A three-year study released by the Centre for Effective Philanthropy examining the impact of unrestricted donations from major US philanthropist Mackenzie Scott says her giving has had a transformative effect, despite the size of her recent decreasing in comparison to three years ago.

Scott’s grants are typically much larger than the grants of even large foundations and so-called ‘megadonors’. Nonprofit organisations in this study received grants from Scott that ranged from $500,000 to $80 million. 

The report notes that as her giving progressed, Scott has increasingly given to somewhat smaller organisations than those she gave to in 2020 — her first year of giving. The size of her grants, still large by comparison to those of other donors, has also come down.  

Scott’s giving does not come with restrictions on the time frame in which the grant funds needed to be spent, but 69 per cent of organisations describe having already spent some of the grant, while 9 per cent report having spent all of it. The remaining 22 percent had not yet spent any of her grants. 

Almost all leaders — 90 per cent — report that they used some of the grant money to advance equity in their organisations. Two-thirds used some of the grant money to advance racial equity, and about one-half used funds to address economic mobility. Around 40 per cent used funds to address gender imbalances.  

The US philanthropist has given half of her donations to organisations that work directly to provide a service, while a quarter are advocacy groups.  

Nonprofit leaders surveyed say they use Scott’s grants to strengthen their organisations’ capacity and staff cultures.  

Scott’s mode of giving has been viewed as generally positive, though funders have concerns about the ability of nonprofits to handle large, unrestricted grants.  

Some 50 per cent of those surveyed said they used some of Scott’s donations to engage in new collaborations, mostly with other nonprofits or partnerships with governmental enterprises or private businesses. 

Shafi Musaddique is a news editor at Alliance magazine.  

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