Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has quietly given nearly $100 million to eight nonprofits since the beginning of September, including three based in Minnesota.
Scott also gave at least two additional grants worth a combined $24 million over the summer.
If history is a guide, the gifts are likely part of a large new wave of donations that the Seattle-based donor is in the process of distributing.
None of the grants have been announced by Scott and they are not yet listed on Yield Giving, the website she launched in December 2022 to increase transparency about her philanthropy and raise the visibility of her grantees.
Rather, the grants have been made public in individual announcements by each of the awardees. This is consistent with Scott’s preference to “de-emphasize privileged voices and cede focus to others.” Scott typically allows her grantees to either remain anonymous or publicly announce donations they’ve received from her if they believe the publicity will advance their mission.
Since 2020, Scott has given $17.3 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofits, according to Yield Giving. Up to now, Scott has disclosed those grants in cohorts ranging from 116 organizations, in July 2020, to 384 organizations, in December 2020.
Scott’s most recent announcement came in March when she revealed that she had awarded $640 million to 361 community-led nonprofits through an open-call managed by the philanthropic organization Lever for Change. (Note: Lever for Change is a client of Fireside Strategy.)
A Welcome Surprise
The latest nonprofit to announce a grant from Scott was the Mni Sota Fund, which provides financial assistance to Native communities in the Twin Cities area. The Mni Sota Fund received $1.5 million from Scott, according to an October 9 report in The Minnesota Star Tribune. Mni Sota Fund Executive Director Kit Fordham said he has no idea how his organization got on Scott’s radar.
“It’s one of those things you dream about as you’re seeing headlines of other people getting this funding. … It’s so nice that it happened in reality,” Fordham told the Star Tribune.
Additional gifts from Scott unveiled in recent weeks include:
· $10 million to Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, based in Cleveland, Ga., which provides loans to small business owners in low-income communities in Georgia.
· $9 million to the Entrepreneur Fund based in Duluth, Minn., which supports small businesses in underserved communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
· $8 million to Propel Nonprofits based in Minneapolis, Minn., which provides capacity building services and access to capital to support nonprofits.
· $3 million to the Wind River Development Fund, a Native-led nonprofit in Fort Washakie, Wyoming, focusing on economic development and supporting entrepreneurs.
· $12 million to PeopleFund based in Austin, Tx., which provides financial and educational support to underserved communities in Texas and beyond.
· $30 million to Housing Trust Silicon Valley based in San Jose, Calif., which works to provide more affordable housing in the 14-county Bay area of California.
· $22 million to the Nonprofit Finance Fund, based in New York, which supports nonprofits led by and supporting people of color.
Advancing Economic Mobility
All eight of Scott’s newest grantees have been certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as community development finance institutions, a designation given to organizations that provide capital and financial services in low-income communities.
Additionally, Opportunity@Work in July announced a $20 million grant from Scott, which will support the organization’s efforts to increase economic mobility for workers who do not possess a bachelor’s degree but are “skilled through alternative routes.”
And in June, Basta, a New York-based nonprofit that supports first-generation college students of color seeking first jobs, announced a gift of $4 million from Scott that will support a national expansion.
Because of the pace and magnitude of Scott’s giving she has become one of the most idolized and closely watched philanthropists in the world.
The Center for Effective Philanthropy conducted an in-depth analysis of Scott’s grants in 2022 and Panorama Global, a social impact nonprofit and consultancy, has published multiple reports on Scott’s giving, including a report on the 361 awardees of the open call conducted with Lever for Change.
Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to whom she was married for 25 years. According to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List, Scott had a net worth of $34.6 billion on October 9, making her the world’s 54th richest person.
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