Mr. Braun graduated from Brown University and began his career at Bain & Company. He has also become a special speaker for the President of the United States, the United Nations, and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Mr. Braun's father always dreamed of seeing his children strive to learn and accomplish all sorts of tasks with utmost effort. Mr. Braun's brother, named Scott, and his sister, named Lisa, both always followed their father's guidance and instructions. In front of their father, Lisa and Scott never had a matter that made them feel unconfident or unable to do it. They often chose to do activities they knew they could accomplish. Mr. Braun and his siblings clearly understood their father's heart: he wanted to see all his children have high capabilities and be able to do things in the best way possible.
Mr. Adam Braun's father, named Ervin Braun, was the son of a survivor among many other victims who lived through the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a historical genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered approximately six million Jews throughout Europe, which was then occupied by Germany. Mr. Ervin Braun, the father, continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania Dental School, which is where he met Mr. Adam Braun's mother, Mrs. Susan. The couple came to live in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, in the United States, and worked as dentists to support their family's livelihood.
Mr. Adam Braun also continued his studies at Greenwich High School. It was there that he began to love playing basketball intensely. During one sports competition, Adam Braun met two new friends, Sam and Cornelio, who were boys from Mozambique, a country in East Africa. With the love, affection, and full support from Mr. Adam Braun, his parents decided to become legal guardians for Sam and Cornelio as well, with the intention that they could get to know each other and study together at Greenwich High School, a school with high quality and standards.
This was something that Mr. Adam Braun's father had always dreamed of and promised his children: to try to provide them with the best education for their future. Mr. Ervin Braun, the father, would always advise and remind Adam Braun about the priceless importance and value of education for people in developing countries, such as Mozambique, which was lacking schools and where the quality of education was still low.
Mr. Adam Braun was a very capable entrepreneur. He had been running a stock trading account since he was in high school. He also took the opportunity to work extra jobs during the summer vacation, working for a hedge fund, which is an investment fund with various business activities like buying and selling, as well as many types of investment activities. Not only that, in his free time from studying, he also sold music CDs and earned several thousand dollars before he even graduated from high school. After that, he continued his studies at Brown University, choosing to major in economics and always participating in various activities of the athletic department, especially basketball.
While he was in his sophomore year, he watched a film titled "Baraka," which is a film about the traditions, customs, and various religious rituals in many countries. That film sparked his curiosity about religious beliefs. As a result, he gave up basketball, which was his favorite recreational activity and passion, and began a campaign to find his true self. He applied to join a 100-day round-the-world cruise with a group of people, hoping that he might find some enlightenment in his self-discovery.
But unfortunately, two weeks after the ship departed, his vessel encountered terrible weather with strong winds, causing huge waves as high as a three-story stone house to crash down on the ship. This caused extensive damage and made the ship's engine stop working altogether. It left his ship drifting aimlessly, at the mercy of the wind and waves. In this terrifying situation, he had a thought to pray, asking that he and everyone on the ship survive this awful situation. After he finished praying, he felt better and had a feeling that he would surely survive.
Because his life was precious, his ship also escaped that disaster. It managed to sail, battered and bruised, drifting all the way to Honolulu, a city in the Hawaiian archipelago of the United States. This experience of surviving death made Mr. Adam Braun start thinking about the meaning and purpose of his life anew. Every time his ship docked in any country, he would always ask the same question to the children in that country, never failing to do so. He would ask, "If you could receive anything in the world, what would you want?" The common answers from those children greatly surprised him. For instance, they wanted books for studying, they wanted pencils, and they wanted to learn how to dance.
At one point, when Mr. Adam Braun was on an adventure trip through Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia, he met Mr. Scott Neeson, the founder of the Cambodian Children's Fund, or CCF. After learning about the mission of the Cambodian Children's Fund, Mr. Adam Braun decided to sacrifice his time from his studies as a fourth-year student to raise money to help Mr. Scott Neeson's Cambodian Children's Fund.
What was most joyful and memorable for him at that time was the certificate of appreciation he received from the Cambodian Children's Fund. And that certificate was as valuable to him as the degree he received from Brown University.
After graduating and before starting work at a company, he took his free time to travel to Latin America and spent four months there. By chance, he received an invitation from a man named Joel Puerck to live with him in a village because Joel Puerck wanted to practice speaking English to become more fluent, in order to easily share and teach it to many other people in his village. During his stay in the village for a while, he observed that although the villagers lived in poverty, they valued and prioritized education greatly, especially providing education to their younger generation.
Sometime later, Mr. Adam Braun started working at the Bain & Company consulting firm, a very famous company providing consulting services, with its headquarters in New York City, USA. Mr. Adam Braun worked hard to fulfill his duties and responsibilities in that prestigious and famous company. But over time, he began to feel that it wasn't something that brought him true spiritual happiness. When a good opportunity came, he left the job that offered him fame and a high salary and joined various activities with non-profit organizations instead.
A while later, on a certain day, Mr. Adam Braun attended a concert in New York City. At that exciting concert, as soon as the pianist started playing a song, something sparked a phrase in his mind. It was the phrase "Pencils of Promise." With this idea emerging, he rushed back to his home to jot down the important ideas that were flowing like a burst dam.
At that moment, he started thinking about creating a non-profit organization that he wanted to name Pencils of Promise, abbreviated as PoP. He set its primary mission to be the construction of many primary schools. In 2008, Mr. Adam Braun opened a bank account by depositing $25 into it and registered the domain name for his organization as pencilsofpromise.org. He defined this organization as a humanitarian and non-profit entity and began accepting donations from philanthropists from all over.
He remembers that the first fundraising campaign for his organization was held at a Halloween party, as a big gift for his 25th birthday at that time. Perhaps it was his luck, but that party was attended by over 400 people, which allowed him to raise more than $8,000 from the philanthropists who attended.
After receiving the donation from the philanthropists, he did not delay. He immediately selected a core working group and continued to seek advice from everyone who could offer different opinions for his mission to build a school in Laos. About two or three weeks later, a man named Dori, who was the founder of an organization called "Give Children a Choice" in Laos, contacted him. He introduced him to a man named Thongchan, who was an employee of the World Health Organization in Laos.
Ultimately, Mr. Adam Braun traveled to Luang Prabang to meet with Thongchan to discuss the work of setting up the school. After discussing and studying several areas in detail, they decided to choose the village of Pha Theung to build his first school. When Mr. Adam Braun returned to New York City, he and his team organized a party to continue their fundraising campaign with the strong conviction that big dreams can sometimes start from small, seemingly insignificant activities.
Just as they had hoped, they were able to raise up to $20,000 more from that party. Within just the first three months of starting, Mr. Adam Braun and his team had raised a total of $35,000, an amount sufficient for him to realize his dream of building the first school in his vision.
Without delay, Mr. Adam Braun traveled to Luang Prabang province again to arrange various legal documents and signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial department of education. Three days later, he returned to Pha Theung village to begin the construction of his first school, with the participation, support, encouragement, and gratitude of all the villagers. Every villager had a happy face and enthusiastically participated in the construction of this school, both old and young, with an indescribably joyful spirit. To show their support, all the villagers gathered to contribute materials and labor, which covered about 10% of the entire construction project's cost. This scene became a model for school construction plans in other places and countries as well.
Born from the experience of successfully building the first school, Mr. Adam Braun began to expand his network, building broader connections to other regions and poor developing countries by connecting with experts and representatives of non-governmental organizations, which grew more and more. He chose his first employee, a person named Lanoy, to hold the position of coordinating his school project in Pha Theung village.
Every time he returned to New York City, Mr. Adam Braun would focus his time and attention on ensuring his organization continued to grow. He also asked for help from his childhood friend, named Bren Horgan, who was skilled in selecting the right personnel to fit the specific needs of his organization.
Later on, Mr. Adam Braun understood more clearly the power of various social media networks, such as Facebook. He used this giant social network to send messages he wanted to share to many philanthropists around the world, letting them know about the dream and mission he was undertaking, which proved to be very effective.
He and four other volunteers rented a car to travel to every place in the United States to speak to groups of people, including students in universities and colleges. He also recalled a memory that at one point, he went to give his first presentation and there was only one person in the audience, who was a woman. Later, that woman who attended his presentation became the most dedicated volunteer for his organization. Her name was Chelsea Kandel. She joined his organization with all her heart and soul and fulfilled her duties without any fatigue. She helped expand the mission of Pencils of Promise by creating leadership training sessions for many young people.
A while later, his organization, Pencils of Promise, entered a competition called the Chase Community Giving contest. The goal of this competition was to find the organization that received the most support in the community. The organization that received the most votes through social media would have the chance to receive a grant of up to one million US dollars. In the end, Mr. Adam Braun's organization, Pencils of Promise, ranked 11th and received a grant of $25,000. This amount was enough for him to build another school. Not only that, a garment factory owner agreed to provide an office for his organization.
Due to the growth of this organization, his responsibilities became larger. He decided to quit his high-paying job entirely so he could dedicate his time to managing and overseeing his organization more closely. Mr. Adam Braun packed his clothes and some money to travel and participate in a summit that included young entrepreneurs, singers, and many important activists. Through that summit, he expanded his connections and invited three important people to join his organization's board of advisors. Not only that, he also received financial sponsorship for his school projects from another publishing company.
With a modest budget of only $20,000, it was unavoidable that his organization had to spend as thriftily as possible to support its various operations. He clearly understood that promoting the existence of this organization to the public was becoming more and more important. So, he contacted an agency to find a web designer for his organization to make it look more professional.
Through good networking, he was introduced to the CEO of an agency called AgencyNet, who later decided to join his organization's board of advisors. Not long after that, Scott, who was his brother and a manager in the music industry, introduced him to a young musician named Justin. From that moment on, the two of them became good friends. Mr. Justin also joined Mr. Adam Braun's family on a two-week trip to Africa, which made their relationship even closer. The young musician named Justin started to become very famous and well-known, whom we all know as Justin Bieber.
Through the great fame of Mr. Justin Bieber, who agreed to help promote his organization, it made his organization gain a famous reputation and a lot of participation and support from the youth. Mr. Adam Braun identified five key elements that existed in his organization. First, happiness. Second, friendship. Third, spiritual reward. Fourth, growth. Fifth, fun.
Later, the organization grew even larger with many activities that always brought smiles to donors through various thank-you activities. Through sending thank-you messages, whether by video or letter, all provided a deep meaning to the participation, sacrifice, and unforgettable smiles. The core principle of the Pencils of Promise organization, which aims to encourage every person to do activities that benefit others, has gone far beyond individual benefit to become even greater. It still maintains its presence and strength in the vision of this organization.
Mr. Adam Braun arranged a meeting with Mr. Ray Chambers, who was a very famous philanthropist. They discussed many important points related to the services of the organization. Later, Mr. Ray Chambers also decided to join this journey in the role of a board advisor for the organization. Through the experience, network, and fame of Mr. Ray Chambers, the organization grew and expanded at an unbelievably rapid pace. By 2014, the organization had built 200 schools and had over 60 full-time staff around the world.
According to the organization's forecast, by 2015, its mission was to build 500 schools, train 1,000 teachers, and provide school lunches to 10,000 students. Indeed, by 2019, the organization had 543 schools in operation around the world.
The brief core idea of this summary is to convey to everyone that in order to create change in your family, community, or your country, you don't necessarily need to have a lot of resources. Everything can start from small, seemingly insignificant activities, but they can spread their influence to become bigger and bigger without limit.