Scooter and Yael Cohen Braun
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: Talent Manager, SB Projects
FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Health, LA Community, TBD
OVERVIEW: Scooter Braun and his wife Yael do their grantmaking through the Braun Family Foundation, which keeps a low profile. The couple helped renovate an elementary school playground in Los Angeles. Yael prioritizes cancer prevention.
BACKGROUND: Scooter Braun was born in 1981 and attended Emory University. He began his career as a 19-year-old party promoter and quickly leveraged his success into a VP of marketing role at So So Def Records. At 24, he left his position to start SB Projects, a diversified entertainment and media company integrating music, film, television, technology, and philanthropy. He became a household name in 2019 as a result of his public feud with Taylor Swift over the rights to her music catalogue.
ISSUES:
EDUCATION & YOUTH: The Brauns teamed up with the L.A. Clippers Foundation and Clippers guard Patrick Beverly to renovate an elementary school playground in Los Angeles. The new playground opened at the 107th Street Elementary School after Yael started a GoFundMe page for the school and made it her birthday wish to give the school a new playground.
HEALTH: Yael helped launch Fuck Cancer in 2009 after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The organization is committed to the "belief that raising awareness and providing education about early cancer detection and prevention is the best way to keep the disease from taking lives." In 2020, he organized the charity single, "Stuck With U" by Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, to raise money for the First Responders Children's Foundation to support the children of first responders and health care workers who worked during the coronavirus pandemic.
OTHER: Scooter Braun organized the One Love Manchester benefit concert a few miles from the site of the Manchester Arena terror attack, raising over $22 million in emergency funds. One of Braun's clients is Ariana Grande, who was performing at the arena at the time. He supports natural disaster relief efforts, producing the Hand in Hand telethon to benefit victims of hurricanes, Harvey, Maria, and Irma.
LOOKING FORWARD: The Brauns do not currently have a website for their foundation or a clear way to get in touch to apply for grants but this young power couple should be watched for greater giving down the line. Yael was born in South Africa and went to school in British Columbia, where the couple married. Perhaps more global giving will emerge. SB Projects also has a philanthropic arm, which may provide insights into the couple's personal grantmaking.
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