Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, March 4, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scott announced Tuesday, March 19, 2024, she would give $640 million to more than 360 organizations in response to an application process she launched last year.
Evan Agostini / AP
Three Oregon nonprofits and another in Southwest Washington got word Tuesday they’ll be among the hundreds of organizations across the country that will receive funding help from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
Scott announced she is giving $640 million to 361 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications.
All of the recipients are listed on Scott’s website, Yield Giving. The four in Oregon and Southwest Washington include:
- Raphael House of Portland ($2 million), an organization that provides shelter and other services to victims of domestic violence.
- Familias en Acción ($2 million), a Portland-based nonprofit that offers health services and other support to primarily Spanish-speaking and Latino communities in the Portland and Salem metro areas with some statewide partnerships.
- Jackson Street Youth Services ($1 million), an organization that provides housing, educational help, mental health services and other support services to unhoused youth in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties.
- Council for the Homeless ($2 million), a nonprofit in Clark County, Washington, that provides housing and rental assistance as well as other services for people experiencing homelessness.
Kendra Phillips, executive director for Jackson Street Youth Services, said the organization is “over the moon” with the grant.
“This windfall couldn’t come at a better time, as we are significantly expanding our Outreach facilities and services in 2024,” Phillips said. “This money will immediately go to use helping us pay off our new Youth Service Center in Albany, as well as expanding our staff benefits.”
Gael Garcia, left, an outreach worker with Jackson Street Youth Services, scoops food into a clamshell on Wednesday, October 25, 2024, as part of "Skatepark After Dark" in Harrisburg, Oregon. Garcia is joined by fellow outreach workers, Mar Licona Flores, middle, and Cortney Whetherell. The event was hosted as part of National Runaway and Homeless Youth Prevention Month last year.
Courtesy of Jackson Street Youth Services
In a statement on her website, Scott said more than 6,000 applicants responded to her open call for funding requests, a process managed by Lever for Change. Of those, 361 will receive grants with no strings attached on how the money should be spent.
Scott stated that the recipients were “elevated by peer organizations and a round-2 evaluation panel for their outstanding work advancing the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles.”
Originally, Scott had intended to give away $250 million in $1 million grants, but Lever for Change said in a statement on its website, “In light of the incredible work of these organizations, as judged by their peers and external panelists, the donor team decided to expand the awardee pool and the award amount.”
Evaluators then sorted applicants into two tiers, with 279 of them falling in Tier 1 and receiving $2 million grants. The remaining 82 applicants received $1 million as Tier 2 applicants.
All of the recipients, “share a common sense of purpose,” Lever for Change stated. Each of them is “making positive change in their communities by reducing disparities in economic outcomes, education, health, and other critical issues.”
In 2019, Scott announced she’d be giving her fortune away after divorcing Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, and receiving a 4% stake in the company. Since then, she has given away $16 billion, including $2.1 billion last year.