MacKenzie Scott’s offer to provide $250 million in separate $1 million grants to non-profit organizations brought in 6,353 applications, giving each applicant around a 25-t0-1 chance of getting the funding, the Associated Press reports.
The grant funding was open to any recognized non-profit with operating budgets between $1-5 million in the United States, including territories. Other than that, there were no parameters on who could apply or what type of project could be funded. It marked a change in the way Scott and her non-profit Yield Giving had vetted potential beneficiaries and widened the potential applicants on the group’s radar. While some philanthropy pundits questioned limiting the size of applicants by budgets was disappointing, others pointed out that there could be other rounds of funding for other organizations in the future.
With a $35 billion settlement from her 2019 divorce, Scott has been donating at a comparatively frenetic in philanthropy. She’s reportedly donated more than $14 billion to 1,600 different organizations since splitting from Jeff Bezos. In December 2022, her net worth was estimated to be at $62 billion; Forbes lists her current wealth at $36 billion.