Santander has launched the "Transforming Lives" campaign to mark the first three years of the Santander Portugal Foundation's activities and to showcase its ongoing support for Portuguese society. The campaign highlights several key areas where Santander has focused its efforts, including education, housing, and financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Since its creation in 2022, the Santander Foundation has supported 304,000 people in Portugal with a total investment of 21.4 million euros. Over half of this funding has been allocated to education initiatives, which Santander identifies as a main driver of social and economic progress.
The foundation's Santander Open Academy offers free training in areas such as language skills, digital literacy, and sustainability. These programs are open to anyone aged 17 or older without an upper age limit. To date, more than 100,000 people have accessed 151 courses developed in partnership with 12 universities and institutions.
Scholarships are another area of focus for the foundation. In partnership with higher education institutions over the past three years, it has awarded more than 1,800 scholarships based on criteria that include social inclusion as well as academic merit. According to Santander, "58% of scholarship holders in 2024 are beneficiaries of educational social support." The scholarships have reached students from 84 municipalities—including the Azores and Madeira—and from 14 different nationalities. The programs also offer mentoring and monitoring to help students succeed academically.
Santander reports that more than 20,000 young people have purchased their own homes in the last year with the bank’s support. In addition, approximately 980 million euros have been made available through financing lines agreed with the European Investment Bank to assist SMEs. These funds target projects related to energy efficiency, digitization, and growth capital.
According to Santander: "Santander's commitment therefore goes far beyond traditional financial services. This campaign highlights central themes for society, such as youth housing, to support more and more people in acquiring their own home; education, as a catalyst for social mobility; entrepreneurship and financial literacy, to reinforce Santander's contribution to building a more inclusive and sustainable future."
The "Transforming Lives" campaign will be promoted primarily in urban centers as well as at local branches and through digital channels.