Philanthropy This Week

Evan Agostini, Invision, AP

Good morning.

MacKenzie Scott served up yet another surprise this week: Announcing the recipients of her first open call for proposals, she listed grants totaling $640 million, far more than the $250 million she had originally planned to give.

Nonprofits across the country got the good news that they would receive either $1 million or $2 million from Scott, reports Nicole Wallace. More than half were in the South or West and, as in her previous giving, the causes included equity and justice, health, education, and economic mobility.

In a statement, Scott praised the recipients for “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.”

To be eligible, nonprofits had to have budgets of $1 million to $5 million. That didn’t sit well with Sneha Dave, who wrote an opinion piece urging Scott to pay more attention to small groups like the one she founded.

“Given that 92 percent of U.S. nonprofits operate on budgets of less than $1 million a year, it makes no sense for Scott — and philanthropy more broadly — to measure a nonprofit’s worth and potential by its annual budget,” Dave wrote.

Her nonprofit, Generation Patient supports young adults with chronic medical conditions.

She added: “When it comes to being close to those in need and understanding how to help them, I’ll bet on small, community-led organizations every time.”

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Here’s what else you need to know:

Giving is on the rebound and is expected to grow for the next three years, according to new reports. Anticipated growth in personal income and last year’s S&P 500 are among the reasons one group of researchers project 4.2 percent growth in giving this year. A separate survey found that 78 percent of donors expect to contribute more in 2024, and a third report found that giving money and goods as well as volunteering and advocacy have already increased this year.

That’s especially welcome information following a report that giving by the top donors in our Philanthropy 50 survey gave less last year. See the rest of our annual ranking of America’s biggest donors in 2023.

The California Endowment named a longtime proponent of trust-based philanthropy as its new leader. Brenda Solorzano, who will replace Robert Ross, is currently CEO of the Headwaters Foundation, which she built from the ground up with a focus on unrestricted, multiyear grants and streamlined applications. Ross is a venerated leader who is retiring after 24 years leading the organization.

A Latino affinity group is helping fundraisers bring in more money. Somos El Poder provides professional development resources and opportunities for fundraisers to connect with one another. Four of those members talked to Emily Haynes about what they learned that helped them raise more money.

WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE

Giving

Charitable giving in the United States could rise by more than 4 percent this year, and by nearly the same rate in 2025, a new study forecasts, pulling out of a recent slump thanks to higher personal income and wealth, but mostly to foundations buoyed by sizable stock market gains. Other recent research found that the world’s richest people, worth a combined $48 trillion, are giving more than ever, specifically $190 billion in 2022, up almost 25 percent from the last set of data recorded in 2018. (Barron’s)

Donations spiked for Los Angeles public school’s last musical-instrument repair shop following an Oscar win for a short documentary that chronicled its struggles in the face of cutbacks that have left it with a fraction of its original staff. (Washington Post)

More News

A childhood in Washington, D.C., gave Elizabeth Alexander an early understanding of the power and uses of monuments, which would help shape the Mellon Foundation’s $500 million project to help communities reconsider who is memorialized in their public spaces when the poet and academic took over as president in 2018. (Los Angeles Times)

The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation has canceled plans to bestow an award named for the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on, among others, Elon Musk, Michael Milken, and Rupert Murdoch after Ginsburg’s family objected that “this year’s slate of recipients do not reflect her values.” (Washington Post)

The American Bible Society, which conducts ministries and distributes Bibles globally, will close a $60 million museum in Philadelphia that focused on the role of faith in the history of the United States, saying the pandemic and other unspecified issues made the venture unsustainable. (Religion News Service)

As some communities in California ban state-approved syringe programs for intravenous drug users, the state is seeking to have a court uphold its authority on the issue. Data from needle-exchange programs show they reduce overdoses and the spread of disease, while putting drug users in contact with other health and recovery services, some experts say. Opponents say they encourage drug use and result in a trail of dirty needles in public spaces. (Los Angeles Times)

Cities led by Democrats, including Chicago, New York City, and Denver, that have been overwhelmed by an influx of migrants are beginning to restrict shelter stays and other aid for newcomers, as the cities face budget cuts and a lack of federal immigration assistance. (Washington Post)

A network of loosely regulated, court-appointed nonprofits that receive scant training and virtually no oversight from just over a dozen judges are responsible for more than 17,000 vulnerable New York City residents, sometimes resulting in dire living conditions or even fatal neglect. (ProPublica)

Former Trump aide Stephen Miller hails his litigation nonprofit America First Legal as “the long-awaited answer to the ACLU.” But while it calls on heavyweight conservative legal expertise and has scored at least one victory, the nonprofit spends much more on promotion than lawyers, and one critic said that, unlike the ACLU, it embraces not core principles but MAGA culture. (New York Times)

NEW GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities.

Literacy: ProLiteracy builds the capacity of adult literacy programs to transform lives and communities. ProLiteracy’s Literacy Opportunity Fund provides grants to nonprofit literacy organizations of all types and sizes in the United States that are doing direct work with adult students. Grants can cover general operating expenses, including salaries, technology, supplies, teacher stipends, equipment, space rental, etc., or may focus on a particular project, event, or new programming effort. Grants up to $6,000; next deadline is April 1.

Indigenous Activism: NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building the collective power of Indigenous peoples, communities, and nations to exercise the right to self-determination, while fostering a world that is built on a foundation of justice and equity for all people and Mother Earth. NDN Collective’s Community Action Fund provides short-term grants to frontline organizations, groups, and individuals most impacted by local challenges for direct action and organizing efforts that are often urgent and time sensitive.Grants up to $40,000; applications accepted from May 29 to July 17.