In response to the heightened visibility of racial injustice, in July 2020, MacKenzie Scott gifted $587 million to racial justice and equity organizations, 91% of which were run by leaders of color. Scott, whose generosity comes with little fanfare and restrictions, gained attention because of her trust-based model of large, multi-year gifts. According to Scott’s Yield Giving website, she has gifted over $14 billion to 1,600+ non-profits to date, with $4.1 billion going toward advancing racial justice and equity.
Launched to gain insight on the impact of large, unrestricted gifts to advance systems change, the Collaborative Learning for Impact Philanthropy (CLIP) initiative at Panorama Global convened a peer learning community of 13 U.S.-based racial justice and equity organizations that received a gift from Scott during 2020-2022. This cohort of leaders met over four months to build community through dialogue and learn from one another’s experience as they managed the influx of funding to advance racial justice and equity.
This report reflects the collective knowledge and insights of these leaders and offers six practical recommendations for the philanthropic sector to shift funding practices toward equity and encourage funders to join forces to drive transformative change for racial justice and equity.
These insights aim to support both funders and recipients of windfall grants and to help us take meaningful action toward achieving greater impact together.
