Impact Bridge Asset Management, a Spanish impact investment manager, today unveiled the IB AVA Shared Opportunities Fund in Madrid, a pioneering initiative that puts private investment at the service of social impact, with the aim of ensuring the financial sustainability of Casa AVA.
The launch event at Advantere School of Management and will feature, among others, Juan de la Guardia, General Director of Advantere; Arturo Benito, CEO of Impact Bridge; Álvaro Villanueva, Chairman of the AVA Foundation; and Gonzalo Gortázar, CEO of CaixaBank, who will take part in a discussion with Carlos de Abajo, Managing Partner of Impact Bridge, on the financial sector’s commitment to social responsibility.
Casa AVA is a project of the AVA Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of children with neurological disorders and their families. The initiative addresses an urgent and still unmet need in Spain. In the Madrid region alone, it is estimated that nearly 3,000 children live with severe neurological disorders.
The new center will be built in Las Rozas (Madrid) on a site of more than 4,500 square meters and is expected to directly benefit more than 200 people each week. The project will integrate three complementary facilities: a residential care home, a day center, and, as its distinguishing feature, a family respite and leisure center designed to provide families with genuine relief from caregiving responsibilities. The center is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2027, and its annual operating cost is estimated at approximately €2 million.
This budget will be substantially financed through the IB AVA Shared Opportunities Fund, a private equity vehicle structured as a fund of funds, with an initial target size of €50 million and a 10-year lifespan.
The fund will invest primarily in leading private equity funds and will allocate all management and performance fees to financing Casa AVA, with the objective of generating social impact while also delivering competitive returns to investors throughout the fund’s life.
It has been designed as a collaborative philanthropic platform, bringing together pro bono service providers and underlying fund managers who enable investments without charging fees. The initiative aims to establish a replicable model that other institutions and social projects can adopt to mobilize stable and recurring donations, ensuring long-term project sustainability.
Leading asset managers that have already confirmed their participation in the fund include BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and Tikehau Capital.
Organizations and firms participating in the project on a pro bono basis include Addleshaw Goddard as regulatory adviser, Alternative Ratings as due diligence provider, CACEIS as custodian bank and administrator, Cuatrecasas as tax adviser, EY as auditor, and Transcendent as impact measurement partner.
Álvaro Villanueva, Chairman and Founder of the AVA Foundation, stated:
“Providing continuous care for a child with a severe disability generates high levels of stress and ultimately affects emotional well-being, social life, family relationships, and even the stability of the couple. Casa AVA was created so that caregiving families can stop merely surviving and start living again by giving them back time, support, and respite. They need simple things, such as being able to sleep through the night, go to the cinema with their other children, celebrate a birthday with friends, or take a weekend away. This fund will help make the extraordinary part of everyday life and ensure that this support can be sustained over time.”
Arturo Benito, CEO of Impact Bridge, added:
“Private equity has an extraordinary capacity to create value, and this fund demonstrates how it can be placed at the service of institutions such as Casa AVA by providing stable funding for operating expenses, which are often the most difficult costs to cover. It is an example of cross-sector collaboration among asset managers, service providers, and advisers that lays the foundations for a replicable model capable of supporting any social cause that requires it.”
About AVA Foundation
AVA Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2016 with the mission of improving the quality of life of children with severe neurological disorders and the families who care for them. Through adapted leisure programs, sports activities, family respite services, training initiatives, and hospital-based programs, it works to provide meaningful and ongoing support to those living with disability. Its activities benefit thousands of families each year and are built around a simple conviction: caring for the caregiver.
About Impact Bridge Asset Management
Impact Bridge is a Spanish investment management company with more than €550 million in assets under management, specializing in high-quality impact investing focused on projects that generate genuine, intentional, and measurable impact. Founded in 2018, its team is composed of professionals with extensive experience at some of the most prestigious firms in asset management, sustainable investing, impact investing, and academia. Its investor base includes private institutional investors such as pension funds, foundations, and family offices, as well as public institutions including the European Investment Fund (EIF), CDTI, COFIDES, and Axis (ICO Group).
Photo caption: Arturo Benito, CEO of Impact Bridge, and Álvaro Villanueva, Chairman of the AVA Foundation
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