Letter from the President Dear friends, Like every year, I will try to summarise in these li-nes the highlights of the ONCE Social Group’s vast and far-reaching activity during the year 2023. We have closed a financial year that has allowed us to achieve quotas of inclusion and powerful advance-ments in social and employment issues, supported by the extraordinary growth of our two key sour-ces of income: the selling of social, safe and res-ponsible lotteries and the work of our company group Ilunion. We have reinvested this income and fully turned it into our most precious asset: more social investing; more social action; more training; more education; more employment; more innova-tion and sustainability for people with disabilities and others at risk of exclusion; I could go on about the many goals we have achieved. Read full letter Read full letter Read full letter However, those of you who already know this Organisation, a unique model in the world, al-most 86 years old now, know that what mat-ters most to us is what to do about the future, that which we aspire to. So let these words serve as a review of what has been done but, above all, as incentive to what we are looking forward to achieving together in the future. I write these words while cherishing the tire-less work of thousands of people in disability activism for almost 20 years, with a singular advance in 2023 that culminated 18 January with the approval in the Spanish Congress of the reform of the Spanish Constitution to re-move the hurtful term ‘disminuido’ (‘dimini-shed’), to refer to people with disabilities, to allude to that precisely, people, people with disabilities. Without a doubt, an historic achie-vement that deserves to be celebrated. And I am also closing this window of informa-tion - this Shared Value Report - just 76 days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Pa-ralympic Games, an event that will allow us to consolidate society’s perception of us becau-se, as you know, it is the best global show-case of the reality of people with disabilities. You’ll allow me to make a nod to this sporting event and elaborate in these lines and this life story, about the values of those athletes free of adjectives, those athletes who accumula-te many nouns such as camaraderie, record, team, commitment, challenge, motivation, goal and many others, which I make use of to narrate what we have achieved in the ONCE Social Group in 2023. CAMARADERIE TEAM- SPIRIT RECORD COMMITMENT CHALLENGE MOTIVATION GOAL Group in 2023.. CAMARADERIE leads us to behave more and more as a group whose joint efforts always add up and create, above all, more possibi-lities to generate income and to reach more and more people with challenging realities. Moreover, with facts that prove that people with disabilities, far from merely existing on welfare, they can, want and actively contribu-te to the wealth of the country as first class citizens. In fact, an external report conduc-ted by the prestigious consultancy firm PwC shows that the ONCE Social Group has ac-complished unimaginable feats, such as be-ing responsible for 1 out of every 191 jobs in Spain in 2023, that is, 0.52% of the total num-ber of people working in the country; moreo-ver, it has also generated 1 out of every 369 euros of the national wealth, that is, 0.27% of the GDP. Simply put, for every 191 people working in Spain, one does so thanks to the ONCE Social Group; and for every 369 euros generated, one euro comes directly from our effort. These are merely figures but to us, they represent people, they are life opportunities, they are changing realities to those who have it a little more difficult. Because what makes us strongest, as has always been the case in the history of the Or-ganisation, is the union which, in sports jargon, is called a team: the ONCE, the ONCE Foun-dation and Ilunion, together, playing offense in the best team in the world. The sum of the best social lottery administrator and the lar-gest provider of social services for the blind; the best endowed Foundation for the covera-ge of people with disabilities in Spain and the world; and a group of leading social enterpri-ses in social economy, circular economy and employment of people with disabilities and at risk of exclusion. An unbeatable team that in 2023 added 3,187 more players. In other words, we increased our workforce in twel-ve months by almost 3,200 people to bring the ONCE Social Group to almost 72,000 workers, 62% of whom are disabled (more than 44,000) and 44% of whom are women (around 32,000). The fourth largest non-pu-blic employer in Spain and the world’s largest employer of people with disabilities. And like athletes, we set goals for ourselves to try to improve every second of the way, bit by bit, abiding by our trademark method of multiplying in favour of those who need it most. That is why our RECORD does not show up in any books but in the hearts of many people who manage to overcome their challenging realities and create possibilities for their future. This, achieved by a record-se-tting income improvement in 2023, as I have announced before, in our two streams: from the ONCE we achieved sales of 2,623.8 million euros in social, safe and responsible lotteries, the best figure in the history of the Organisa-tion; and from Ilunion we reached 1,142.8 mi-llion in turnover, an unprecedented amount for our companies, leaders in social economy and employment for people with disabilities. This is our daily COMMITMENT, which we try to achieve through various concepts also connected to what our Paralympians do: put effort in each of our initiatives to ensure that, while respecting the differences and abilities of each person, we all have the opportuni-ty to demonstrate our talent: in education, in sport, in leisure, in culture, in technology, in life. Always one more, never one less, also when it comes to our rights. And we have set a CHALLENGE for the future that must necessarily be global, because we firmly believe that with everyone doing their part, in every corner of the world, bit by bit, we will contribute to a more habitable planet. That is why we try to export the ONCE So-cial Group’s cooperation model to the whole world, with special emphasis on Europe and Latin America; we fight for sustainability and care for the environment with a thousand initiatives; we take responsibility through an ESG (environmental, social and governance) policy that is presented, year after year -also in 2023- with the greatest honours and re-cognitions among all companies and organi-sations; and we promote, with all our might, research and innovation based on accessibi-lity and design. With these closing lines I hope to encourage you to browse through this report, attractive in form and content, accessible to all, and with the MOTIVATION to be of use to you and that in our management model, based on ethics and transparency, you may find a reflection of what we are and what we aspire to be. Be-cause the GOAL is the target, but not the end; because with each arrival there starts a new journey; with every step, we hand over the baton to those who follow, to push us further and further, overcoming physical and men-tal hurdles; because the ONCE Social Group holds on tightly to the pole that Spanish so-ciety hands it every day, to vault over to the podium of inclusion; to obtain the great mark required to secure your trust. Because we are the ONCE Social Group, what people expect us to be. Swipe to read more