Philanthropist and novelist Mackenzie Scott announced on Tuesday that she donated more than $2.7 billion to 286 organizations that she and a team of advisors deemed to have a lot of impact in historically overlooked and underfunded communities. “These organizations..also promote and facilitate service, which, in turn, inspires more people to serve,” Scott wrote in an article on Medium. “We chose to make relatively large gifts to the organizations…both to enable their work, and as a signal of trust and empowerment, to them and to others.”
This isn’t the first time Scott has donated large sums of money, and it probably won’t be the last. In July 2020, she made a $40 million donation to Howard University. This was the largest donation the historically Black university received in its 153-year history. After receiving 25 percent of Jeff Bezos’s Amazon shares as a part of their divorce settlement, she pledged to give away the bulk of her $60 billion fortune.
Here are the 38 organizations in the DC area that received funding from Scott.
African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund was created by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to support historic sites that are significant to African American history and culture.
American Indian Higher Education Consortium
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium advocates for the equitable representation of tribal colleges and universities in United States’ higher education system.
APIA Scholars
APIA Scholars provides Asian and Pacific Islander American students with academic, personal, and professional resources to increase their access to higher education.
Arts Administrators of Color
The Arts Administrators of Color is an arts service network that facilitates networking and community building between art administrators and artists of color.
Arts Forward Fund
Arts Forward Fund is a partnership between the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Greater Washington Community Foundation, and other institutions that provides resources to DC area arts and culture organizations that struggled in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ashoka Innovators for the Public
Ashoka Innovators for the Public supports social entrepreneurs around the world by providing them the resources to expand their network and enact change in their communities.
Asian American LEAD
Asian American LEAD provides educational, personal, and leadership mentoring to low-income and underserved Asian and Pacific American youth.
BoardSource
BoardSource educates, assesses, and coaches boards to ensure their effective leadership and governance.
The BOMA Project
The BOMA Project provides mentorship and resources to women in Africa who want to become entrepreneurs.
Center for Evaluation Innovation
The Center for Evaluation Innovation partners with philanthropic organizations to ensure that the historically underrepresented communities that are served by those organizations are included in decision making about public resources.
Children’s Defense Fund
The Children’s Defense Fund advocates for federal policies that protects the rights and wellbeing of children.
Equity in the Center
Equity in the Center educates nonprofit and philanthropic organizations on how to eliminate harmful biases in their work that may harm underserved communities.
Exponent Philanthropy
Exponent Philanthropy facilitates collaboration between small foundations with few or no staff members to help them increase their impact on the communities they serve.
Faith in Action
Faith in Action helps religious congregations, schools, and communities centers identify and solve local issues in their neighborhoods, such as gun violence and voting rights.
Faith in Public Life
Faith in Public Life is a movement of faith leaders that advocates for local, state, and federal policies that advance justice, democracy, and equality.
Flamboyan Arts Fund
The Flamboyan Arts Fund supports institutions that preserve and promote the arts throughout Puerto Rico.
FSG
FSG is a consulting firm that advises corporate, nonprofit, and foundation leaders on how to create social impact.
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations coaches philanthropic organizations on how to improve their grantmaking practices to better serve their nonprofit partners.
HIAS
HIAS provides legal and mental health services to refugees and asylum seekers around the world.
The International Association of Blacks in Dance
The International Association of Blacks in Dance promotes dance by Black people and provides performance and professional opportunities for Black people in the dance community.
The Management Center
The Management Center offers coaching and management training for executive directors and their senior leadership teams to help them adopt antiracist and equitable management practices.
Management Leadership for Tomorrow
Management Leadership for Tomorrow provides professional coaching to African-American, Latinx, and Native American higher education students and professionals.
MDRC
MDRC researches and evaluates social and educational programs designed to help low-income communities.
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation works with the National Endowment for the Arts to support arts programming in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Muslim Advocates
Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization that provides representation for Muslims in court and advocates for Muslim-inclusive policies.
National Center for Family Philanthropy
The National Center for Family Philanthropy provides resources, research, and community-building opportunities to family foundations.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy is an independent watchdog that works to ensure that philanthropic organizations are accountable and responsive to underserved communities.
National Council of Nonprofits
The National Council of Nonprofits identifies emerging trends and practices to provide insights for the nonprofit sector.
Native Americans in Philanthropy
Native Americans in Philanthropy educates Native and non-Native nonprofits, foundations, and community leaders on how better serve Native communities.
PEAK Grantmaking
PEAK Grantmaking works to promote equity in grant making practices through narrowing the power gap between funders and nonprofits.
ProInspire
ProInspire provides leadership development resources to social impact leaders and organizations to help them build inclusive leadership practices.
Results for America
Results for America collaborates with policymakers at all levels to create evidence-based solutions and policies.
Service Year Alliance
Service Year Alliance develops service programs and resources for people who want to engage in paid, full-time service.
Tostan
Tostan facilitates community ownership over development efforts across eight African countries by encouraging those communities to work in their own language and use traditional methods of learning.
United Philanthropy Forum
The United Philanthropy Forum is a network of philanthropy-serving organizations that offers its members education and knowledge services to strengthen the impact of philanthropic investments.
Unity Productions Foundation
The Unity Productions Foundation produces films and long-term educational campaigns to increase religious and cultural inclusivity.
Urban Institute
The Urban Institute conducts economic and social policy research to help government leaders, nonprofits, and philanthropists make fact-based decisions in their work.
Before becoming Research Editor, Damare Baker was an Editorial Fellow and Assistant Editor for Washingtonian. She has previously written for Voice of America and The Hill. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she studied international relations, Korean, and journalism.
