Salsa legend Marc Anthony and music promoter Henry Cárdenas’ Maestro Cares Foundation has built 39 schools, medical centers, and other facilities for disadvantaged children across Latin America and the U.S., with another six projects underway. 

Anthony headlines the foundation’s annual fundraising gala in New York City, which has raised millions since its launch in 2013. Cárdenas, who promotes tours for artists such as Bad Bunny, Shakira, and Ricky Martin, adds a dollar or two to ticket prices on his concerts to support the cause. Most of the artists' fans are Latinos, Cárdenas says. “The right thing to do is to give back.”

The duo founded Maestro Cares in 2012 after visiting a dilapidated orphanage in the Dominican Republic where around 50 children shared three bedrooms, with babies tucked under the bottom bunks. "No kid deserves that," says Anthony, who credits local community centers with keeping him on track during his childhood in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City. He asked Cárdenas, who grew up in one of the poorest areas of Cali, Colombia, what they could do. "I didn't know anything about philanthropy or foundations," Cárdenas says. "I said, ‘Let's build something.’”

Yet to establish a board of directors or vetting protocols, they poured around $2 million into rebuilding the orphanage, only to discover the organization running it wasn’t equipped to manage a facility of that size. “I wasn't expecting a Ferrari, I was expecting a Chevy,” Cárdenas says the orphanage director told him at the time. “I don't have money to keep the Ferrari going.” It was a hard lesson, and they now scrutinize partners' financials, governance, and capacity before committing. 

Cárdenas says they’ve also pivoted toward focusing on education, building schools and funding 150 scholarships at top regional universities, with plans to expand to 500. By the foundation's count, the projects have reached more than 15,000 children to date. “Education is the base for success,” Cárdenas says.