OVERVIEW: The Bravo Family Foundation funds entrepreneurship, economic development, and disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico. On the mainland United States, it supports health and higher education.
IP TAKE: The Bravo Family Foundation is a funder “that makes its aims clear,” steered by “a philanthropist worth keeping an eye on,” according to IP’s Ade Adeniji. Puerto Rico is the foundation’s primary focus, which means nonprofits based in other places throughout the U.S. will struggle to get noticed. Its Puerto Rico programs are clearly defined, but its other giving areas lack transparency. Additionally, the founders operate a second, similarly named foundation, and it can be difficult to tell which funds what without looking at their respective 990s. Ultimately, this is an important funder to know for Puerto Rican entrepreneurs and small business owners, but others will want to look elsewhere. While the couple lives in Miami, it is unclear if the city will become an increasing area of philanthropy.
PROFILE: Established in 2017, the Bravo Family Foundation is the primary philanthropic vehicle of Orlando Bravo, co-founder of Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm managing over $130 billion, and his family. It seeks to “foster principles of social justice in Puerto Rico by empowering youths and leaders of under-served communities to have equal access to personal and economic advancement opportunities […] by developing community leadership, purpose-driven technology, entrepreneurship and innovative ventures.” Bravo is the first Puerto Rican billionaire, and he created the family foundation, and its affiliate, the Bravo Family Charitable Foundation, to provide disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The foundation shifted focus in 2019 after Bravo committed $100 million to promote entrepreneurship and economic development on the island.
Grants for Economic Development
Most of Bravo’s grantmaking centers on economic development and community improvement efforts in Puerto Rico that promote technology-based entrepreneurship and expand the reach of Puerto Rican businesses beyond the island. Programs include:
- The Rising Entrepreneurs program supports entrepreneurship and business creation in Puerto Rico by providing “knowledge, access, and capital” to recent graduates and young professionals. Detailed application information is available here.
- Bravo Venture Fellowship is a year-long program to help Puerto Rican business owners expand their company to the mainland United States and the rest of the world.
- Empowering Young Entrepreneurs is a professional development program for high school students interested in entrepreneurship and technology.
- Exceptional Community Leaders is a leadership development program for “social entrepreneurs” interested in promoting “heritage tourism and community service experiences.”
- Bravo Academy is an education program available to Rising Entrepreneurs grantees.
Grants for Disaster Relief and Global development
While humanitarian relief is no longer the Bravo Family Foundation’s primary focus, it was created for that purpose, and its first project was Podemos (“We Can”) Puerto Rico, a disaster relief effort after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017. Currently, it maintains the Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Fund, “an initiative to lead a response effort to the communities impacted by hurricanes.”
Outside of Puerto Rico, the couple have also been interested in strengthening educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities. The couple has a project in Kenya, which the couple has visited several times, to support an orphanage and construct a much-needed school.
Grants for Public, Maternal and Infant Health
The couple lost their infant daughter Isabella in 2016 and are passionate about the health and well-being of children. They have supported Columbia University Medical Center’s Neonatal Comfort Care Program and the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health, among other outfits dedicated to helping less fortunate children. The Bravos have also helped endow faculty scholar and fellow positions at Stanford University’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research.
Bravo played tennis as a youth. While he did not pursue the sport professionally, he sits on the board of the Border Youth Tennis Exchange (BYTE), a “charitable organization founded to enhance the lives of children and young adults on the U.S./Mexican border through tennis, education and cross-border exchange.”
Grants for Higher Education
The family foundation does not list education as a funding interest; however, tax records show that Bravo has an interest in the area.
- He donated $25 million gift to Brown University, his alma mater, in 2019 to establish the Orlando Bravo Center for Economic Research.
- He serves on the President’s Leadership Council at the school and also sits on the Board of Overseers at UC San Francisco, another grantee.
- He earned his JD and MBA from Stanford Law School and established the Bravo Family Public Interest Post-Graduate Fellowship Fund there.
Important Grant Details
Grant amounts typically range between $15,000 and $50,000 for foundation programs, although they can occasionally reach into tens of millions, especially for hurricane relief and gifts to institutions of higher learning. The foundation awarded over $4.5 million in grants in a recent year and held around $54 million in assets.
- This funder accepts unsolicited applications for its individual programs each year. Procedures vary by program.
- Direct general questions to staff at info@bravofamilyfoundation.org.
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