Aida, Isco, Jade and Anthony spent almost a week touring various projects promoted by Church entities in Spain to learn firsthand how they work and their beneficiaries. They are part of the 15 people, chosen from among 200 applications, who for a few days in February 2024 traveled by bus to various locations to meet in person some of the projects and institutions that carry out the welfare and pastoral work of the Church.
An original project to say the least, perhaps motivated by the decrease, by three tenths of a percent, of the percentage of the Church's X taxpayers in relation to the total number of taxpayers in the last fiscal year. In this campaign, the total percentage of persons who do not mark none of the Social Purposes or Catholic Church Xs rose by 6 tenths of a percentage point from the previous year (36.28% to 36.92%).
The 15 travelers did not know each other, come from different parts of Spain and have different backgrounds and occupations, are not actors and were chosen according to a criterion of representativeness of the Spanish population.
They had only one thing in common: they did not check box 105 on their income tax returns, i.e. they did not allocate the 0.7% for this purpose. The reasons were varied: distrust, lack of knowledge or simply not having even considered this possibility.
They are the protagonists of this year's "Xtantos" campaign, with which the Catholic Church in Spain wants to make society aware of the work carried out with the contributions received through the X of income.
The campaign, presented on March 20 by José María Albalad, director of the Secretariat for the Support of the Church in Spain, shows how personally knowing the work of the Church in different areas has changed the perception of most of the 15 travelers and has given them the reasons to mark that "x" in their income tax return from now on: "The Church improves in short distances".
A transformative journey
"A path from distrust to gratitude," is how Albalad has defined this Xtantos" trip at the presentation of the campaign to the media.
The trip focused, "for reasons of time and logistics", on the central area of Spain: Getafe, Segovia, Toledo, Guadalaja, Madrid and Alcalá de Henares.
In these locations, the travelers learned first-hand about a project dedicated to supporting the social reintegration of persons deprived of their liberty, a family counseling center set up inside a hospital, a shelter for the homeless and a center for women victims of abuse.
They were also able to learn about the daily life of a priest in nine small towns in Guadalajara and the pastoral activity of a parish in Pozuelo and an associated center that serves more than 100 people with severe physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities.
It has been a "transforming experience, for the travelers and for the technical team," said the director of the Secretariat for the Support of the Church, because they have been able to learn about the work of the Church from two perspectives: that of the people helped and that of those who help.
The campaign takes these real people through their impressions and focuses on the project or institution that has had the greatest impact on them of all those they have met.
It was not about telling "the good" that the Church does, as is customary in this type of campaign, but that these travelers, who personify the almost 70% of taxpayers who do not put the "X" in the box of the Church, could touch the reality of the work of the Church. "Nothing is more convincing than the truth," Albalad stressed.
Of the 15 occupants of the bus, 11 have changed their understanding of the work of the Church and will mark the "x" because they have met the people behind them.
The experience has been positive and, as Albalad pointed out, "the possibility of repeating it or making similar experiences at the diocesan or regional level is open.
The myths of the tax allocation
The director of the Secretariat for the Support of the Church in Spain also pointed out that, during the days of the trip, there were also conversations with different points of view that were especially revealing.
In fact, he pointed out that, in spite of the information work carried out annually by the EEC in relation to the Income Tax campaign, prejudices persist if more is paid when marking the "X", or less is returned.
In this sense, he wanted to recall how, for each taxpayer who checks the box freely, the Church receives 0.7% of their taxes. They do not pay more for doing so, nor less if they do not check it, just as they do not return less to the taxpayer for checking it.
According to the data published by the Spanish Episcopal Conference itself 7.631.143 statements marked the "X" for the Church in the fiscal year 2022 which resulted in 358.793.580 euros.
How much does this campaign cost?
– Supernatural campaign Xtantos starts this Wednesday, March 20, and the media plan has an investment of 2,850,000 euros, which is 0.79% of the amount raised in last year's campaign. On this point, Albalad stressed that it seems to him an adjusted investment since "for every euro invested in communication the Church receives 125".
