Dan Rather, who got his big break covering Hurricane Carla as it barreled toward Texas in 1961, saluted the American Red Cross of Greater Houston and its supporters like BBVA Compass for their "willingness of heart" at the disaster relief organization's annual fundraising luncheon last week.

BBVA Momentum is not your typical business funding program, because it places a special emphasis on strategic mentoring, training and support. However, businesses enroll in the program for a number of reasons, including the possibility of being awarded a cash prize that will allow them increase their impact. For this reason, the new edition will continue providing access to investment, but with a different approach.

Once again this year BBVA is joining in with Earth Hour as a symbolic gesture on top of its long track record of commitment to sustainability and caring for the environment. This initiative by the World Wide Fund (WWF) is now a decade old, and raises awareness of the fight against climate change by all those who take part in it.

Almost seventy years since it was first recognized as a universal right, in 1948, gender equality is still far from being a done deal. Indeed, despite representing 50% of the labor workforce, women are responsible for just 37% of the world’s GDP. According to the World Economic Forum, a series of measures are expedited, economic gender equality will not be achieved for another 170 years.

BBVA is a conscientious bank that’s committed to doing right, and it evaluates a project’s social and environmental risks before making financing decisions. A global corporate citizen present in dozens of countries, we are signers of the UN Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and a member of the Thun Group on Human Rights.

Nobody wants to go into a care home. Based on this premise, Saraiva Senior, a project by Sacendi (a social and healthcare company that provides integrated services for the elderly in Pontevedra), aims to implement a new approach to care for the elderly. The company, a participant in BBVA Momentum, BBVA's support program aimed at social enterprises, is determined to change mindsets, promote a positive vision of aging and renew the traditional concept of the care home. The director of this social enterprise, Lucía Saborido, its associate director, Noelia López and its technical director, Ricardo Fra Otero, explain how.

BBVA, the most active Spanish bank as regards the issuance of green bonds in 2015 (according to Bloomberg), has taken a giant leap by signing a green loan in favor of Iberdrola for 500 million euros. Being the first operation of this type for an energy sector company, this agreement involves the highest sum as of this date.

Financial inclusion has emerged as one of the priorities in the G20’s agenda, as it is an essential ingredient for economic development and the reduction of poverty. New technologies, especially the use of the mobile phones, are now becoming catalysts of this small revolution that will allow huge segments of the population that remains unbanked as of today to gain access to financial services.

How do ecosystems respond to human action? Is it possible to predict their behavior? Ecologists Gene E. Likens and Marten Scheffer, recent BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge award winners in the Ecology and Conservation Biology category, have produced work that tackles one of the main challenges this scientific discipline faces.

Many of the Momentum companies have focused on making life easier for others through technological solutions. Their ideas are overcoming obstacles and giving new meaning to the lives of thousands of people.