FIARE Foundation Mr Juan Garibi Santa María 9 E - 48005 Bilbao-Bizkaia Spain Tel: 34 944153496 Fax: 34 944154286 Email:info@fiare.org Website: www.fiare.org

Last update : December 2006

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Background

FIARE is a Basque Foundation created to promote socially responsible saving and investment among both, private individuals and institutions.
The Foundation was established in 2002, held by a small but resourceful group of community leaders. By September 2006, 65 organizations -International Cooperation NGOs, Educational and Cultural Institutions, Social Economy organizations, Environmental groups...– had already joined FIARE. The Foundation assumed the challenge of creating an Ethical Bank in Spain, under the form of a Credit Cooperative.

The chronology of the activities carried out by Fiare Project in order to establish a roadmap to a future credit cooperative is as follows:

• Jan-Jun 2002: Exploratory study regarding the receptivity of relevant social agents in the bask country towards the creation of an Ethical Bank
• Nov 2002: Fiare Foundation is created
• Nov 2002 – Nov 2003: Contacts with relevant European agents (INAISE, Febea)
• Nov 2003 – Nov 2004: Viability Plan developed with the help of Banca Popolare Etica
• Nov 2004: Board approves starting negotiations with Banca Popolare Etica to sign an agreement for establishing an Agency in Bilbao
• March 2005: The agreement is signed and starts analysis of detailed operating procedures
• June – 2005: Signature of operational contract with Banca Popolare Etica
• Oct 2005: Start up of Fiare agency of Banca Popolare Etica in Bilba

Activities

FIARE is an ongoing project in which many people join forces to develop the stated goal by the following means:

1. Learning from experiences of ethical banking all over the world.
2. Making Basque society aware of the significance and consequence of the issues at hand.
3. Promoting the creation and the use of alternatives to the existing ways of banking, saving and investment.
4. Providing access to credits for people in need, who can not benefit from traditional banking products.
5. Working closely with the public administration in order to find better ways of employing social resources.
6. Collaborating with institutions of higher learning in developing knowledge and interest on everything related to social responsibility in economic matters.

Representatives of all the member organizations -the 52 founding ones and those joining thereafter- form together a consulting body called the "Founders and Collaborators’ Assembly". The "Board of Trustees", with 22 members, is the governing body of the Foundation. An Executive Commission chosen by the Board, gives efficient leadership to an organization very much alive and full of projects.

FIARE has been developing financial activity since October 2005 as an agent of Banca Popolare Etica. By October 2006, the project is already operating in Bilbao, San Sebastian and Pamplona, and there are contacts to start activities in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The goal is becoming an independent Credit Cooperative by 2010 operating as an ethical banking initiative in Spain.

Key figures