ORLANDO, Fla. – On Monday, Orlando city commissioners voted to move ahead with the construction of a permanent memorial to the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse shooting.
The vote, along with the recent controversy over the state painting over the rainbow crosswalk near the Pulse site, has led to a question from many readers and viewers: What happened to all the money that was spent on the original Pulse memorial?
News 6 has covered this story from the beginning, and using previous reporting and tax filings for the now-dissolved organization that originally handled the project, we can break it down for you.
All of the tax documents can be viewed on Propublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.
[WATCH: A look inside Orlando’s Pulse shooting site, 9 years later]
Who was behind the original Pulse memorial?
It’s important to note that neither the city of Orlando nor the Orange County government, as a whole, had anything to do with the original plans for the Pulse Memorial. Some members of the city council, notably Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Commissioner Patty Sheehan, did serve on advisory boards.
The onePulse Foundation was created in the aftermath of the attack and took on the task of building the memorial. Barbara Poma, who owned the Pulse nightclub property, created the foundation.
The city of Orlando originally offered to buy the property for over $2 million and create a memorial, but Poma refused.
In 2017, Poma announced the onePulse Foundation would build a permanent memorial and a museum, with net proceeds from donations going toward its construction.
OnePulse opened the temporary memorial, which is the current memorial, at the Pulse site in 2018.
In 2023, faced with declining donations, surging costs, and internal issues, Poma and the onePulse Foundation parted ways, and the project broke down.
The city of Orlando stepped in to purchase the Pulse property in October of 2023 for $2 million. The next month, the onePulse Foundation was dissolved. Orlando leaders decided to move forward with a new memorial plan on the Pulse site, which they expect to cost about $12 million. The goal is to open it in 2027.
[WATCH: OnePulse board votes to dissolve organization]
How much money did onePulse Foundation raise for the project?
The onePulse Foundation was a nonprofit, which means it filed Form 990s with the IRS between 2016 and when it was fully dissolved in 2024.
A News 6 analysis of the tax documents shows onePulse raised $19,289,563 between 2016 and 2024. It also raised a total of $833,458 in “Net Fundraising.” It also received some income from investments, sales of assets and inventory, and program services.
Did the foundation ever get government funds?
In 2018, Orange County granted the foundation $10 million from tourist development taxes, but it never gave the foundation all of the money at once. The group used $3.5 million to buy a property on Kaley Street that was to be used for the museum. Another $3 million was used for design services.
The county has the rest of the money, and it was given the museum property when onePulse dissolved in 2023. The county planned to sell the property, and the remaining funds are in TDT reserves.
However, that $3 million for design services is lost.
We also know the foundation received almost $400,000 in grant money from the state of Florida. When the foundation dissolved, it returned that money to the state.
Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature allocated the money in the state budget to the city of Orlando for its memorial.
The foundation also received two Paycheck Protection Program loans in 2021 to help with payroll through Seacoast National Bank.
One was approved April 15, 2020 for $166,500. The second was approved on Jan. 22, 2021 for $204,235, according to Propublica’s PPP database. Both are marked as forgiven.
[WATCH: Pulse Memorial design unveiled (from 2019)]
How much was actually spent on the scrapped project?
According to the tax documents, onePulse specified spending $6,896,488 between 2019 and 2022 on the memorial and museum.
The tax filing for 2023 says the foundation spent $4,718,345 on the project, but it also announced that there would be a redesign and rescale because of growing costs and a drop in donations.
This is the explanation of the expense given in the 2023 Form 990:
“Initially, the National Pulse Memorial was intended on being a place of sanctuary and commemoration. A safe, resting place for memories of the 49 angels, and for Pulse and what it meant. The Pulse Museum will be a site of potential and transformation. Here public grief has a place to be transformed into personal meaning, and to inspire a society that warmly embraces and fiercely defends the full spectrum of our shared humanity. The Orlando Health survivors walk will be a pilgrimage of empathy and compassion. It offers moments of comfort, respite and human connection. During 2022 and 2023, the onePulse Foundation board of trustees revisited the organization’s original designs, evaluating the feasibility and costs of the project in a post-pandemic climate (i.e., escalated costs of construction, scarcity of materials, and a disruption to the global supply chain affecting capital projects worldwide). As a result, the trustees have determined a new re-scaled version of the original plan to include, among other things, a museum space as well as a multi-purpose gathering place within the warehouse property located at 438 W. Kaley Street in downtown Orlando. Critical to the completion of above-mentioned project was the foundation acquiring ownership of the night club site which it was unable to do. Founding CEO Barbara Poma sold the property for $2M to the city of Orlando in October 2023. Without ownership of the sacred space, the foundation could not complete the core of its mission and lost the basis for requesting public support. Unfortunately, best intentions are not enough. We have been challenged by unexpected and definitive events, among them the inability to secure a full donation of the Pulse Nightclub site from the property owners and a global pandemic that brought with it critical limits and many unanticipated consequences, that ultimately impacted our fundraising efforts.”
[WATCH: What happened to the onePulse Foundation? Orange County leaders are finding out]
How much was spent on onePulse’s employee salaries?
Executive compensation and salaries increased exponentially over the life of the foundation as the group took on more executives and staff.
In 2019, the foundation added a chief operating officer and chief marketing officer. The executive compensation spending increased from $109,616 for Poma as CEO in 2018 to $272,565 in 2019 for the three officers.
In 2020, they added a chief financial officer and a chief communications officer, and executive compensation increased to $502,358.
In 2022, executive compensation increased to $849,808, with the addition of a vice president of education and an executive director. The nonprofit’s chief operating officer departed. Poma’s salary jumped to $249,580.
In 2023, the nonprofit paid out $620,143 in executive compensation.
Between 2017 and 2023, the foundation spent $2,416,991 on other salaries and wages.
[WATCH: OnePulse is ending. What does it mean for donors?]
What else did onePulse spend money on?
OnePulse also ran an annual scholarship program, the 49 Legacy Scholarship, which gave priority to survivors and families of the victims.
Between 2020 and 2023, onePulse spent $1,881,935 on the program, according to the tax documents.
In the same time period, it awarded $1,226,525 in scholarships.
In 2021, onePulse added an educational program called onePulse Academy, which was meant to foster discussion on social topics and issues. The foundation spent $1,226,525 on the program between 2021 and 2023.
The foundation also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the annual remembrance ceremony, the annual CommUnity Rainbow run fundraiser, and Family Days, a special program for the families of the victims.