The Organization's Structure

The ONCE is a public law corporation, an association with social goals, which was founded 65 years ago to channel social services and all job-creation activities for Spain's blind and visually impaired. To this end, at the outset, the State Administration granted the Organization the concession to sell its popular cupón, which has been and still is its main source of income, enabling the ONCE to fulfil its task of achieving the full integration of the blind in Spanish society. The ONCE now has a membership of nearly 65,000. Part of the income obtained from cupón sales is devoted to specific programmes for persons with a disability other than blindness. General Council The Organization has been run along democratic lines for over two decades and the blind members elect those who will represent them for each four-year term. The last elections were held in June 2003. The Institution is home to different political groups and currents of opinion that present their respective candidates. The central governing body is the General Council, based in Madrid, the Spanish capital, but in addition the ONCE has a decentralized governing structure in each of Spain's autonomous regions, the so-called Territorial Councils.