Entrepreneurs

Brian Sheth’s Sangreal Foundation Commits $1 Million in Grants to the Discovery Museum

The Sheth Sangreal Foundation’s Brian Sheth has accomplished a tremendous amount as both a business leader and a philanthropist. A first-generation American citizen of South Asian descent, he was raised in Acton, Massachusetts, and currently resides in Austin, Texas.

After graduating from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Brian Sheth made a name for himself as a merger and acquisition (M&A) manager with corporate finance giants such as Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital, and Vista Equity Partners. A billionaire before he was 40 years old, Sheth is committed to giving back as a cofounder of two charitable nonprofits: Re:wild and the Sheth Sangreal Foundation.

Brian Sheth established the Sheth Sangreal Foundation along with his wife, Adria. Based in Austin, Texas, this nonprofit supports environmental conservation and youth education initiatives around the world. To date, the Sheth Sangreal Foundation has completed 430 projects to save 50,000 miles of forest and 83 animal species from extinction. It operates in more than 80 countries and maintains more than 90 ongoing partnerships with like-minded organizations.

On June 22, 2021, Brian and Adria Sheth announced a significant Sheth Sangreal Foundation challenge grant to support the Discovery Museum in Acton, Massachusetts. This five-year grant awards a total of $1 million to further the Discovery Museum’s sustainability plan as well as a variety of expanded environmental education and inclusion programs.

Part of these Sheth Sangreal Foundation grant funds will help the Discovery Museum convert to solar energy as part of its overall goal to decrease its carbon output to zero by 2024. In addition to generating its own solar power on-site, it plans to make energy-efficient building structure improvements, offer carbon offsets to visitors, and reduce overall power consumption, water use, and waste generation. In addition to achieving absolute carbon neutrality over the next three years, the Discovery Museum hopes to cut its overall environmental footprint in half by instituting these various measures.

The Discovery Museum also works tirelessly to promote a healthier environment through its various educational and public outreach projects. Influencing a diverse population of visitors, it endeavors to expand regional environmental literacy and appreciation for nature.

Discovery Museum CEO Neil Gordon said, “Building on our commitment to inspire life-long curiosity and encourage children to see themselves as responsible caretakers of our natural environment, we have set energetic goals aimed at reducing the Museum’s mark on the earth—all to be carried out transparently and publicly as a model to all.” He went on praise the efforts of the Sheth Sangreal Foundation in terms of “both fostering awareness of and taking real steps toward environmental sustainability.”

To maximize its impact, the Discovery Museum is specifically targeting an audience base of young people without easy access to ecological resources, outdoor activities, and nature-based exploration. Whether they lack this access due to their living environment, prevailing culture, or physical disabilities, these young people deserve a chance to contribute to environmental sustainability. Therefore, the Discovery Museum is working to broaden the diversity of its audience and provide more free and low-cost services to the schools and families that need them the most.

Needless to say, the $1 million in grant funding from the Sheth Sangreal Foundation will prove invaluable in all of these pursuits. While pledging this funding, Brian Sheth commented, “It is essential that businesses take action to protect and improve the health of our planet, while also inspiring the next generation to further that vital work.”

As part of the $1M gift to the Discovery Museum, the Sheth Sangreal Foundation is meeting an immediate need for on-site solar installation preparation by matching a $200,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund. The remaining $800,000 in Sheth Sangreal Foundation grant funding will come in the form of a five-year grant challenge to the community at large. As part of this challenge, the Sheth Sangreal Foundation has pledged to match public contributions to support the Discovery Museum’s overarching sustainability, education, and diversity goals.

In the words of Brian Sheth, “This initiative will teach the next generation to first enjoy and appreciate our planet, regardless of their background or experience, and then become the caretakers of its natural resources.” For him, the million-dollar Sheth Sangreal Foundation gift is a highly personal matter.

“I’ve long been inspired by the Discovery Museum’s good work in my hometown of Acton, and I’m proud to support their conversion to solar and their high-impact approach towards environmental education to reach and educate our youth,” said Brian Sheth. “We hope the Museum’s leadership in this area will inspire other organizations to make similar commitments.”

 

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