Oriental, Puerto Rico Community Foundation open donations round
Nonprofits with incubation and/or acceleration programs may request donations from the Oriental Fund.
Oriental and the Puerto Rico Community Foundation (FCPR) have announced the second round of donations from the Oriental Fund for nonprofit organizations with micro-entrepreneur incubation and acceleration programs.
This round includes a $100,000 investment, which will enable selected organizations to provide seed capital to incubated or accelerated participants, contributing to entrepreneurship growth in Puerto Rico, the nonprofit stated.
Interested organizations must submit their applications online by Nov. 8 through the request button on the FCPR website’s menu.
In the first round of grants, four grants of $25,000 each were awarded to Incubadora Creativa, Nuestra Escuela, Alianza Municipal de Servicios Integrados, and Mujeres de Islas, providing seed capital to participants ready to launch businesses.
“At Oriental, we are committed to contributing to the progress of our clients, employees, shareholders and communities we serve. This commitment leads us to develop initiatives like these that provide economic tools to micro-entrepreneurs,” said Oriental Chief Financial Officer Maritza Arizmendi.
“We know that small businesses are the engine of our economy, which is why the Fondo Compromiso Oriental, through the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico, allows us to contribute to the growth of these micro-enterprises,” she said, noting that the effort is part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility plan.
“Oriental’s commitment as a brand is to support organizations that seek the well-being and growth of communities and businesses, in this case supporting small businesses that seek to develop or grow to positively impact the island’s economy,” she added.
To participate, organizations must have experience with incubation or acceleration programs and have active programs. Additionally, the capacity to manage seed funds will be part of the evaluation criteria.
“We’re excited to celebrate this second call for donations from the Eastern Fund because it allows us to continue promoting economic development from the community base. To date, the participating organizations of the fund are supporting around 28 microenterprises. We are also honored to be able to facilitate this philanthropic process for Oriental,” said FCPR’s CEO, Nelson I. Colón-Tarrats.
The FCPR currently manages more than 97 philanthropic funds established by donors who support a variety of social causes.
