The Spanish third sector is composed of a large variety of organisations and enterprises highly dependent on macro transformations in societal needs, public policies and internal trends. Its heterogeneity is a challenge for building umbrella
organizations, common identity, specialized studies/data and strategies. Since 2008, a deep crisis has affected Spain and its third sector that can be divided in four related sub-crises (for more deatils refer to the TSI report on barriers in Spain)

According to TSI research the major key barriers identified in Spain are:

1. Funding problems, especially, the lack of public funding and of private individual contributions;
2. Problems regarding labour, such as difficulties in recruiting employees, the low employees’ salaries, and difficulties in recruiting volunteers;
3. Governance problems, i.e. difficulties appointing volunteer board members;
4. Image problems, due to limited public awareness of the TS;
5. Legal and fiscal barriers: lack of a favourable tax treatment and the lack of a clear legal status;
6. Increasing bureaucracy;
7. The lack of support organizations.

This policy brief outlines the barriers and the possible policy responses to strengthen the sector in Spain.