SURA Foundation 50 years supporting welfare initiatives throughout the region

  • In August 2021, the SURA Foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary, during which time it has supported various initiatives that have helped to enhance the welfare of private individuals, organizations as well as the territories where it is present.
  • Over the last 15 years alone, the SURA Foundation  has invested around COP 183 billion, growing with more than 700 organizations.
  • As part of these celebrations, the Foundation shall be holding cultural events and conversations with allies and the general public throughout the second half of 2021.

In 2021, the SURA Foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary, during which time it has promoted well-being and sustainable development through its capacity-building initiatives in order to improve educational, civic and cultural conditions as the cornerstones of social transformation in Latin America.

During these 50 past years, the SURA Foundation has valued the knowledge and lessons learned in conjunction with others, since this has allowed us to make increasingly better decisions with regard to people’s well-being and quality of life." Our purpose becomes more meaningful when we share, broaden our vision and connect up with our aspiration to continue helping to create a more harmonious level of development for our society, while growing hand in hand with people and organizations that are autonomous and aware of reality” stated María Mercedes Barrera, Executive Director of the Sura Foundation in Colombia..

As part of its anniversary celebrations, the Foundation is sponsoring different cultural and academic events focused on bringing about greater dialogue and reflection with the support of different cultural and social partners in Colombia as well as the rest of the region. These cultural events include an on-line concert open to the public, with the participation of Medellín’s Metropolitan Ballet Company, Filarmed in the company of Uno más Uno, Wilder Noriega (artist from Urabá), La Toma and Delirio. This concert will be held on August 4 at 6:00 p.m. and broadcast on SURA Latin America's Youtube account.

Furthermore, in conjunction with the Museum de Antioquia, one of the Foundation´s cultural partners, an artistic proposal was made in the company of the Deúniti collective as part of the Cundinamarca Residencies project, which promotes the research and creation and national and international artists, connecting the Museum with different social realities.

This experience started out on the basis of various terms reflecting the essence and meaning of the SURA Foundation, which through the interpretive and creative work of this collective is achieved "from the popular understanding to propose a new dictionary, where in the light of the metaphor and the symbolic power of language reflect how people make and build culture," says Carlos Uribe, Curatorial Director of the Museum of Antioquia, who also added: "this becomes an attractive and fun gift for celebrating that we are a broad culture, where we all fit in."

This shall be taken to exhibitions open to the public between August and September, for the enjoyment and exchange of cultural knowledge, which can be visited at the Pascasia and the Museum of Antioquia, institutions located in downtown Medellin.

Furthermore, the Foundation will produce its own publication, to be published in November, with the aim of generating knowledge on corporate social management, based on the understanding that this task requires continuous transformation and adaptation according to the changing dynamics of contexts and reality. From this publication, between September and November, the Foundation shall be holding different events with various social actors who have helped the Foundation over the years, this for the purpose of engaging in collective reflections on social management.

It is important to note that during the last 15 years, this institution has benefited more than 700 organizations and invested around COP 183 billion. It has also provided its strong support in the context of the pandemic in Latin America. Particularly during 2020, 23% of its total social investment, that is to say COP 23.300 million (USD 6.6 million) was prioritized for providing humanitarian assistance to Latin Americans in the form of medical supplies and equipment, food packages and economic aid to help mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic.

Some of the highlights of these  past 50 years for the SURA Foundation were the creation of the Felix and Susana program in 2008 and its debut in the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, the management of the Memory and Creativity project: the indigenous company in 2013, the drawing up of the Foundation's four lines of social investment: Quality of Education, Cultural Promotion, Citizenship and Democracy-Building and the Corporate Volunteer Program in 2014 as well as setting up the SURA Foundation in Mexico and Chile in 2017.