Angel Shoutout: Adam Braun

Adam Braun

Founder, Pencils of Promise

Adam Braun is the Founder of Pencils of Promise, an award-winning nonprofit organization that has built more than 150 schools across Africa, Asia and Latin America and delivered over 12 million educational hours in its first four years. PoP was founded with just $25 using Braun’s unique “For-Purpose” approach to blending nonprofit idealism with for-profit business principles. In 2012, he was added to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.

Braun began his career in finance, until he met a young boy begging on the streets and asked him what he wanted most in the world. The answer: “a pencil.” He then traveled through 50+ countries to focus on educational systems and eventually left a dream job at Bain & Company to launch Pencils of Promise.

According to Braun, PoP officially started when, “I reached into my backpack, handed him my pencil, and watched as a wave of possibility washed over him.

A smile erupted and his eyes brightened. And I saw then the profound power and promise brought through something as small as a giving a pencil to just one child.”

Over the next five years Braun backpacked through more than 50 countries, handing out thousands of pens and pencils across six continents.

Those  pencils, those small pieces of potential, led to powerful conversations with local parents and children across countless cultures and languages. From years of listening to their words, it became clear that there was a need for an international nonprofit that was led on-the-ground by a staff of locals from within each country, required village participation in each school, and deeply supported, trained and tracked each student to ensure their success.

To learn more about Pencils of Promise and Adam Braun, visit: http://www.pencilsofpromise.org/

Do you know someone who is also making a difference?
To recommend someone in your community with an Angel on his/her shoulder, email Rebecca at [email protected].