Many argue that no recent act of giving has impacted the field of philanthropy more than MacKenzie Scott awarding more than $14 billion in less than two years. In addition to the breadth and amount of dollars gifted, Scott’s philanthropy has been remarkable because of its unrestricted funding and multi-year gifts, which follow the recent rise in trust-based philanthropy.

Our team at Panorama Global wanted to examine Scott’s windfall grantmaking in order to learn from it and share those insights across the philanthropy sector. Earlier this year we launched a new initiative with that goal, Collaborative Learning from Impact Philanthropy.

As we examined where and what Scott’s funding was allocated to, we found that even such generosity left certain swaths of the country with minimal Scott funding, as well as certain equity issues that remained to be funded.

Here, we’ll review some of our key findings, including a breakdown of the geographies, issue areas, and gaps Scott funded through March 2022 — and those she did not. Our analysis complements CEP’s recently released report, which yields important data such as the median budget size of organizations that received Scott grants ($8 million), the prudent uses of the funds, and the positive impact the grants have had on collaboration and innovation. Together, this crucial information offers actionable recommendations for foundations, philanthropists, and others looking to emulate and build on Scott’s transformational giving.

One of the six components of trust-based giving is “doing your homework.” To make that easy, our analysis provides three recommendations for where philanthropists can emulate MacKenzie Scott’s model of transformational giving, but in areas that she hasn’t yet focused on.

  1. Start with underfunded regions, and understand their specific issue areas and community needs.
  2. Look for opportunities to support philanthropic sector entities based in the South that will regrant
  3. Consider some of the big issue areas Scott has not yet funded

Read the full article about MacKenzie Scott’s philanthropy by Sarah Vaill at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.