Miami, Florida
Established 1986 · EIN 59-2667397
The Carmen Rebozo Foundation is a private family foundation established in Miami, Florida in 1986. For nearly four decades, the Foundation has quietly invested in the educational and civic infrastructure of South Florida, carrying forward the legacy of a family whose roots trace from the Canary Islands and Cuba to the shores of Biscayne Bay.
The Rebozo family traces its origins to the Canary Islands — the Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa whose emigrants shaped much of Cuba's colonial and post-colonial society. Carmen Sarmiento's family came from Santa Cruz de Tenerife; Francisco Matias Rebozo arrived from Havana, where his family had long before made the same Atlantic crossing. The values they carried — industry, faith, and an abiding sense of duty to community — were forged across generations before the journey to American shores.
Francisco Matias Rebozo arrived in Florida in the late nineteenth century, settling in Ybor City — the Cuban and Spanish enclave just outside Tampa that had become the center of America's cigar industry. He worked as a cigar roller, part of the skilled craft workforce that made Ybor City's factories among the most productive in the world. In 1918, the family made the move south to Miami, where Francisco Matias and Carmen would raise their nine children and build a lasting place in the community.
Over the course of the twentieth century, the Rebozo family became woven into the civic and commercial fabric of Miami. Through business, banking, and personal relationships extending across decades, the family cultivated deep roots in the community — roots that today continue to bear fruit through the work of the Foundation.
Charles Gregory Rebozo — known universally as “Bebe,” a nickname meaning baby in Spanish, given to him as the youngest of nine children — was born in 1912 to Francisco Matias and Carmen Rebozo in Tampa, Florida. He was raised in Miami, graduated from Miami High School, and went on to build one of the most distinguished careers in South Florida's business community.
Beginning with a service station and a chain of laundromats in the 1930s and 1940s, Rebozo steadily expanded his commercial interests through real estate development and ultimately banking. In 1964, he founded the Key Biscayne Bank & Trust, an institution that grew to reflect his reputation for discretion, integrity, and deep community investment in the region he had called home his entire life.
Rebozo occupied a singular position in mid-twentieth century American life. A central figure in the political and social life of Key Biscayne, he became personally acquainted with some of the most consequential figures of the era. His decades-long friendship with President Richard Nixon — forged over Florida fishing trips and nurtured through the full arc of Nixon's political career — brought him into proximity with American history at its most pivotal moments. Through his prominence in Florida's civic networks, he was among the rare individuals personally acquainted with multiple presidents of the United States.
Yet Bebe Rebozo was, at heart, a Miami man. His enduring civic passion was not the corridors of Washington but the streets and neighborhoods of South Florida. He was an In 1941, he obtained the original Boys Club charter for Miami, and when the Club opened its first small facility on SW 32nd Avenue in 1946 — after the interruption of World War II — he was its anchor, frequently sustaining it from his own pocket in the early years. In 1990, the Club expanded its membership to include girls, completing the institution that continues to bear his legacy. This lifelong commitment to youth — to investing in the next generation of Miami's children — became the defining philanthropic expression of his life.
His commitment was never to recognition. It was to the city he loved, and to the children growing up in it — the same children his family had once been.
— On the legacy of Charles “Bebe” RebozoThe Foundation bears the name of Carmen Rebozo, Bebe's mother and the matriarch of the family. Her journey from Cuba to Florida — made with her husband Francisco Matias and their nine children — embodied the immigrant resolve and quiet strength that would define the family for generations.
By naming the Foundation after his mother, Bebe Rebozo honored not only the woman who raised him but the values she instilled: duty to family, commitment to community, and the belief that one's success carries with it an obligation to those who have not yet had the same opportunities. The Carmen Rebozo Foundation, incorporated in December 1985 and granted charitable status in 1986, was built to carry those values forward indefinitely.
Today, under the stewardship of the next generation of the Rebozo family, the Foundation continues its quiet, deliberate work — building institutions, supporting youth, and investing in the long-term well-being of the Miami community that the family has called home for nearly a century.
The Foundation supports institutions committed to expanding educational opportunity for South Florida youth — from primary schools serving underresourced communities to programs that create long-term pathways to achievement. The emphasis is always on institutions and infrastructure capable of enduring impact, not short-term programming.
Youth development is the Foundation's deepest and most enduring philanthropic commitment. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade have been the Foundation's primary long-term partner since its earliest years — a relationship that reflects Bebe Rebozo's own instrumental role in the organization's development. The Foundation funds facilities, expansion, and long-term capacity growth.
The Foundation invests in the physical and institutional infrastructure of underserved Miami-Dade neighborhoods — funding buildings, facilities, and capacity expansion for organizations whose long-term presence is essential to their communities. The focus is on durable investment, not relief funding.
The Foundation's relationship with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade is not one program among many — it is the defining expression of the Foundation's philanthropic purpose. This partnership extends back to the earliest years of the Foundation and, before that, to Bebe Rebozo's Bebe Rebozo obtained the original Boys Club charter in 1941, and following the interruption of World War II, the Club opened its doors in 1946 with a small facility on SW 32nd Avenue in Miami. In those early years, Bebe frequently sustained the organization through his own personal resources. In 1990, the Club formally welcomed girls into its membership, becoming the Boys & Girls Club that it remains today.
Over the course of nearly four decades since the Foundation's establishment, and building on Bebe's personal legacy stretching back to 1941, the Foundation has provided sustained capital support to the Boys & Girls Clubs — funding the construction and expansion of facilities, building organizational capacity, and enabling the Clubs to serve an ever-greater number of Miami-Dade youth. This is the work the Foundation was created to do.
The Foundation is deeply committed to the continued growth and success of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade and intends this partnership to endure for the long term. As such, the Foundation is not currently seeking to extend its charitable relationships to additional organizations. Its resources, focus, and philanthropic energy remain directed toward its existing long-term partners.
The Carmen Rebozo Foundation makes contributions exclusively to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept or consider unsolicited requests for funding. Organizations seeking philanthropic support are respectfully directed to other sources.
The Carmen Rebozo Foundation operates from a clear and consistent investment philosophy: the most lasting contribution a private foundation can make is not to fund programs that may disappear, but to build institutions that endure. The Foundation invests in the physical and organizational infrastructure that allows its partner organizations to serve their communities for decades — not simply for a season.
The Foundation funds buildings, construction, facility expansion, and institutional infrastructure — the physical assets that anchor an organization in its community and multiply its capacity to serve. Operating budgets and program costs are not the Foundation's domain; permanent investment is. This distinction is fundamental to the Foundation's approach and reflects a considered view of where philanthropic capital can achieve the greatest long-term leverage.
The Foundation does not seek new grantees or respond to competitive applications. It maintains a small number of deep, enduring relationships with organizations it has come to know well over many years. These partnerships are built on trust, demonstrated institutional strength, and alignment with the Foundation's values. The Foundation's relationship with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade — spanning nearly four decades — is the clearest expression of this philosophy.
The Foundation exercises a high degree of selectivity in its grantmaking, preferring depth of impact over breadth. It does not publicize its giving, seek public recognition, or engage in the promotional culture that characterizes much of modern philanthropy. Its work is done quietly and with intention, in keeping with the character of its founder and the spirit in which it was established.
The Foundation operates entirely on the returns generated by its endowment. It does not solicit outside contributions, accept donations from the public, or engage in fundraising of any kind. This self-sustaining structure ensures the Foundation's independence, longevity, and freedom from external pressure — allowing it to give consistently, on its own terms, in perpetuity.
The Foundation was not built to respond to every urgent need. It was built to invest — patiently, deliberately, and over generations — in the institutions that make Miami a more just and capable city.
— Statement of Investment PhilosophyThe Foundation is entirely self-sustaining, drawing its distributions from the returns of its endowment rather than from outside contributions or public fundraising. The following figures are drawn from publicly available IRS Form 990-PF filings.
The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors drawn from members of the Rebozo family and long-standing associates. Officers are listed as publicly filed in the IRS Form 990-PF.
The Carmen Rebozo Foundation is a private foundation and does not accept unsolicited applications for grants or funding. The Foundation makes contributions exclusively to preselected charitable organizations. Inquiries of a funding nature will not receive a response.