Today, our CEO representing SpainNAB, Mercedes Valcárcel, attended an event held at the Advantere School of Management in Madrid. The event marked the official launch of the IB AVA Shared Opportunities Fund, an initiative driven by Impact Bridge Asset Management and the AVA Foundation. The day left us with major takeaways on how smart financial structuring can weave together real, lasting solutions to pressing social challenges.
Where it all started: Casa AVA and family respite
The event opened by putting the spotlight on a reality that is often overlooked in our society. As Álvaro Villanueva, president and founder of the AVA Foundation, pointed out, caring continuously for a child with severe neurological disability causes extreme levels of stress, severely affecting families’ emotional wellbeing, social life, and overall stability. In the Community of Madrid alone, an estimated 3,000 children live with this type of severe disorder.
Casa AVA was created to address this structural need. The project, to be built in Las Rozas (Madrid) on a site of more than 4,500 square meters, is expected to open in the last quarter of 2027 and aims to benefit more than 200 people every week. The complex will include not only a residence and a day center, but also a key differentiating feature: a leisure and family respite center, specifically designed to give caregiving families real, much-needed rest.
Wednesday, June 24th, Madrid
Innovation and sustainability: a 50-million-euro fund of funds
Making a project of this scale a reality, with annual maintenance costs of close to two million euros, is a classic challenge for the third sector. This is where the brilliant structure of the vehicle presented today comes in. The IB AVA Shared Opportunities Fund is a private equity fund structured as a fund of funds, launched with an initial target size of 50 million euros and a 10-year lifespan.
The philosophy behind the model is clear and pioneering: the fund will invest in a diversified selection of top-tier international private equity funds. Its major innovation lies in its shared-returns approach, through which management and performance fees will be fully allocated to financing Casa AVA. This makes it possible to combine attractive market returns for investors with a direct, measurable social impact, securing a stable and predictable long-term funding stream for the center.
The financial ecosystem’s commitment
During the event, we had the privilege of hearing from key figures behind this project, such as Arturo Benito (CEO of Impact Bridge) and Juan de la Guardia (general director of Advantere). We also witnessed an in-depth conversation on the financial sector’s social commitment between Gonzalo Gortázar (CEO of CaixaBank) and Carlos de Abajo (Managing Partner at Impact Bridge).
It became clear that this model represents a historic milestone for impact investing and strategic philanthropy in Spain. The project has secured the explicit backing of major players from the international financial world; global firms such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and Tikehau Capital have already joined, contributing both technical capabilities and capital commitments. Adding to this is the pro bono support of around twenty organizations — including Addleshaw Goddard, Alternative Ratings, CACEIS, Cuatrecasas, EY, and Transcendent — providing their services to help ensure the initiative’s success.
Final thoughts
Today’s presentation shows the immense transformative power of private capital when paired with clear intent and innovative design. It shows us that solving large-scale social problems requires creating replicable, self-sustaining models that move beyond dependence on one-off donations.
At SpainNAB, driven by the vision of leaders like Mercedes Valcárcel, we continue working to strengthen this ecosystem, fully convinced that initiatives like the IB AVA Shared Opportunities Fund point the way forward. They prove, without a doubt, that financial return and an unwavering purpose of putting people at the center can — and must — go hand in hand.
