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The Bravo Family Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is "to promote the basic principles of social justice in Puerto Rico." The organization was established in 2017 by Thoma Bravo founder Orlando Bravo in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect Puerto Rico.[2] Following the foundation's initial involvement in hurricane relief, it has continued to provide long-term education and entrepreneurship programs for young adults in Puerto Rico, as well as healthcare initiatives and early childhood education programs.[3] The foundation also provides grants to entrepreneurs in Puerto Rico and has $37 million in assets, of which $1,040,193 had been disbursed as of 2020.[1]
 | |
| Formation | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Orlando Bravo |
| Type | 501(c)(3) |
| 82-3513069 | |
| Legal status | foundation |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Disbursements | $1,040,193 (Form 990)[1] |
| Website | www |
History
editIn September 2017, Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 hurricane, caused catastrophic damage to the northeastern Caribbean, killing an estimated 2,975 in Puerto Rico[4] and causing approximately $90 billion in damage.[5] In response to news of the lack of supplies in many Puerto Rican communities as a result of the hurricane, combined with the local government's professed inability to help, Thoma Bravo founder and Puerto Rico native Orlando Bravo used his personal resources to bring supplies to the island. Bravo used means such as a chartered cargo plane and two large container ships to transport over 600,000 pounds of supplies to Puerto Rico.[2][6] The supply-chain solution established by the foundation helped bring humanitarian aid to the west coast of Puerto Rico.[7]
Later that month, Bravo formed the Bravo Family Foundation[8] and pledged $10 million to hurricane recovery efforts through a program called "Podemos Puerto Rico" ("We Can Puerto Rico").[9]
In the years following Hurricane Maria, the foundation launched long-term programs focused on strengthening underserved communities in Puerto Rico by providing opportunities for young people and entrepreneurs, including the Exceptional Community Leaders program, the Rising Entrepreneurs Program[2] and the Puerto Rico Digital Education Access Initiative.[10]
The Bravo Family Foundation made a quarter of a million donation to help victims of the Surfside condominium building collapse, a tragic event that occurred on June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Florida.[11][7] In 2022, the foundation pledged support for communities in Puerto Rico affected by Hurricane Fiona.[12]
Programs and initiatives
editIn August 2018, the foundation launched the Exceptional Community Leaders program,[2] with the goal of "increasing the number of youth in Puerto Rico who are running successful service-culture ventures."[13] The program provides chosen nonprofit organizations with a $100,000 grant and a content facilitator and works to professionalize the organizations and improve their internal structures.[2]
In May 2019, Orlando Bravo announced that he would be personally contributing $100 million to the foundation to start a program aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and economic development in Puerto Rico. The foundation is motivated to support, among others, the engineering students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, on the west coast of Puerto Rico hoping to stop the brain drain.[14][6]
In January 2020, the foundation launched the Rising Entrepreneurs Program in Mayagüez, Orlando Bravo's hometown.[15] The program functions as a startup accelerator for early-stage Puerto Rican companies, with a mission of providing participants with "knowledge, access and capital as a means to create a more inclusive and sustainable ecosystem for tech companies in Puerto Rico."[16] In that first edition of the program, ten Puerto Rico startup businesses were selected out of 32 entrants and each received a one-time seed grant of $30,000; three of the ten later received additional prizes.[17][18][19]
In November 2020, the foundation launched the Puerto Rico Digital Education Access Initiative, gifting equipment that provides free internet access to public school students in poor communities throughout Puerto Rico and by March 2021 almost 6,700 students had been directly impacted by this specific foundation initiative.[10][20]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Find Grantmakers & Nonprofit Funders". Foundation Directory Online. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ^ a b c d e Truong, Kevin (November 1, 2019). "Puerto Rico's first billionaire turns focus and funds back to island". San Francisco Business Times.
- ^ Borg, Linda (April 17, 2019). "Puerto-Rican alum gives Brown $25M to study economic disparities". Providence Journal.
- ^ Baldwin, Sarah Lynch; Begnaud, David (28 August 2018). "Hurricane Maria caused an estimated 2,975 deaths in Puerto Rico, new study finds". CBS News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Table of Events (Report). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. January 8, 2018. Archived from the original on January 21, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- ^ a b Gara, Antoine (October 31, 2019). "Meet Wall Street's Best Dealmaker: New Billionaire Orlando Bravo". Forbes.
- ^ a b "Bravo Family Foundation dona $250,000 para apoyar a Surfside". CB en Español (in Spanish). 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ^ "Bravo Family Foundation - About Us". Bravo Family Foundation.
- ^ Tucker, Jill (September 29, 2017). "SF tech investor, Puerto Rico native pledges $10M for hurricane aid". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ a b "Bravo Family Foundation Provides Free Internet to Students Across Puerto Rico". Caribbean Business. March 24, 2021.
- ^ "Billionaire Orlando Bravo Makes $250K Donation to Help Victims of Miami Condo Collapse". PEOPLE.com. 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
- ^ "Orlando Bravo, Founder of the Bravo Family Foundation, Commits $10 Million to Communities Affected by Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico". PR Newswire. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ "Community Leaders - Bravo Family Foundation". www.bravofamilyfoundation.org.
- ^ "Businessman donates $100 million to help Puerto Rico". CNN. 2019-05-16. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ^ "Las 32 empresas finalistas del programa Rising Entrepreneurs". Sin Comillas (in Spanish). January 21, 2020.
- ^ "Rising Entrepreneurs - Bravo Family Foundation". www.bravofamilyfoundation.org.
- ^ Kantrow-Vázquez, Michelle (September 24, 2020). "Up-and-coming start-ups complete Rising Entrepreneurs program". News is my Business.
- ^ "Tres empresas ganan la primera edición del programa Rising Entrepreneurs del Bravo Family Foundation". Sin Comillas (in Spanish). September 25, 2020.
- ^ "Bravo Family Foundation announces 10 co's picked for Rising Entrepreneurs Program". News is My Business. 2020-01-28.
- ^ "Bravo Family Foundation continues to impact communities by bringing Internet connection to students". PR Headline News – Top Stories Without The Fluff. 2021-06-19. Retrieved 2021-06-19.