities.

SPANISH ASSOCIATION OF FOUNDATIONS MEDAL OF HONOUR

The Rafael del Pino Foundation was presented with the Medal of Honour of the Spanish Association of Foundations (AEF) by HRH Don Carlos de Borbón, Infante de España and Honorary President of the AEF. This distinction was awarded in recognition of the important and outstanding work done by the Rafael del Pino Foundation since it was set up in 1999. María del Pino y Calvo-Sotelo, President of the Rafael del Pino Foundation, was presented with the Medal of Honour at a ceremony held on 19 November 2008 during the Third AEF General Conference which was presided over by HM Queen Sofía.