Billionaire philanthropist and author Mackenzie Scott announced Tuesday that she will donate $640 million to 360 small nonprofit organizations that respond to public donations.
Yield Giving's first donation is more than double the amount Scott originally pledged to donate through the application process. Since she began donating billions of dollars in 2019, Scott and her team have researched and selected organizations and offered large, unrestricted gifts without an application process.
In a short note posted on her website, Scott wrote about Lever for Change, the organization that administered the call, and “supporting people working to improve access to basic resources.” “We are grateful to the evaluators for their role in creating this path forward.” in their community. They are important agents of change. ”
When applications began, approximately 6,353 nonprofit organizations applied for the $1 million grant.
“Given the outstanding work of these organizations, as recognized by their peers and external panelists, our giving team has decided to expand the award winners and award amounts,” said Lever for Philanthropy, which specializes in administering philanthropic awards. Change stated.
Renee Calibi-White, senior vice president at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, said competitions like the open call could help organizations without ties to a particular funder be considered. .
“One of the best things about award-winning philanthropy is that it highlights people, organizations and institutions who would otherwise not have access to people in power or funding.” she said. Her organization also advises funders who run competitive grants and philanthropic prize competitions to phase in applications to reduce the burden of applications on organizations that are eliminated early. There is.
The 279 nonprofit organizations that received the highest scores from the external review committee were awarded $2 million, and 82 organizations in the second tier were each awarded $1 million.
Yield Giving says on its website that the “open call” seeks applications from community-driven nonprofit organizations with a mission to “advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of low or modest means.” said. Only nonprofit organizations with annual budgets ranging from $1 million for her to $5 million for him were eligible to apply.
“In a world full of potential and talent, this open call gave us the opportunity to identify, elevate and empower innovative organizations that are often left behind,” said Lever for Change CEO. CEO Cecilia Conrad said in a statement.
Winners were selected through a multi-tiered process in which applicants scored other applicants and a panel of outside experts reviewed the top organizations.
Scott gave away $16.5 billion of the fortune he acquired after his divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Initially, she advertised her donations in online blog posts, sometimes naming the organization and sometimes not giving her name. She launched her giving database in December 2022 under the name “Yield Giving”.
In an essay reflecting on the website, she writes: “Information from other people has been very helpful to me, including other donors, my team, and the nonprofit teams I have donated to. If detailed information about these gifts would be helpful to someone, please share I think that I want to do it.”
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