Sesc Actions
To provide quality of life and well-being to workers in the Commerce, Goods, Services and Tourism segments, their families and the whole society. This is the Mission of the Social Service of Commerce (Sesc), a non-profit Brazilian private institution that makes available Education, Health, Culture and Recreational programs and events and well as provides Social Assistance to workers and their dependents.
Since its foundation, Sesc has contributed to socioeconomic and cultural development in Brazil through social and educational actions and a wide variety of services that encourage the exercise of citizenship. To ensure that they are truly personalized to meet the needs of the population, all activities are based on models developed by experts in various fields and more than 35,000 nationwide collaborators who are continuously producing and receiving information aimed at improving services.
In more than two thousand municipalities located across the country, Sesc marks its presence through regional departments that manage and coordinate activity centers, lodging facilities, cultural centers, educational units and offices as well as other units located in the capitals of all states, close to the populations living in periphery zones or in urban areas.
Complementing the intense work done at these permanent sites, Sesc maintains hundreds of mobile units that bring the same services to many other hard-to-reach locations. This makes it possible to extend the institution’s area of influence, serving people who live in distant locations, where the availability of public services is sometimes precarious.
How is Sesc's structure maintained?
Sesc’s organization and administration fall under the responsibility of the National Confederation of Goods, Trade, Services and Tourism (CNC), the highest entity representing employers’ associations in the key sectors of the Brazilian economy.
Membership includes some 4.5 million companies, which accounts for about 25% of Brazil’s GDP and employs 25 million workers. The resources used to maintain Sesc come from a compulsory tax contribution based on company payrolls. As defined by the Brazilian Federal Constitution; 1.5% for Sesc and 1% for Senac (National Commercial Apprenticeship Service).
Collected via the IRS, the funds are destined to be used to finance public interest actions. Importantly, the constitutional guarantee of funding for these entities arose from a constitutional amendment petition that received more than 1.7 million signatures – the second most-voted popular amendment.
This action prompted the government to include the insertion of art., 240 in the new constitutional text which was promulgated in 1988.