Umbrella groups serving and advocating for nonprofits or grant makers and donors are a dysfunctional part of the charitable world. They serve as scaffolding to strengthen organizations that bring together nonprofit leaders and philanthropists to learn, research, and advocate for one another. The groups have long received some philanthropic funding and struggled to attract the attention of individual donors.
But that may be changing as Mackenzie Scott shines a much brighter spotlight on the work those organizations do. The latest round of giving to dozens of such groups with her husband Dan Jewett saw a multimillion-dollar donation unprecedented in Scots.
I’ve been working for a variety of philanthropic infrastructure groups for more than 20 years, and I’ve never experienced a gift like this in my career, says David Bimsdorfer, CEO of the United Philanthropy Forum, which Scott called received $3 million.
Roughly 70 regional and national infrastructure organizations received gifts from Scott. Many of them incorporate social and racial-justice and equality components into their work. For this article the Chronicle focused only on national groups. Of the 53 national groups it identified, 26 either publicized how much money Scott had given them or told the Chronicle how much they had received. Those who revealed how much they received received a total of $146 million. Contributions ranged from $2 million to $15 million.
Collecting these groups is notable for Scots because they come from an individual donor. Scott gave crores of rupees in one stroke. According to a study conducted by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Foundation Center, the US Foundation gave $1.9 billion to infrastructure groups from 2004 to 2015.
It is unclear whether Scots is signaling a new era of wealthy donors making big donations to these types of umbrella organizations.
Most donors don’t understand what these groups do or why they matter, says Project Evident founder Kelly Fitzsimmons, who received $3 million from Scott and helped nonprofits and foundations measure up. Huh. what works. That’s why so few people pay him big money, she says.
If other wealthy donors understood the nature of the work better, they would follow his lead, Fitzsimmons says. The nonprofit was in a corner of the world that is not well understood, but it continues to have a significant sphere of influence.
Yet Scots gifts also help the leaders of these organizations raise awareness of their work, which may increase their chances of attracting gifts from other individual donors.
A wealthy donor recently pointed to Nicolas Tedesco, head of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, an organization that advises wealthy donors about effective grant-making practices and educates that donors’ families come first. Grant requests may be considered. Since it turns out Scott owed Kendra $4 million. in June.
They told us very clearly that the gift would allow us to consider the grant request more seriously because due diligence has been done by Mackenzie and Dan and because the family wants to know that they are not the biggest funder. organization, says Tedesco.
While CEO Eric Stegman says that Scots donated $2 million to Native American philanthropy, grantmakers, tribal leaders, and others who advocate for increased philanthropic support of Native American organizations have contributed to the group. Raised the public profile of. She was also invited to appear on Good Morning America to talk about the Scots’ latest charity.
Mackenzie Scott is practicing the philanthropic nonprofit that Stegman calls to leave power to the organizations and communities that know best.
I’m able to point out people who don’t know much about our work or even the philanthropic field, but they do know enough about Mackenzie Scott and what it takes to start a conversation. does.
The news coverage that focuses breathlessly on the size of Scots gifts misses an important point, Elizabeth Barajas-Roman, who leads the Women’s Funding Network, which received an undisclosed sum from Scott. More importantly, she says, is the way Scots money is focused on groups that don’t make headlines.
This makes people realize and wonder what is Mahila Kosh? What are they doing, and why did Mackenzie Scott choose the Women’s Funding Network?
Several umbrella groups that have received gifts from Scott are still figuring out how they will use the money. Almost everyone said they plan to use some of it to hire more employees and build out their technology and data capabilities.
The Independent Sector, a national membership organization of nonprofits, foundations and corporate-giving programs, received $6 million from Scott last July and put the money in a board-designated fund for investment and development, but used Can also be done for specific support. internal needs.
Group CEO Dan Cardinelli says we were in the middle of the pandemic, and we didn’t know what would happen to membership or the huge loss to the economy. We wanted to make sure we were living within our means for our normal operations.
CEO Asha Kuren says Giving Tuesday, an organization that encourages generosity around the world, plans to use the $7 million it received to expand into East African countries, India and elsewhere.
The Scots gift was the largest Giving Tuesday ever received from an individual donor, as is the case with many umbrella groups. Yet Curran says the gift doesn’t change his group’s fundraising plans.
This gift didn’t give us a day off from fundraising, says Curran. were not declaring victory by sitting back; We were watching how we added to this gift and continued to add to it.
But the money gives groups more breathing room. CEO Marcus Walton says the $4 million that Grantmakers received for effective organizations is a substantial amount, but not enough to save it for a rainy day.
It allows us to do what we were doing without the usual budget constraints, he says. We still need to prioritize, but we don’t have to do that because we’re out of a scarcity mindset. We can be a little more abundant in our thinking.
The Walton Group, a membership organization that helps grantmakers improve their philanthropy, is using some of the money to broaden training programs that help foundation leaders accelerate best practices on racial equity and justice. help. and bring in employees. The goal is for foundations to have a clear understanding of their values and to connect with the people they serve, Walton says that many grantees struggle to do.
Many organizations are concerned that longtime charities will assume that Scots gifts are enough to care for the nonprofit for years to come, which they say is not true.
These gifts help free us up a bit to expand possibilities, but only if we have the support we had and can build on that, says Bemsdorfer of the United Philanthropy Forum. It should not be seen as a replacement fund otherwise it defeats the whole purpose.
___
This article was provided by Chronicle of Philanthropy to the Associated Press. Maria Di Mento is a senior journalist for the Chronicle. E-mail: [email protected] The AP and Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for its coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. AP and Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all AP Philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And wire.