fiare is the name of a Basque Foudation registered at the Official Basque Government Foundations Registry.
The Foudation was establisehd in 2003 after one year of preparatory meetings on the meaning and challenges of promoting ethical banking in the Basque social context.

by February 2006, 63 organizations - NGOs, Christian groups, eductional institutions ... - had already joined the FIARE Foundation.

structure

representatives of all the member organizations - the 52 founding ones and those joining thereafter - form together a consulting body called the "Founders and Collaborators'Assembly".
The "Board of Trustees", with 22 members, is the governing body of the Foundation.
An executive Commission chosen by the Board, gives efficient leadership to an organization very much alive and full of projects.

Activities

the main goal of FIARE (acronym for "Fundación Inversión y Ahorro Responsable) is to promote socially responsible savings and investment among both private individuals and institutions. FIARE is an ongoing project, which develops the stated goal by the following means:

1. Learning from experiences of ethical banking all over the world
2. Making Basque society aware of the significance and consequence of the issues at hand
3. Promoting the creation and the use of alternatives to the existing ways of banking, saving and investment
4. Promoting access to credits for people in need, who can not benefit from traditional banking products
5. Working closely with the public administration in order to find better ways of employing social resources
6. Collaborating with institutions of higher learning in developing knowledege and interest on everything related to social responsability in economic matters

fIARE took up the challenge to explore the possibility of creating an Ethical Bank supported by Spanish organizations involved in the fight against poverty and social exclusion, international cooperation, education and social economy.

on 3 October 2005, FIARE opened its first office in Bilbao. During a period of 4-5 years, FIARE will develop its activity as a financial promoter of Banca Popolare Etica, Italy. In December 2005, the project had collected 3 million Euros in savings and given the first loan. 
During this period, FIARE Foundation will also search for agreements with relevant social networks in Spain, in order to consolidate the Spanish project.
By 2010, FIARE expects to reach enough volume of operations and Share Capital to obtain a licence to create a Cooperative Bank owned mainly by Spanish Third Sector organisations.
The first products include deposit accounts and lending programs to support third sector organizations.