ONCE
| Founded | December 13, 1938 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Ramón Serrano Súñer |
| Focus | Blind/visually impaired |
|
Area served
|
Spain |
| Website | www.once.es |
Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE) (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈonθe], National Organization of Spanish blind people) is a Spanish foundation founded on December 13, 1938, to raise funds to provide services for the blind and people with serious visual impairment.
Although it is overseen by a board of patrons made up of representatives from various Spanish ministries, it does enjoy a certain amount of freedom of movement in the day-to-day running of its activities, and its general council is democratically elected from among its members.
As of September 2013, membership of the organization was 71,460 people, of whom 40% were over the age of 65.
Between them, the three pillars of the ONCE—the Directorate-General, the Foundation and CEOSA, ONCE's business corporation—employ over 136,000 staff, of whom 88.5% are people with disabilities.
In September 2013, coinciding with the organization's 75th anniversary, the ONCE was awarded Spain's Premio Príncipe de Asturias for Concord.
From 1989 to 2003, ONCE sponsored one of Spain's leading cycling teams.
While many of their activities overlap, there are, at least formally, three divisions of the ONCE:
The Directorate-General is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization, its social and cultural work, and so on. Through its general council, it maintains institutional relations with local, regional and national government bodies, as well as representation on international bodies such as the World Blind Union, EBU and the IBSA (IBSA).
In 1988 ONCE established the ONCE foundation (Spanish: Fundación ONCE) to provide professional training and employment, to eliminate architectural, urban and communication barriers and promote "Digital Solidarity", web-based services for people with any disabilities. The Fundación also has its own business arm, Fundosa, with companies dealing with accessibility, industrial laundering, and so on.
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