Julio Questa
Fundación Cruzcampo is the vehicle through which Heineken Espana
expresses its commitment to the general interests of Spanish socie
ty. And he is proud of the work done by the foundation since its
inception in 1995.
FROM CAR NIVAL TO REHABILITATION P R OG R A M M ES, H EI N E K E N ES PAN A SHOWS ITS SOCIAL FACE
'My reward, both personally and for the
company, is that in a very short period of time
the foundation has become a landmark in
social commitment and cultural activities in
the area,' says Julio Cuesta, who is General
Managerof Fundación Cruzcampo and
Heineken Espana's Manager Corporate
Communication.Every year, Heineken Espana
donates a certain percentage of its profits
to the foundation. This gives Julio Cuesta
a budget of between 500,000 and 600,000
euros a year to spend on activities of general
interest.
'Our merit-and my problem-is that we
have to do a lot with very little', he says.
'I just about breakeven every year, but if you
double the budget I can guarantee you that
I can double the activities.' And there's plenty
to be done. In the field of social welfare,
Fundación Cruzcampo helps to fund Proyecto
Hombre, a rehabilitation programme for drug
and alcohol addicts. It also provides financial
assistance to organisations that help orphans
and the needy and gives annual subventions
to several organisations which provide
support for disadvantaged people. In sport,
Fundación Cruzcampo helps to fund
the activities of the Andalusian Olympics
Foundation.
In the arts, it supports Spanish musical
institutions and theatre festivals and spon
sors an annual painting contest in Northern
Spain which attracts several hundred artists
from all over the country. Fundación
Cruzcampo also awards an annual prize for
lifetime service to Flamenco, El Compas del
Cante, which is recognised, according tojulio
Cuesta, by the media and critics as the Nobel
prize in the field. Another prize awarded by
the foundation, and an example of its efforts
to promote local traditions, is the Baluarte del
Carnaval, a prize awarded in the province of
Cadiz in recognition of lifelong dedication to
Carnival, which has likewise gained a reputa
tion as the equivalent of the Oscar in its area.
Last but not least, the foundation publishes
a magazine called Blanco yOro, highlighting
the cultural and historical aspects of beer,
and makes its cultural centre available for use
as a venue for academic and cultural events.
The hard work is paying off. Just recently,
Fundación Cruzcampo received the Gold
Medal of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts for
its longstanding support for cultural initia
tives, and it has been recognised by the
Spanish Society of Labour Medicine and other
organisations as a cultural institution worth
working with. 'We want to show that we do
more than just produce beer, we care about
society,' says Julio Cuesta.
Community involvement
performance of Heineken world-wide, average per operating company in euro
NON-COMMERCIAL
SPONSORSHIP
NON-FINANCIAL DONATIONS 40,000
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