Why is commitment so important? In a work environment we can see commitment when we as people realize of the importance of fulfilling our missions and values through every activity that we carry out anywhere in the world. One of ULMA’s greatest values is to be professionally committed to the effort and dedication required in each goal and activity we wish to accomplish.

One of our main values as a company has always been and will always be social commitment as a tool to help transform our society into a fairer one. We work in solidarity in order to promote projects that turn the needs of the most disadvantaged people into opportunities to achieve prosperity.

We firmly believe that one of the best and most important values a company can have is social commitment, that is, the actions we carry out to create awareness in society of existing problems, creating support to address them and finding the appropriate solutions.

ULMA’s commitment to solidarity

In the ULMA Group, we have our own solidarity foundation to increase and solidify our commitment to society. Among the most important objectives we have set ourselves are to support and promote the following:

• The social economy and entrepreneurship on a local level
• Socio-cooperative and professional education and training
• Education, formal or informal, at all levels
• Activities of a cultural, social, or charitable nature
• Solidarity and intercooperation between entities operating in the social economy
• Scientific research and technological development
• Creation and maintenance of jobs by ensuring job stability
• Social action
• Education, culture, sports, health and work
• Cooperation and education for development
• Defense of the environment and heritage
• Community development
• Basque linguistic and cultural diversity
• Volunteering and advocacy for tolerance
• Equal opportunities
• Defense and protection of animals

Through the ULMA Foundation, we have set ourselves the goal of transforming and attempting to change certain established patterns in our society, advocating a more humanized and sustainable model, working and collaborating for this purpose with entities that are encompassed in some of the following areas:

• Development cooperation, allocating 0.7% of our profit to projects in developing countries
• Cooperative training and support to entities that promote and help cooperativism
• Education in general
• Healthcare institutions, assistance for senior citizens, and work-life balance
• Promoting equality and the work and social integration of disadvantaged groups
• Agroecology, food sovereignty, sustainable transportation, energy, and care for the environment
• Promotion of the normalization of the Basque language
• Promotion of grassroots sports activities and traditional/cultural sporting events
• Cultural activities and entities in general

It is important to highlight that in each of these areas, we distribute the social fund generated by the ULMA Group’s cooperatives based on criteria approved by the ULMA Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The criteria that guide this distribution in the different areas are divided into three main classes:

• The hierarchy of human needs
• The geographic proximity to the places where ULMA is present
• The number of people who will be affected by each ULMA Foundation action

Along with the priority entities in each of these areas, always non-profit organizations, we organise activities jointly, encouraging the participation of all ULMA workers who wish to do their part to contribute to the ultimate objective of transforming society.

In this way, we collaborate actively in solidarity, always contributing our time and people power to the causes that need it. At ULMA, we offer all members of this great family the opportunity to practice solidarity, and to experience the feeling of satisfaction for the good they have done.