The Bascom Group, a private equity firm specializing in value-add multifamily and other real estate investments, has supported a cause near and dear to one of its own
employees for almost a decade.
When the mother of Jason Hanna, senior vice president of operations at The Bascom Group, was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, he and others created a teddy bear drive to cheer his mother on. The teddy bears were donated to children who were also undergoing treatment for cancer at Children’s Health in Dallas. The Dallas LGBTQ community also rallied its efforts to create a successful event.
Unfortunately, Hanna’s mother lost her battle the following spring. But the original teddy bear drive became the Teddy Bear Party nonprofit and has grown to support and advocate for the equality and protections for LGBTQ families and communities while supporting a cure for cancer.
From the first Teddy Bear Party event in 2011, The Bascom Group has been supporting the nonprofit and the annual event in which funds are raised for a cure to cancer and more than 1,500 teddy bears are donated.
“Bascom has been the presenting sponsor since the first event in 2011,” says Hanna, who has worked at The Bascom Group for 14 years. “They have provided the resources that have allowed us to take the event mainstream and have played an instrumental role in the continued growth of the event. Teddy Bear Party would not be what it is today without the ongoing support of The Bascom Group.”
As the Teddy Bear Party has grown over the years, so has the list of beneficiaries. In addition to the teddy bear donations, the nonprofit supports Equality Texas, Family Equality, The Trevor Project, Stand Up To Cancer, and Rainbow Roundup.
In 2019 alone, $55,000 was donated to the beneficiaries and 2,500 teddy bears were shipped to Children’s Health in Dallas. For the 2019 event, Bascom multifamily communities held drives of their own and donated 1,400 of those teddy bears. Teddy Bear Party has also partnered with Premier Workspaces and management companies AMC and Pinnacle to roll out teddy bear drives in their offices and communities. A total of 103 locations participated in last year’s drive.
