ONCE Social Group is a public corporation under Spanish law whose main mission is the social inclusion of blind and partially sighted people in all areas of life. In 1988 ONCE, the Spanish National Organisation of the Blind, set up the ONCE Foundation, thus extending its commitment to solidarity to include people with disability in general. To achieve this, ONCE Foundation delivers actions focusing on training, employment and universal accessibility by and for people with disabilities, approximately four million Spanish citizens. ONCE Social Group’s main sources of income, which is reinvested in the development of our social services in its entirety, is the sale of our responsible lottery products, as well as the revenues obtained from the activity of ILUNION, the group’s socially-conscious business, created with the goal of employing persons with disabilities. In addition, ONCE Foundation’s training and employment programmes for persons with disabilities, developed in partnership with the European Social Fund since 2000, are considered an example of best practice by the European Union; more than 400 million Euros have been invested and over 64 000 jobs for persons with disabilities have been created – 50% of them being women with disabilities. Overall, ONCE Social Group has a joint workforce of around 72 000 employees, 70% of whom have a disability. We are, as a group, the fourth biggest private employer in Spain, as well as the biggest employer of persons with disabilities worldwide. The ONCE Foundation will assume the work and development of all the activities presented in our candidacy as a partner.
