Female Donors

Diana Blank’s foundation put up $25 million to build the structure — and another $5 million to tell its story and help others launch similar projects.

Why grantees of Diana Blank’s Kendeda Fund say she put on a “master class” during her 30 years of big giving.

Also, the Heritage Foundation has received a pledge of $25 million to advance its policy goals, and the University of California at Los Angeles received a joint gift of $20 million to establish the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center.

The CEO of the Women Donors Network says women want to give not just money but also time and expertise.

The effort may have helped some very wealthy people like MacKenzie Scott articulate their ambitious philanthropic agendas.

Scott has emerged as the most notable practitioner of trust-based philanthropy — the notion that there should be fewer strings attached to donations and that reporting requirements and other expectations that often come with grants from foundations can be excessive.

Some of the recipients of her philanthropy have included Habitat for Humanity, Planned Parenthood, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Two women — Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott — are rewriting the rules of philanthropy. Their approaches suggest a new continuum of giving that should set the standard for the rest of philanthropic world.

Over the years, the Chronicle has talked with hundreds of major donors about what motivates them to give. Here’s a collection of some of the best advice we’ve heard.

Philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Michael Bloomberg were big players in the flow of cash to institutions that typically don’t raise a lot of money, according to an annual survey by the Voluntary Support of Education program at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.