Pulse museum to receive $10M grant from Orange County

ORLANDO, Fla. — A planned museum dedicated to the Pulse nightclub mass shooting is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to Central Florida.

It's all in the onePULSE Foundation's application for the $10 million it received from Orange County.

According to newly released documents, the county granted the funds in tourism tax dollars that can only be used for the Pulse museum, set to join a memorial to the victims in 2022.

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In its application submitted to the county last fall, the onePULSE Foundation highlighted the hundreds of thousands of visitors seen by several other remembrance museums around the country.

If 1% of Orlando's 75 million visitors in 2018 stopped by, that would be 750,000 people.

County documents also offered a look at the finances of the onePULSE Foundation and its yearly multimillion-dollar operating budget.

Over the next three years, $1.3 million has been marked for scholarships and community mental health and nearly $3 million has been spent in staff salaries, including a current $154,500 salary for CEO and Executive Director Barbara Poma.

The onePULSE Foundation released a statement Thursday saying, "These payroll expenses cover all staff that have the responsibility and oversight of two locations in addition to running the foundation and all of its programs, including the 49 legacy scholarship program and onePULSE Academy."

The onePULSE application also noted that U.S. museums employ more people than pro sports, generating more than $12 billion a year in tax revenue and an overall economic impact of $17 billion.

Six teams of finalists will now compete to design plans for the Pulse museum, memorial and survivors walk.

A winner will be selected in October.