Generous Donations from One Woman to Over 1,600 Charities… and Counting!

More than 20 American charities have come forward, publicizing the fact that they received generous donations from philanthropist and billionaire Mackenzie Scott as she holds steady on her quest to give away most of her large fortune to charity.

“It was in our best interest to announce this donation and to share the victory with our peers in the movement,” says Sean McCarthy, who manages donor relations at the National Housing Trust. This affordable housing group received a $10 million donation, Scott’s largest to date. “We view this gift as a vote of confidence.”

So far in 2023, 24 charities have disclosed that they received between $1 million and $15 million in donations, for a total of $146 million, mainly to charities focusing on early-childhood education and development like Early Edge California, an early-childhood education advocacy group that received a $3 million donation. Scott has a fortune estimated at $37 billion, and since 2020, she has given away more than 14.1 million to at least 1,621 charities. “Because of the level of her wealth, she is able to give at a scale and a pace that those who have adopted the same practices can’t,” explains Katherina Rosqueta, who leads the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy. In December 2022, Scott launched Yield Giving’s website to answer the nonprofit world’s call for more transparency, and in March, she announced a $250 million open call for charities to apply for one of the 250 $1-million donations, thus broadening her giving practices.