Female Donors

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.

Donors like to see their names on new building additions, and some find ways to promote diversity while doing so, but there are more direct ways to make staffs and collections more inclusive, a Georgetown scholar argues.

Attracting Latino and Black donors requires recognizing cultural giving patterns that differentiate them from most white donors. Nonprofits that take a thoughtful approach to this process have the chance to significantly expand their pool of donors.