Projects
In its first editions, FES acted as a critical catalyst: seed capital and strategic support for initiatives with high potential for social transformation. These are the most emblematic projects supported to date.
9 projects
Recruits outstanding young professionals to teach at secondary schools in critical contexts, aiming to close the education gap and inspire students.
FES impact
FES backed the recruitment, monitoring, summer training, and mentoring of the program's first cohorts of teachers. That early support helped the organization mature, join the Special Donations regime, and build long-term corporate partnerships. Former teachers now run it themselves.
An educational network running schools in peripheral areas and the interior of the country, aiming to ensure quality education by incorporating innovative methodologies in vulnerable contexts.
FES impact
FES paid for a director based in the interior, projectors and computers, and teacher training in the Singapore method and literacy instruction. That investment gave rise to a pedagogical innovation center that kept quality intact through the network's later growth, and the schools now serve thousands of students.
Channels innovation through open contests that invite entrepreneurs to design technological solutions to address pedagogical and management gaps in national education.
FES impact
FES covered the technology platform, the ideation workshops, and the seed capital for the winning startups. The investment worked as a bridge: it attracted major corporate sponsors and helped build an open-innovation ecosystem that now runs on its own.
Fosters a love of books in public schools through read-aloud sessions, training community volunteers to lead weekly sessions in the classroom.
FES impact
FES backed the recruitment of volunteer readers for schools in Rocha and the development of an educational portal. The platform never took off, but the funding let in-person readings spread to other parts of the country. The program settled into an analog model that today runs on state cultural grants and corporate sponsorships.
A national competition focused on the exact sciences that seeks to discover and develop young mathematical talent, fostering learning and problem-solving among students from diverse backgrounds.
FES impact
FES put up the legal deposit needed to establish the Foundation and paid for training workshops, materials, and international travel. That support laid the groundwork for a decentralized network that now runs on its own, with a generation of former olympiad students turned tutors multiplying participation across the country.
Promotes reading in highly vulnerable areas through community and mobile libraries, making quality books accessible to children, families, and local institutions.
FES impact
FES financed two libraries in the Godoy neighborhood of Tacuarembó: a fixed community library and a mobile one that supplies institutions across the area.
A platform that shares extracurricular education opportunities —scholarships, competitions, and programs— to democratize access for young people across the country, complementing traditional teaching with spaces for integral development.
FES impact
FES funded the web platform and the logistics of outreach campaigns at schools across the country. Proving the model worked, online and on the ground, let the project move past its early phase and grow into a digital network for civic engagement that now runs youth leadership and debate programs.
An extracurricular platform that seeks to strengthen learning for students in fourth to sixth grade through personalized virtual tutoring and dynamic exercises, easing the transition to secondary education.
FES impact
FES supported the project early on, helping define the educational problem and test the methodology in schools. A virtual model with its own platform took shape and families responded well to it, but after the pilot phase the initiative could not sustain itself long-term and shut down.
A community initiative that promotes reading and emotional support, running a traveling library in rural schools and cultural spaces for artistic expression for local populations.
FES impact
FES covered a handful of specific purchases — hundreds of children's and young-adult books, bus tickets, a megaphone, a printer, and a sound system — that let the project formalize its activities. That groundwork later opened the door to joining the state's cultural-development networks.
1 project
Works in irregular settlements to overcome the housing emergency, promoting habitat development, home construction, and community empowerment through volunteer work.
FES impact
FES backed a pilot methodology for neighborhood empowerment, built around dialogue tables in nine settlements in Montevideo and the littoral. That approach helped the organization move beyond rustic modules toward higher-quality isopanel housing, and to build a sociological research unit that now carries real weight in public policy.
2 projects
A network dedicated to rescuing and redistributing surplus fruits and vegetables in good condition from the wholesale market, preventing food waste by delivering these products to dozens of social organizations.
FES impact
FES paid for its early logistics: standardized crates, a rented operating site, and a cargo vehicle. Solving that bottleneck let the network scale fast. It is now a self-sustaining social enterprise, and it helped drive the creation of the Food Donation Law.
A neighborhood initiative that connects unemployed young people with older adults who own idle land, encouraging work in community gardens to produce vegetables and preserves for sale.
FES impact
FES financed seeds, farming tools, an irrigation system, a greenhouse structure, and containers for jam production. That turned the young people's free time into real cooperative work, generated stable income, and left behind an exchange of knowledge between generations that is still the community's model today.
6 projects
A social cafeteria and gastronomy school that provides training and work experience to people in highly vulnerable situations, combining technical training with support in a protected employment environment.
FES impact
FES covered setting up the venue in Parque Rivera, its outreach, and the kitchen equipment needed to train young people and place them in the formal job market. The space now operates inside a worker cooperative, running as a pastry lab with a hybrid funding model.
Eases the labor insertion of young people from critical socioeconomic backgrounds through technical and socioemotional-skills programs that prepare them for the challenges of formal employment.
FES impact
FES paid for the design and delivery of specific technical courses — logistics and .NET programming — for dozens of young people. Proving the model worked opened the door to tax-benefit regimes, gave the foundation financial self-sustainability, and let it move its courses fully online during and after the pandemic.
Addresses social exclusion through gastronomy courses for young people, integrating technical cooking instruction with soft-skills development, socioemotional support, and business networking.
FES impact
FES financed professional kitchen equipment and more training slots. With those resources in place, the program built a dual-training methodology that is still running today, with high retention and placement rates in the formal sector.
A training space in sewing and pattern-making aimed at women in vulnerable situations and families linked to a local secondary school, with a pathway toward job placement or micro-entrepreneurship.
FES impact
FES paid for the specialized machinery that turned informal sewing classes into a proper training program. That support proved textile education could work outside the capital and gave rise to a decentralized network now focused on the circular economy and sustainable garment-making, backed by local development agencies.
A comprehensive rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, offering therapeutic care and pre-employment training to promote inclusion, human development, and personal autonomy in the interior of the country.
FES impact
FES funded the equipment and supplies that turned craft workshops into pre-employment courses in carpentry, baking, and gardening. That push gave rise to a productive business incubator, drew corporate investment for infrastructure, and led to permanent agreements with the state to fund care for its users.
Soft-skills workshops and occupational guidance for young people disconnected from the school system, connecting participants with businesses to facilitate work experiences.
FES impact
FES covered the travel and logistics costs for an international expert who designed the employability workshops. The pilot program passed those methods on to local educators, leaving behind the capacity to keep connecting young people from the neighborhood with local businesses.
2 projects
Uruguay's volunteering and donations portal that acts as a free bridge between people who want to help and social organizations and projects that need support.
FES impact
The first bet FES made was on volunteering and social cohesion: it funded the launch, the infrastructure, and the operation of the project. Involucrate now connects more than 250 organizations with over 8,000 volunteers, has drawn more than 400,000 visits to its platform, and keeps multiplying its solidarity campaigns.
Convenes international volunteers to lead workshops in public schools in underserved areas, addressing diversity, leadership, and social responsibility topics that enrich the school curriculum.
FES impact
FES covered logistics and accommodation costs for the foreign volunteers. That support kept hundreds of children in touch with cultural exchange, and gave the organization the track record it needed to later expand its partnerships with universities abroad.