Project Bentō
IT'S TIME
TO ACT
NOW.
Project Bento was founded by Marcus Samuelsson, Derek Evans and concerned chefs, owners, and celebrities with Samir Arora and his Sage Plus team to help create a coordinated resource to bring together the nationwide efforts of the charities organizations and fundraisers which are supporting impacted businesses to help feed people urgently in need of food and provide relief to the families employees and businesses thrown in crisis now and through recovery.
Now more than ever we need to come together build together.
Thank you to our campaign Supporters and Sponsors!
Project Bento Campaigns Matching Fund Sponsors and Donors
Beneficiaries
Benefit 501(c)(3) Charities + Minority Biz + Employees + Restart Funds
Powered By
Sage Plus
Thank you to our recent donors for your generosity! ❤️
Project Bento Supports:
Food Relief
Employees Support
Minority Programs
Restart & Rebuild
Social Justice
COVID–19
Campaigns
Active Campaigns
Project Bento Campaigns have raised $5.3M in the last 12 weeks with a goal of raising $10-25M for urgent help needed now. The Project Bento Fund is also directly raising funds now to directly to help provide matching funds for restart/rebuild programs and help to those in need
Marcus Samuelsson
Black Businesses Matter Matching Fund
Raised:
$600,161
Marcus Samuelsson
Project Bento
Raised:
$954,576
Marcus Samuelsson
Harlem Serves Up!
Raised:
$354,400
Marcus Samuelsson
Hand in Hand, a Daniel Boulud Fund
Raised:
$204,229
Interested in providing urgently needed help to employees and restart/rebuild programs today, contact us if you would like to sponsor the Project Bento Matching fund:
Are you running a Support our Staff or a Restart/Rebuild fund? Apply to be featured on the Project Bento site and considered for the Project Bento Support our Staff Matching fund:
Support Local Businesses
Please support and purchase from our beneficiary supported businesses by clicking below!
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Project Bento
The Project Bento Fund is a support and matching fund created to help charities, employee relief and restart/rebuild funds in which Sponsors can choose exactly how to apply their funds—to all participating campaigns or to a specific region or charity, employees or restart/rebuild fund campaign.
Through their generous support, companies and people are making a meaningful impact on the lives of people in need of food and to the owners and employees devastated by COVID-19 and rebuild efforts with Project Bento.
$10M+
GOAL
SPONSOR DONORS
Sponsor Donors of the Project Bento Fund can select specific chefs, restaurants, businesses, regions and causes to benefit Restart/Build business campaigns, Support Our Staff and 501(c)(3) Charities,.
Humana
CitiBank
Bank of America
and more...
DONATIONS
100% of your public donations on projectbento.org go to support Project Bento Programs that help employee and restart/rebuild business funds or your chosen beneficiary 501(c)(3) charities. Project Bento is built on the Sage Plus Platform that is charging a 0% application platform fee for participating nonprofit fundraisers for COVID-19 and restart/rebuild businesses. The beneficiaries will receive 100% of your public donation less the payment processing and transfer fees paid by the charity directly to the payment processing service for your donation.
Your donations to 501(c)(3) charities are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
About.
What is Project Bento?
Project Bento is a major initiative that, through an innovative fund that provides urgent support to restaurants, local, minority-owned and BIPIOC businesses and their employees most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and social crisis in need now and through recovery. Using the power of sponsorships, larger organizations and donors can multiply their impact for these struggling small businesses through their generous contributions.
Project Bento was created by Marcus Samuelsson, Derek Evans with Samir Arora and his Sage Digital team to bring together, all in one place, a way for sponsors and donors to provide funds to businesses and their employees—and see the actions and impact of their relief efforts.
There are three types of Project Bento Programs that do the following: help small businesses stay open, supply meals and help employees in the hardest hit communities in America, including Harlem, Newark, Overtown, Oakland, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
What are the Project Bento Programs?
There are three types of fundraising campaigns through Project Bento that help restaurants, businesses and their staff:
Funds to Support our Staff support restaurant and small business workers currently out of work, with many unable to access unemployment benefits.
Restart/Rebuild Programs support restaurants and businesses to cover the necessary costs to open, run and stay in business during this time of crisis.
Community Meals support restaurants currently utilizing their space as a community kitchen to feed locals in urgent need.
How can Sponsors help amplify their impact?
Project Bento provides sponsorship and matching funds to amplify the power of donations. People feel more inclined to support and donate to a fundraising campaign knowing that there are sponsors who support their donation, multiplying their impact. Project Bento has been built ground–up to help sponsors and donors contribute to the nationwide Project Bento Fund or select specific campaigns, regions, programs, and businesses to support.
Who are the Beneficiaries of the Project Bento Fund?
The Project Bento Fund provides funds to participating restaurants, local, and minority–owned businesses that are selected by Marcus Samuelsson and the Project Bento teams. 100% of all funds raised through public donations on projectbento.org go to the chosen beneficiary: restart/rebuild programs, employee support funds and select 501(c)(3) charities, .
The Project Bento Fund, operated by Project Bento, provides sponsorships and matching funds to participating restaurants and local businesses that benefit the following nonprofits: World Central Kitchen, Citymeals on Wheels, Support Our Staff, Restart and Rebuild and Minority-owned business Funds.
Project Bento is built on the Sage Plus Platform that is charging a 0% application platform fee for participating nonprofit fundraisers for COVID-19 and restart and rebuild efforts.
Sponsorships and contributions received by Project Bento will be shared as selected by the sponsor with our charity beneficiaries, selected minority–owned business, region, restaurant, employee relief and restart and rebuild funds and/or used to support Project Bento expenses to operate our platform and fundraising efforts. All Donations and sponsorships to the Project Bento and participating fundraisers from all sources may be included in the Amount Raised.
What is the Project Bento Fund?
The Project Bento Fund is a sponsorship and matching fund to help restart/rebuild funds, employee relief and 501(c)(3) charities, employee relief in which Sponsors and Donors can choose exactly how to apply their funds—to all participating campaigns or to a specific minority, region, charity, restaurant, organization or employees or restart/rebuild fund campaigns.
Who supports the Project Bento Platform?
So much of our desire to create a simple, effective way to provide urgent relief is due to the generosity of our founding organizers, donors and sponsors, as a result of their personal and financial commitment, all Project Bento operating costs are provided by our organizers and sponsors so that 100% of public donations on projectbento.org are used to help lives.
How can I donate to the charities, employee and restart/rebuild funds involved?
You can submit your direct donation online at projectbento.org via a variety of payment methods, including online payment and credit cards. Donors can select campaigns on ProjectBento.org website, Sage Plus App, embed a donate button on their own sites, add a donate page to their sites and use their Instagram bio link to point to their campaigns. Donors can select the campaign, minority-owned business, restaurant, region and choose the charity and/or employee or restart fund you want to help support. Donors can also optionally pay for the payment transactions fees for charities and add a tip to Project Bento that charges a 0% platform fee for nonprofit fundraising and relies on the generosity of sponsors and donors to operate these services.
Where did the idea of Project Bento come from?
On April 23th, 2020 Derek Evans, CEO of Marcus Samuelsson Group spoke to Samir Arora, CEO of Sage Digital about the difficulties restaurants, businesses and their employees were facing along with people in need of food as a result of COVID-19 that led to the creation of Project Bento for the launch of HarlemServesUp with Chef Marcus Samuelsson, Derek and concerned chefs, owners and celebrities for charities, organizations and fundraisers for relief for restaurants, businesses and their employees. Samir immediately asked Brad Koenig, former Head of Global Technology Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs and one Sage Digital early investors, who felt this was an important cause and joined as one of the founding sponsor donors.
Project Bento was created to be the first online destination that brings together, all in one place, the actions and impact of the COVID-19 and social unrest related relief efforts by leading chefs, celebrities, organizations and donors.
How can I join the Project Bento Movement?
Project Bento Founding Organizers hold the vision of Project Bento and are helping build the Project Bento Matching Fund to help people in need.
Project Bento Founding Donors and Sponsors include companies, organizations, individuals and family-funds that provide contributions to support campaigns, minority-owned businesses, restaurants, regions, employee and restart/rebuild funds and charities.
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