MacKenzie Scott, a billionaire philanthropist and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is giving $640 million to hundreds of nonprofit groups, including dozens of organizations that support LGBTQ people.
Scott announced Tuesday that the 361 community-led nonprofit groups were selected from a pool of more than 6,000 applications received since last year, when she announced that her organization, Yield Giving, was launching an “open call” for nonprofit groups it could fund. The $640 million is more than double the $250 million Scott pledged to fund at the start of the open call.
The nonprofit groups, many of which Scott said “have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles,” were chosen through a peer review process and an evaluation panel “for their outstanding work advancing the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means,” she said in a statement Tuesday.
Scott described the recipients as “vital agents of change.”
Among the chosen groups are dozens that support LGBTQ people and at least 14 LGBTQ-focused nonprofit organizations, including EDGE New Jersey and Carolinas CARE Partnership, which support people living with or at risk of HIV; Gender Justice, a Minnesota-based LGBTQ legal and policy advocacy group; and LGBTQ community centers in Cleveland and the California cities of Sacramento and Long Beach.
Kat Rohn, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, an LGBTQ advocacy group founded in 1987, said the $2 million it was awarded is larger than its entire annual budget.
“This has been over a year in the making, and we are just tremendously excited to be one of the recipients and one of a handful of Minnesota groups to be in the recipient pool,” Rohn said.
Rohn added that the organization plans to use some of the funds to support outreach to more rural communities…
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