CUFA was founded by social entrepreneur Celso Athayde, who, despite no longer working for the institution, continues to volunteer and won the Impact and Innovation Entrepreneur Award at the 2022 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an honor presented by the Schwab Foundation.

The organization operates in every state in Brazil, plus the Federal District, as well as in several countries, including the United States, where, in 2015, it held its Global Week at the United Nations (UN), which awarded the institution three Chairs: Housing, Afro-descendants, and Youth. On that occasion, the CUFA Global headquarters was inaugurated in the Bronx, New York City.

CUFA is sponsored by Favela Holding, a group with more than 25 companies focused on favelas that has become its economic arm. The organization also won the 2022 Caboré Award in the marketing services category.

The institution’s main projects include the Taça das Favelas, the largest soccer championship between favelas in the world, the Top CUFA, and the Taça das Favelas de Free Fire. CUFA is also a social partner of Expo Favela Innovation, the world’s largest business fair in favelas, organized by Favela Holding.

The organization also participated in Mastercard’s Strive project, which encouraged the digitalization of hundreds of thousands of microenterprises in favelas across Brazil and the world. Furthermore, it played a key role in the creation of the Social Innovation Laboratories for Favela Women Program, in partnership with Caixa Econômica Federal and Impact Hub.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CUFA, in partnership with UNESCO, used its reach to connect favelas and the streets, minimizing the challenges faced by favela residents. Through the Mães da Favela program, the institution delivered physical and digital food baskets and chips with free internet access, thus ensuring greater food security and the education of many children who had to switch to online classes. The benefits were directed to women from favelas, the heads of households. Because of its familiarity with these territories, CUFA understood that by supporting these women, it was possible to create a much larger safety net, and as a result, the project impacted more than 17 million people.

These actions consequently earned CUFA the iBest award, the country’s highest digital market award, in the social action category, the MTV Miaw 2020 award for the Herói Transforma Miaw na Pandemia (Hero Transforms Miaw in the Pandemic) category, and the Folha Award, among others.

In 2019, it also won the Caio Award in the sporting events category for organizing the Taça das Favelas (Favela Cup), the year it was held for the first time in São Paulo, the city with the largest number of favelas in the country.

And in 2022, the institution realized another great dream, which was to hold the first edition of the National Favelas Cup, Favelão 2022, which had its grand final in November, at Arena Barueri, with live broadcast on open TV.