Tangente is a cooperative group based in Madrid that brings together organisations working on social and solidarity economy projects. Established in 2011, it grew from several pre-existing collectives that decided to formalise their collaboration to offer shared services and a common structure. According to its own documents, the group brings together 16 member organisations and more than 130 professionals.
From its base in or near central Madrid, Tangente works in areas such as participatory processes, education, social research, organisational consulting, and the development of social projects. It often operates as a backbone organisation: designing, facilitating and evaluating processes for public institutions, neighbourhood groups and other cooperatives.
One visible example was its role as the Facilitation Team for Spain’s national Citizens’ Assembly for the Climate, where the “Grupo Cooperativo Tangente” designed and ran the sessions for randomly selected citizens over several months. Another strand of work focuses on training and support for cooperatives and social enterprises, including courses on management, communication and democratic governance.
Tangente is structured as a second-level cooperative: its members are themselves cooperatives, associations or similar entities that share infrastructure such as administration, project management and communication. This structure allows the group to take on large, multi-year contracts while maintaining the independence of each member organisation.
The cooperative also participates in alliances with similar groups elsewhere in Spain, such as an interregional partnership with Sostre Cívic in Catalonia and La Replazeta in Aragon, aimed at sharing experience and jointly developing projects.