ORLANDO, Fla. — The onePULSE Foundation is officially no more after announcing its plans to dissolve in November. According to our partners at the Orlando Sentinel, it appears the organization quietly made it official at the end of 2023.

The decision came after years of efforts to design a permanent memorial and museum to honor the 49 victims and survivors of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting never came to fruition.

What You Need To Know

  • onePULSE Foundation silently dissolved at the end of December following the board's vote to end in November 2023

  • Over the past few months, the organization has liquidated its assets, deleted its social media pages and the contents on the foundation's website

  • A spokesperson for the foundation told our partners at the Orlando Sentinel that he and the foundation's chief financial officer will remain on staff to work on issues related to them dissolving

  • The foundation will be responsible for repaying the state of Florida nearly $395,000 in taxpayer funding they received to build a museum, which never happened

The Orlando Sentinel noted that the onePULSE Foundation deleted all of its social media pages along with the information on the website and eliminated most of its staff.

Other recent steps taken by the organization to dissolve included the release of what the onePULSE Foundation called its “final email” in December. The email outlined some of what the city of Orlando plans to do, now that the city has taken over responsibilities for the permanent memorial site.

Last month, the onePULSE Foundation sold two pieces of land near the interim memorial site to an investment group for $1 million. That parcel of land was previously a part of the foundation’s memorial design plans. That information was released after the organization had already sold the Pulse Nightclub property to the city of Orlando for $2 million in October.

On Jan. 4, Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd announced a settlement between the state and onePULSE, which would require the foundation to pay back nearly $395,000 in taxpayer funds that the foundation received through a Cultural Facilities Grant to build a museum. Since that never happened, the Department of State issued a return of those funds.

According to our partners at the Sentinel, a spokesperson for the foundation and its chief financial officer will remain working on issues related to dissolving.

It’s still unclear what the exact plans for a permanent memorial are, as the city takes the lead on the design.

However, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said last month he hopes to have a memorial completed by 2026, which would be 10 years since the shooting.